Year: 1967
Type: article
Abstract: Modern surgery began one hundred years ago, when the first of Joseph Lister's articles, entitled "A New Method of Treating Compound Fractures," appeared in the Lancet of 16 March 1867.The first published account of the application of the new system to operation wounds appeared in an article entitled " The Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery " in the British Medical 7ournal of 10 August that same year.These contrihutions opened a campaign that was destined to revolu- tionize surgery.Joseph Lister's education and upbringing prepared him for a life of scientific research.Born on 5 April 1827 at Upton, then near but now in London, he was the son of Joseph Jackson Lister, a prosperous city merchant whose spare time was devoted to study and research, especially optical research, in which he distinguished himself by discovering the best method of correct- ing chromatic aberration; for this and other work he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.The family were devout members of the Society of Friends, and Joseph was brought up to regard useful work almost as a sacred duty.At two private schools he had a good grounding in the classics, modern languages, mathematics, and natural history.Even as a schoolboy he performed some dissections, and at an early age he expressed a wish to become a surgeon.Owing to the religious tests he was not able to go to either Oxford or Cambridge University, but he was trained at Uni- versity College, London, and took his B.A. at London University in 1847.He then had an attack of smallpox that left him in a depressed state and compelled him to take a long holiday.His father wrote him a letter of encouragement saying: " It is indeed a mistake to believe thyself required to bear burthens on account of the states of others, whilst in fact thou hast to suspend even the pursuit of thine own avocation."Fortunately he soon recovered his mental poise, but all through his life he retained that same deep pity for human ills.In his medical course at University College he came under the influence of several distinguished men-William Sharpey, Wharton Jones, John Erichsen, R. E. Grant, Thomas Graham, and Viner Ellis -and he passed the M.B.London, with honours, in 1852.In the same year he obtained the F.R.C.S. England.Towards the end of his time at University College he carried out an excellent microscopical research on the involuntary muscles of the iris and skin.
Source: BMJ
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.2.5543.7
Author: Z. Cope
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2077445477