9(5 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



" In 1836 and 1837 it was proved independently by Cagniard de la 

 Tour and Schwann, that yinous fermentation was dne to the growth 

 and multiplication of a microscopic plant. At the same time 

 Schwann described experiments which illustrated and explained the 

 conditions, now well known, by which flesh may be preserved from 

 putrefaction. But Schwann's researches were overshadowed by the 

 views of accepted authorities, and they continued so up to the publica- 

 tion of Pasteur's investigations. From this point forward the view 

 gained ground that putrefaction is the work of floating microscopic 

 organisms ; and that if air be thoroughly cleansed of its suspended 

 particles, neither its oxygen, nor any other gaseous constituent, is 

 competent to provoke either fermentation or putrefaction. 



" Condensed into a single sentence, the merit of Mr. Lister consists 

 in the generalisation, to living matter, of the results obtained by 

 Schwann and Pasteur with dead matter. He began w r ith cases of 

 compound fracture and with abscesses. In simple fracture the wound 

 is internal, the uninjured skin forming a protecting envelope. Here 

 nature works the cure after the proper setting of the injured parts. 

 In compound fracture, on the other hand, the wound extends to the 

 surface, where it comes in contact with the air ; and here the operator 

 can never be sure that the most consummate skill will not be 

 neutralised by subsequent putrefaction. 



" In the earliest of his published communications, Mr. Lister clearly 

 enunciates, and illustrates by cases of a very impressive character, the 

 scientific principles upon which the antiseptic system rests. He 

 refers to the researches of Pasteur, and shows their bearing upon 

 surgery. He points to the representative fact, then known but un- 

 explained, that when a lung is wounded by a fractured rib, though 

 the blood is copiously mixed with air, no inflammatory disturbance 

 supervenes ; while an external wound penetrating the chest, if it 

 remains open, infallibly causes dangerous suppurative pleurisy. In 

 the latter case the blood and serum are decomposed by the micro- 

 scopic progeny of the germs which enter -with the air ; in the former 

 case the air is filtered in the bronchial tubes, and all solid particles are 

 arrested. Three years subsequently, this inference of Professor 

 Lister's was shown to be capable of experimental demonstration. 



" After enunciating the theoretic views which guided him, he thus 

 expresses himself in his first paper : — 



" 'Applying these principles to the treatment of compound fracture; 

 bearing in mind that it is from the vitality of the atmospheric particles 

 that all the mischief arises, it appears that all that is requisite is to 

 dress the wound with some material capable of killing these septic 

 germs, provided that any substance can be found reliable for this 

 purpose, yet not too potent as a caustic' 



"This is the thesis to the illustration and defence of which Pro- 



