INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



JOSEPH LISTER was born at Upton, Essex, England, in 1827, 

 and received his general education at the University of London. 

 After graduation he studied medicine in London and Edinburgh, 

 and became lecturer in surgery at the University in the latter city. 

 Later he was professor of surgery at Glasgow, at Edinburgh, and 

 at King's College Hospital, London, and surgeon to Queen Vic- 

 toria. He was made a baronet in 1883; retired from teaching in 

 1893; and was raised to the peerage in 1897, with the title of 

 Baron Lister. 



Even before the work of Pasteur on fermentation and putre- 

 faction, Lister had been convinced of the importance of scrupulous 

 cleanliness and the usefulness of deodorants in the operating 

 room; and when, through Pasteur's researches, he realized that 

 the formation of pus was due to bacteria, he proceeded to de- 

 velop his antiseptic surgical methods. The immediate success of 

 the nrrf treatment led to its general adoption, with results of 

 such beneficence as to make it rank as one of the great discover^ 

 of the ag. 



