Carbolic acid, therefore, was a natural implement in the war against
surgical infections. So it came to be on August 12, 1865, in the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary, James Greenlee—the eleven-year-old boy—was treated
by Lister for an open tibia fracture. The young lad’s leg was thoroughly
washed out (under chloroform anesthesia) with a dilute solution of
carbolic acid. At the end of the operation Lister dressed the wound with a
mixture of putty and carbolic acid, covered by a sheet of tin foil (to reduce
evaporation), and splinted. Four days later, the wound was uncovered.
Instead of finding a troubled wound with inflamed skin edges, a discharge
of pus, rotting flesh, and rancid smells, the traumatized area was healing
well. The leg was redressed in a similar fashion and left on for five days.
At the second redressing, a superficial burn to the skin was diagnosed by
Lister, so the third dressing included a solution of carbolic acid and olive
oil. The wound completely healed, in time, with no further surgery
required. What would have been routine amputation was instead
uneventful healing, and James was discharged six weeks after injury.
“Antiseptic surgery emerged when Lister realized that the analogy
between suppuration and fermentation which Pasteur had drawn could be
applied in practice.”^28 A series of scientific observations, simple
experiments, and clinical applications had been linked to birth the era of
“antisepsis,” the process of eliminating microbial organisms that cause
disease.
Immediately thereafter, Lister performed every surgery antiseptically.
Lister and Pasteur would become coconspirators against the microbial
enemies that caused disease. Crude as the early science was, with no
specific identification of bacteria and with no real appreciation of how
they grew, thrived, and died, the mere act of assiduously cleansing the skin
and the traumatized tissues dramatically improved elective and accident
surgery. In time, the entire world would adopt “Listerism,” although
acceptance came begrudgingly in some nations, even though the proof was
right under their noses.
Lister succeeded where Semmelweis had failed. Most scientists and
physicians had never heard of Semmelweis and his analysis of puerperal
fever. Lister, on the other hand, enacted great change in medicine, setting
the stage for a dramatic change in the feasibility of surgery. The
industrious Lister always made friends easily; insatiably curious and
unusually determined, he balanced uncompromising dedication to work