The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1906-02-01
GREAT LIFE SAVER.
LORD LISTER, THE GRAND OLD
MAN" OF SURGERY.
He Has Saved Quarter of n Million
Lives by His Famous Discov-
ery of Germ De-
stroyer.

Lives Dy HIS Famous OlscoV-'
cry of Germ De-
stroyer.
In an age when honors are lavishen
for the skill with which men compass
the death OF thousands of their fellows
one cannot pay too mucn homage 10
those whose mission IT is to save and
not to destroy life, and happily, says
the Chicago Chronicle. there stu re-
mains among us the King OF them al
a man on whose monument may some
day be inscribed this remarkable
legend: He saved quarter Of a mil
lion lives"
To no other man who mas ever hved
can such a tribute be paid; but to
assert that Lord Lister, the grand Old
man" OF surgery, has snatched 250.000
men from the grave is probably 10
understate he truth. When Joseph
Lister first made his acquaintance with
hospital about 90 years ago. an op-
Grafton of any Importance meant al
most certain death. and even quite
simple operations were tull of RISK.
The wounds made by the surgeon $
knife refused lo heal. putrcfaction was
followed 10y suppurattOu, the patients
became delirious and IN a statiling ma
jority of cases died.
IL was Lord Lister who discovered
the deadly secret of all thIs mortal
ity. He found that the putretaction
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 revo-
| lutionizng surgery and saving count
less lives An early result OF this
antiseptic treatment was that gan
creme which had infected so per cent.
OF the wounds disappeared entirely
and to-day operations which wouli
have meant certain death half a Ger.
I fury ago are performed daily without
| the least risk OF fatal consequences.
| Such in briefest outlook Is the
/ change Lord Lister has wrought IN
surgery, and one has only to read II
| the horrors OF the hospitals IN pre-
| Listerian days, with their delirlous
and dying patients. and their com
pound udur of boiled mutton and sour
poutices" and then to pay a visit I'll
| a hospital of to-day To realize now
revolutionary is the change wrought
| by this one man.
1t is 50 years almost TO n day since
young Lister began TO study surgery
and medicine at University college
| London. He was the son of a very
/ clever man. a fellow of the Royal So
ciety. and the inventor. practically. ol
the modern microscope. and, as mign'
/ he expected from the son of such q
father, he quickly distinguished him
self among his fellow students. gradn-
atng brilliantly and taking the COW
eted F. X. c. S. before he was 25
! Then followed a period of splendid
training under the great surgeon. Mr.
| Sy me, whose daughter he married. and
in 1860, at he early age of SO. he was
made regius professor of surgery Al
Glasgow.
! IL was here that he became so deep
| ly impressed by the terrible mortality
due to operations and he set to
work to discover the cause. with the
results which we have described
There are still living students who
saw him first experiment in antisep
tic surgery by making a paste of car
bolic acid over the wound. and 1t was
soon admitted that Lister wards
were the healthiest in the world. But
like many another prophet. he found
least appreciation among his OWL
countrymen. Germany, France ant
other continental countries adopted his
methods with avidity, and his fam,
was European before Great Britain be
came a tardy convert to his teaching
However, unlike SO many world bene
factors, he has lived TO see the uni
versal triumph of his discovery and lt
reap honors such as fall to few mel
in century.
And never, perhaps, did so great I
man bear his honors so modestly. A
rs he remains, to quote a great sur
geon las simple and lovable as
child" His old pupils adore him
his numberless friends respect an
love him: the world counts him on
of its greatest benefactors. For tn
rest he Is an ardent lover Of nature
skilled in botany and woodcraft, AM
he declares that the sweetest music OF
earth is the song of birds.