PASTEUR AND LISTER 37 



prevent any more germs from getting in, he left 

 untouched the scab or crust formed by the acid 

 and blood together on the wound. His first case, 

 in March, 1865, failed : his next case, in August, 

 was successful. He felt his way, with profound 

 care and watchfulness, from case to case : ventur- 

 ing, when he dared, to modify his first method. 

 Over case 5, a child run over by an omnibus, he 

 fought for six months to save the limb : and saved 

 it. Over case 8, he used not the undiluted acid, 

 but 1 part of the acid to 3 of olive oil. Over 

 case 9, as there was not enough blood in the wound 

 to form a crust, he used a paste of starch and acid. 

 In 1867, he published, in the Lancet, his eleven 



pas. J'ai ete oblige (Ten faire preparer expres deux kilo- 

 grammes avec lesquels j'ai fait toutes mes experiences." 

 De TAcide Phenique, 1863. The date of Dr. Grace Calverfs 

 work on carbolic acid is 1862. Lister, of course, never claimed 

 priority in the use of carbolic acid. He had chosen it because 

 he knew of its " remarkable effects upon the sewage of the 

 town of Carlisle : the admixture of a very small proportion not 

 only preventing all odour from the lands irrigated with the 

 refuse material, but, as it was stated, destroying the entozoa 

 which usually infest cattle fed upon such pastures/ 1 Again, 

 he never claimed that the acid had any specific effects on the 

 germs of putrefaction, such as quinine has on malaria, or 

 salvarsan on syphilis. Thus, in 1868, he wrote : " So far from 

 carbolic acid being a specific, it owes its virtues to properties 

 which it possesses in common with various other substances ; 

 and results similar in kind to those obtained by its means 

 might be got by disinfectants long familiar to British surgery, 

 provided always that the same principles guided their em- 

 ployment." 



