INTRODUCTION 
IT is not proposed to enter into any biographical details in the following 
notes, which are merely intended to indicate the sequence of events in the course 
of Lord Lister’s work, and thus to enable the reader to follow the development of 
his great discovery. His work was carried out at different periods and under 
the varying circumstances of different hospitals and clinical schools. 
The first of these periods was one of preparation, ending in his graduation 
in medicine at the University of London in 1852. Among the men whose 
influence during this period was of the greatest importance in determining 
his future line of thought and work were his father, Joseph Jackson Lister, 
William Sharpey, Professor of Physiology, and Thomas Graham, Professor 
of Chemistry in University College. 
Joseph Jackson Lister was a merchant in the City of London who devoted 
his leisure to scientific pursuits, and especially to the perfecting of the microscope, 
and his name will always be remembered as the first to solve the problem of the 
production of achromatic lenses. He was a man of extreme accuracy of thought, 
a most methodical worker, a good classical scholar, and skilful with brush and 
pencil. His influence on his son’s character and career was very great. This 
has been acknowledged with gratitude by Lord Lister himself, not only in the 
obituary of his father, reprinted in the second of these volumes, but also on 
many other occasions. 
During his career at University College, Lister came specially under the 
influence of Sharpey, and under his guidance early applied himself to the study 
of various physiological problems. Papers describing the results of three 
important researches made by him at this period are reproduced in this volume. 
They relate to the contractile tissue of the iris, to the muscular tissue of the 
skin, and to the flow of lacteal fluid in the mesentery of the mouse respectively. 
His keen interest, too, in the study of chemistry under Graham had an abiding 
effect, for it equipped his mind with a sound knowledge of the principles and 
methods of chemical science, which greatly aided him in many ways in his 
future researches, not least in devising various forms of antiseptic dressings, 
a task which entailed great labour and patience in the conduct of a long 
series of experiments extending over many years. 
The second of the periods referred to was that of his first residence in 
Edinburgh (1852-60). After completing his course at University College, and 
