Part 16 (1/2)

1892 Lister attends Pasteur celebration in Paris

1893 Death of Lady Lister

1895-1900 President of Royal Society

1897 Created a Peer

1902 Order of Merit

1907 Freedom of City of London: last public appearance

1912 Dies at Walmer, February 10

JOSEPH LISTER

SURGEON

In a corner of the north transept of West the colossal statues of our pries, and our soldiers, will be found a s the illustrious na us of the great place which Science has taken in the progress of the last century Watt, thanks partly to his successors, ed the face of this earth more than any other inhabitant of our isles; but he is of the eighteenth century, and between those who developed his inventions it is not easy to choose a single representative of the age Stokes and Adams command the admiration of all students of enius, but their work e man In Darwin's case no one would dispute his claie, and his life is a noble object for study, single-hearted as he was in his devotion to truth, persistent as were his efforts in the face of prolonged ill-health No better instance could be found to show that the highest intellectual geniusqualities of character Kindly and genial in his home, warmly attached to his friends, devoid of all jealousy of his fellow scientists, he lived to see his nahout the civilized world; and inality ofexample in the record of his life There is no need to make comparisons either of fame, of mental power, or of character; but the choice of Lister may be justified by the fact that his science, the science of Health and Disease, is one of absorbing interest to all men, and that with his career is bound up the history of a rave issues of life and death from which few families have been exeed; but it is to the lesser men that the bitterness is due By his family traditions, as well as by his natural disposition, Lister was a h he left the Society of Friends at the tie, he retained a respect for their viehich accorded ith his own nature When he had to speak or write on behalf of what he believed to be the truth, it was from no motive of self-assertion or combativeness He had the calht, the Quaker tribune, the champion of Repeal, had all the fervour of the inning of the eighteenth century; and at this tirandfather and father were engaged in business as wine merchants But Joseph Jackson Lister, who married in 1818, and becaeon, was ht himself the science of optics, had made improvements in the microscope, and had won his ithin the sacred portals of the Royal Society Letters have been preserved which show us how keen his interest in science always remained, and hat full appreciation he entered into the researches which his son was ow in the rudge money on the boy's education; but for the Friendsthe Universities of Oxford and Cao successively to Quaker schools at Hitchin and Tottenhae of seventeen, to University College, London, which was non-sectarian There the teaching was good, the atmosphere favourable to industry, and Lister was not conscious of hardshi+p in hts of youth that fell to his more fortunate contemporaries

His father lived in a coe, in a district now coh of West Ham He kept up close relations with other Quaker fahbourhood, especially the Gurneys of Plashets In their circle the ure was Elizabeth Fry, who froly to the cause of prison refor influence over his son, as industrious and serious beyond his years

Froht in the use of the microscope He learned also to use his oer of observation, and to ether to , which the future surgeon thus early developed, stood hi to contrast his enjoyreat conteh his inability to use a pencil and to preserve the record of what he saw in nature or in the laboratory

Lister's school-days were over when he was seventeen years old and there is nothing ree was unusually prolonged He was a student there for seven years and continued an eighth year, after he had taken his degree, as Acting House Surgeon In 1848, half-way through his tiht on by overwork, just as he was finishi+ng his general studies; but a long holiday enabled hith, and before the end of the year he had begun the course of medical studies which was to be his life-work

At school his record had been good but not brilliant, nor did he come quickly to the front in London His mind was not of the sort which can be forced to produce untimely fruit in the hot-house of examinations

But his education was both extensive and thorough; it forood basis for the special studies in which he was later to distinguish hie for two years before he gained his first medal; but by 1850 he had made his na the credit of his College against any rival in thehis fellow students the best known in later years was Sir Henry Thos in our National Gallery A his professors one stands out pre-eminent, alike for his character and for his influence on Lister's life This was Williainal inality in others In days when lish professors were content with a narrow eed with his knapsack over half Europe in quest of knowledge, had studied in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, and had made hiht in their schools He was a first-rate lecturer, clear and siet to know his pupils When Lister had held for a short tie Hospital, and needed to make definite plans for his career, it was Sharpey who advised hio north for a while and attend so on his course Thus it was Sharpey who introduced him to Scotland and to Syiven to the year 1851, when Lister completed his studentshi+p and became for a time an active member of the hospital staff This year was i him to the practice of his art under the direction of Erichsen, an Anglo-Dane and one of the foree in his way of living, to his being thrown into closer relations witha s What we hear of the essays that he wrote at school, e can read of his early letters, all har There is a staid priely with the pictures of es of dickens Capable though he was of enjoying a holiday, or of expanding aenial associates, Lister was not quick to make friends He was apt to keep too much to himself; and he see rave mien, steadfast eyes, and lofty intellectual forehead which are conspicuous in his later portraits He was steady in conduct, serious inhimself; and while these qualities helped him in the mental application which was so necessary if he was to profit by his student days, he needed a little shaking up in order to adapt himself to the ways of other iven him by the constant activities of the hospital, and by the demands which the various societies made upon him; but he did not allow them to interfere with his own researches, for which he could find time when others were overwhelmed by the routine of their daily tasks

His first bit of original research is of special interest because it connects him with his father's work He made special observations with the microscope of the muscular tissue of the iris of the eye, illustrated his paper by delicate drawings of his own, and published it in the leading microscopical journal This and a subsequent paper on the phenoists at hoht him into friendly relations with a Gerreat satisfaction to his father and to his favourite teacher Sharpey

But Lister's developround, and his visit to Edinburgh in 1853 shaped the whole course of his career James Syinal and brilliant surgeon then living in the British Isles, perhaps in all Europe His merits as a lecturer were somewhat overshadowed by his extraordinary skill as an operator; but he was a remarkable man in all ways, and the fact that Lister was ad theatre, and then to his home, ithout doubt the happiest accident in his life

The ate enthusiastic classes in the hospitals, its cultivated and intellectual society outside, supplied just anted to foster the genius of a young man on the threshold of his career In London, centres of culture were too widely diffused, indifference and apathy too prevalent, conservatisly entrenched In his new home in the north Lister could watch the boldest operator in his own profession, and could daily uished in other sciences, and as a visitor to Sy ablewidely different lines in life Above all, here he met one as peculiarly qualified to be his helper; and three years later, at the age of twenty-nine, he was hter of his chief, to whom he had been attracted, as can be seen froh and Upton, soon after his arrival in the north Before this event, he had already eon, as assistant operator to Syme, and also as an independent lecturer under the liberal syste to all who could establish by un those researches into the early stages of inflammation which, ten years later, were to bear such wonderful fruit It was a full and busy life, and the distraction of courtshi+p must have made it impossible for him at times to meet all deth doubled by the sympathy which his wife showed in his work, and by the help which she was able to render hi to his dictation

For their honey journey on the Continent in the suiven to science, and, after some weeks' enjoyment of the beauties of Italy, husband and wife made the tour of Ger, if possible, of the leading surgeons and the newest methods Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Munich, Frankfort, Heidelberg, and Stuttgart were all included in the tour They ell received, and at Vienna the avehiscouple to dine at his house Though he had not yet ence always made a favourable ies in his youth, he was able, now and later in life, to address French and Gerue He caies to the full In October 1856 he was elected assistant Surgeon to the Infir, he had to conduct public operations himself, whereas he had hitherto only acted as Syme's assistant This was at first a severe trial for his nerves That it affected hieons is shown by the fact that he used always, all his life, to perspire freely when starting to operate; but he learnt to overco his attention on his work He was not a ious phrases on his lips; but in letters to his faives us the secret of his confidence and his power 'Yesterday', he says in a letter written to his father on February 26, 'Ibefore the students I felt very nervous before beginning; but when I had got fairly to work, this feeling went off entirely, and I performed both operations with entire comfort' A week later, in a letter to his sister, he returns to the subject 'The theatre was again well filled; and though I again felt a good deal before the operation, yet I lost all consciousness of the presence of the spectators during its perfor on Just before the operation began I recollected that there was only one Spectator whom it was i theatre and in the private rooave me increased firetfulness of himself, these were to be the key-notes of his life-work

As yet, to a superficial observer, there were not ns of a brilliant career ahead of hirow extensively for many years The attendance at his earlier course of lectures was discouraginglystill, had not his dressers, froularly to swell the nu deht have been content to follow the ordinary routine of his profession With his wife at his side and friends close at hand, he had every chance of living a useful and happy life But he still found time to conduct experiments and to think for hi the line which he had opened up in 1855, and in 1858 he appeared before an Edinburgh Surgical Society to read a paper on Spontaneous Gangrene

This gave Mrs Lister an opportunity to show her value All his life Lister was prone to unpunctuality and to being late with preparations for his addresses, not because he was indifferent to the convenience of others or careless about the quality of his teaching, but because he becarossed in the work of theas any improvement seemed possible This same quality made him slow over his hospital rounds and often over operations, with the result that his own ular and his assistants often had trouble to stay the pangs of hunger This handicapped him in private practice and in soht to his subjects, but rarely began to put thoughts in writing sufficiently in advance of his engagement When he was in time with his written matter the credit was chiefly due to his wife On the occasion of this paper she wrote for seven hours one day and eight hours the next, and her heroic industry saved the situation

Towards the end of 1859 Lister decided to be a candidate for the Surgical Professorshi+p at Glasgohich appointues to secure the patronage for a local e Lewis, to the young Edinburgh surgeon Syme's opinion and influence no doubt counted for much Lister's appointment dated from January 1860, but it was not till a year and a half later that his position in Glasgoas assured by his being elected Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary Before this he could preach his principles in the lecture-room, but he had little influence on the practice of his students and colleagues Thanks to the reputation which he brought froh, his first lecture drew a full roorew year by year till it reached the unprecedented figure of 182, and each year the enthusiasm seemed to rise But in the hospital he had an uphill task, as any one will knoho has studied the history of these institutions in the first half of the century

To-day the eneral adh standard of cleanliness and efficiency; and few of us would have any hesitation if a doctor advised us to go into hospital for an operation Seventy or a hundred years ago the case was very different; and e read the statistics of the early nineteenth century, gathered by the surgeons who had known its horrors, it is hard to believe that we are not back aes

Such terrible scourges as pyaerene were rife in all of them In the chief hospital of Paris, which for centuries claimed pre-eed for 200 years without inter its doors were found to have died, and the mortality after certain operations was ure Erichsen, who published in 1874 the statistics of deaths after operations, quoted 25 per cent in London as satisfactory, and referred to the 60 per cent of Paris as not surprising In ht reach the appalling figure of 80 or 90 per cent What was so tragic about this situation was that it was precisely hospitals, built to be the safeguard of the coerous places in the case of wounds and amputations In 1869 Sir James Simpson, the famous discoverer of chloroform, collected statistics of amputations He took over 2,000 cases treated in hospitals, and the same number treated outside In the former 855 patients (nearly 43 per cent) died, as it seemed, from the effects of the operation; in the latter only 266 cases (over 13 per cent) ended fatally He went so far as to conde hospitals; and under his influence aa syste to security or not, was in other ways inconvenient and very expensive