Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-12-01
SAVED 25o,0oo LIVES.

SAVED 25o,0oo LIVES.
Surqeon Has Snatched an Army From,
the Grave.
In an age when honors are lavished
on men for the skill with which they
compass the death of thousands OF
their fellows one cannot pay too much
| homage to those whose mission 1t is tc
save, and not to destroy. life; and
happily there still remains among us
| the king of them all, man or
| whose monument may some day be
inscribed this remarkable legend: He
saved a quarter Of million lives.
To no other man who has ever lived
can such a tribute be paid; but to as
sert that Lord Lester, the Grand OLD
Man" of surgery. has snatched ESQ.,
600 men from the grave is probably
to understate the truth. When JOS
eph Lester first made his acquaint-
ance with a hospital, about sixty years
ago, an operation of any Importance
| meant almost certain death, and ever
simple operations were full of risk
The wounds made by the surgeons
knife refused to heal, putrefaction was
followed by suppuration, the patients
became delirious and in a startling
majority Of cases died.
1t was Lord Lester who discovered
| the deadly secret Of all this mortality
He found that the putrefaction OF the
wound was due to the presence OF
germs which were introduced from
outside; and in carbolic acid he dis
covered the means to kill these germs
thus by this simple discovery revolu-
tionizing surgery and saving countless
lives. An early result of this antisep-
tic treatment was that "gangrene
which infected 80 per cent of the
wounds, disappeared entirely; and
today operations which would have
meant certain death half a century
ago are performed daily without the
least risk of fatal consequences.
Such in briefest outline is the
change Lord Lester has wrought In
surgery; and one has only to read OF
the horrors of the hospital in pre-Les-
terian days with their delirious and
dying patients, and their compound
odor of boiled mutton and sour poul-
tices," and then to pay visit to q
hospital of today to realize how revo-
lutionary is the change wrought by
this one man.
1t is sixty years almost to a day
since young Lester began to study sur
gerry and medicine at University Col
lege, London. He was the son OF a
very clever man, fellow Of the Roya
society, and the inventor, practically
of the modern microscope, and, as
might be expected from the son OF
such a father. he quickly distinguish
ed himself among his fellow-students
graduating brilliantly and taking the
coveted F. r. C. S. before he was 20
Then followed a period OF splendio
training at Edinburg, under the sur
geon, Mr.. Syme. whose daughter ne
married, and in 1859 at the early age
of SO, he was made Regius Professor
of surgery at Glasgow.
1t was here that he became so deep
ly impressed by the terrible mortality
due to operations, and set to work to
discover the cause, with the result
which we have described. There arc
still living students who saw him first
experiment in antiseptic surgery by
making a paste Of carbolic acid over
the wound, and it was soon admitted
that Testers wards" were the health
lest in the world. But. like many 9TH
er prophets, he found least apprecia'
ton among his own countrymen. Ger
many, France and other continental
countries accepted him with avidity
and his fame was European before
Great Britain became a tardy convert
to his teachings.
However, unlike so many world
benefactors, he has lived to see the
universal triumph OF his discovery
and to reap honors such as fall to few
men in a century.
Long years ago the University OF
Budapest conferred an honorary de-
gree on him amid the scene Of unpar-
alleled enthusiasm. In Germany he
has long been hailed as the greatest
surgeon in all the world-eXcept per-
L. hnir nj. a M a NJ
cipal hospital in Rome. the Clinico
Umberto I, has over its chief entrance
bas-relief representing Lester In the
act of dressing a wound. He has been
made a Fellow of the Royal Society;
universities have Wed with each other
in comforting degrees on him. In 1888
he was created a baronet, and eight
years ago he was made a peer and
privy councillor Cthe first man in his
profession to receive such an honor),
and to his many titles he now adds
those most priced letters, o. M.
And never, perhaps. did so great a
man bear his honors so modestly. AT
seventy-eight he remains, to quote a
great surgeon, "as simple and lovable
as a child" His old pupils adore him;
his numberless friends respect and
love him: the world counts him one of
it's greatest benefactors. For the rest,
he is an ardent lover of nature, skilled
in botany and woodcraft, and he de-
clares that the sweetest music on
earth is the song of a bird.-London
Tit Bits.
GREAT Is TEXAs.-Texas Is a whop-
per. She's a peach. She's the widest,
broadest and longest country on
earth extending from east to west
and also from north to south. She
could put Rhode Island in her vest
pocket She could swallow three or
four states like Maryland and wash
'em down by drinking the Mississ-
-