British Medical Association NINETY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING, MANCHESTER, 1929
Authors: A. H. Burgess
Journal: BMJ (1929)

BEFoRE conmnrencing his address tIre Presidentt welcomed tihe Briti.slhMedical Association to Manlclhester anld Salford, an(d exlpressecd his tlhanlks for thie great honour of his electiont to its presidenitial chair and-for tle invalulable assistance of mAiedlical an-id lay frienids ini the prepa rations for the nicetiiug; he referried to tlhe cliatige,s ill the, p'ersonlnel. of the local )rofession.anid of thc cities' hlosp,?ital-arran,emienits sincee the Association's four tlh visit to Manchester inl 1902, anid mllenitionied tljhe work din-ing the_, great war of Maclincester's Ter ritorial Hospital-the 2lnd Western Geer al. ] In nio sp)her c of the woril's activities lias a singole discover y coiastituitd(l a sharp)er dividiing lilie betweell tw o- stages of its history thall iii thle (diviSioIn Of smluOrery ilnto tw o pueriods-ipre-anid post-Listerian-b)y Lister's epochl- nirakiiog discovery of tre antisep)tic treatmi'eiit of ouni(ds.Prliol to 1865, th{e year of its first appl)ication, tire surgical wvardls of our hosp)itals, inifested, as th.ey were erbsy elas, py aellia, and hoSJ)ital ganigrerlic, hla(l caie to he loolkedh ipd)nll as veritable (eath traps, aitd a gireater measiure of success ofteni attended a surgic-al o)perationi performed iii the simple elnvi1o01n1 1monlt of the poorest lhome tlhan] a similar onie uinclei tile best coniditionis afforded hy tIre hroaspitals of that datte.Tire intirodiictioni of anaestihesia-surelv onie of the most merciful events in the history of m-nnkindc hiad, ?cvertlieless, univittiugly served hut to auongrcit tIre death rate uf ollerative surger y.By abolishin, the tlemiieniit of pain theirewith associated it lhad iiicreased the fr equency w^ithl wlichi surgical op+erations wlere jperformnedh in theatres aid wards where sel)tic inifection wi-as thie rule, alimost witliout' exceptioll, ani whlere supiphurationi was still regaided as the noirmal proc ess of wounid heali-ig.Lister lhas change.-dall thiis, btit the ftill extenlt of tilat chioge is very difficiult to realize by those of ius wvho, prlactis;imgf snpg{lv sixty+ years later, ai(h liirIviuig, threrefore, of niecessity, lhaid 110 personlal exlerienice of tire coilditioms.Milder wlicil surgeons of the fifties anid sixties of the last ceintury lhid t)o vorlk, acceput the priceless beniefits of thi is radic;al change almaost as a miiatter of cour-se, arc(h oftelu wsithl Vx1 imrphei fec(t appreciationx of the evolutionary dlevelol)- meirits that lhave r'enider'ed possible thre brl'illiant surgical wor0lk that is beiing carried oni all over tIre civilized world to-rlav.As skilled surgical ecraftsimien, aui i MLtrli lcrsow- lerlgo of auiatoimy aicldof tlhe gross maniifestatiolis of disease, tllre older surgeons were in' lo senise inlfelriolr, andv-et tlre xe r-pi-hr-sent spectre of sep)tic imifectiril renider-ed eachi Sm1'igical effort a truly perl)iolis advenrture, ke('pig tire sur ogon in a state of conistanit anxiety uruitil tIre w\ouimi(i was saflclv h cealedui x iety nio hess cdisturn-hiuni inn t hat, tIre czaise crf thie iiifection beiog uumiknuowni, lo carce or foresight c hrll avuail to piex-evit it.C'aininipliphace, thiouighi nouo e thc' less ti-ite, has mow-bmecomne tlte stateriment that Lister's work lrus ie(xvohlmtielizedl siurgical pract tie-: it lhas for' all timiie f-eeoil s ciol1em-atiolls flo the (dr.ea(lecd risks of tileir niost dange-ours conmplic-ationri- .se)ti(infection-thereby niot only vuastlv illereusing.their- safety, but enormmouisly diminishing the extenit of pain arld