The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade

Call Number
Nf 820.5 A BOO
Created/Published
Sydney : Bookfellow, 1911-[1925?]
Issue
Vol. 2 No. 10 (15 October 1913)
Images
28
Notes
NSW Edition. Continuous pagination, includes supplement.
View Catalogue

Text

The Bookfellow  

THE AUSTRALASIAN REVIEW.  

N.S.W. EDITION.  

NEW SERIES.—MONTHLY.-Vol. 11, No. 10.  

OCTOBER 15, 1913.  

SIX SHILLINGS YEAR  

Registered at the General Post Office, Sydney, for transmission by post as newspaper.  

Single Copy 6d.  

REVIEWS.  

LORD LISTER: His Life and  

Work  

by G. T. Wrench.  

T. Fisher Unwin 15s. net.  

Joseph Lister, “founder of modern  

surgery,” man whose science and  

practice rank him as benefactor of  

humanity, was born at London in 1827.  

He died last year. The story of his  

deeds is fascinating. He saved, as  

direct consequence of his teaching, more  

lives than Attila slew; and “many gene-  

rations shall call him blessed.”  

The Greatest of Surgeons  

The changes which Lister caused in  

the system of treating wounds and dis-  

eases are so revolutionary that hospital  

surgery may be divided historically into  

two epochs—“before” and “after” Lis-  

ter. Upon the road which, with Pasteur’s  

discovery for axe, he hewed through the  

wilderness of prejudice and ignorance,  

all may now run. The marvel of the  

19th century is commonplace to-day.  

Doubtless, sooner or later, other quest-  

ing inquirers would have seen the surgi-  

cal application of Pasteur’s work. But  

Lister blazed the track.  

Before Lister’s discovery of antisepsis,  

wounded patients in hospitals, all the  

world over, were more likely to die  

than to live. “Every wound discharged  

pus freely, and putrefactive changes  

occurred in the discharges of all”;  

“secondary haemorrhage, tetanus, ery-  

sipelas, septicaemia, pyaemia, and hos-  

pital gangrene were never all absent  

from the hospital wards, and at times  

pyaemia and hospital gangrene became  

alarmingly epidemic.” There was “in  

the atmosphere of every surgical ward,  

no matter how well ventilated, foetid  

sickening odour” from putrefying flesh.  

Wherever, as in case of compound  

fracture, the skin was broken, the chance  

of recovery was small. “Must hospital  

surgeons,” it was asked, “ever remain  

content with losing one-third to one-  

half of all their amputation cases, and  

nine-tenths of some ?”  

Practical Philosopher  

Trained as surgeon, Lister made ex-  

periments on the life of flesh-tissues.  

He appreciated the fact that wound  

destroys cell-life and tends to lower  

the vitality of cells in proximity to the  

wound. He argued that if the original  

vitality of wounded cells could be pre-  

served or reinforced, or if some protec-  

tion analogous to the protection given  

by the skin could be afforded to  

wound, wounds might heal without  

impediment.  

At the crisis of Lister’s investigation,  

Pasteur showed that putrefaction was  

caused by living germs floating by myri-  

ads in the common air. Lister had  

vision of these germs fastening upon  

the wounded cell-tissues and causing the  

destructive changes which led finally to  

the agonising death of patient. He  

sought for some remedy to combat the  

assault, and found it in carbolic acid.  

Under treatment with diluted carbolic  

acid, wounds healed without suppura-  

tion. He called his method of treat-  

ment antisepsis, “against putrefaction,”  

improved his practice, confirmed his  

results, and gave his discovery to the  

medical world. Dr. Wrench tells the  

story in book of absorbing interest to  

medical and lay readers.  

Old Surgery and New  

“The extreme cleanliness that now  

distinguishes the doctor is the outcome  

of Lister’s discoveries and proof of the  

value of cleanliness. But before Lister  

the doctor paid no more heed to cleanli-  

ness than any other man. Indeed, he  

often paid less, for what would not be  

offensive to him owing to familiarity  

was offensive to other men. Before an  

operation the surgeon would turn up  

the sleeves of his coat to save the coat,  

and would often not trouble to wash his  

hands, knowing how stained they would  

be. The area of the operation would  

sometimes be washed with soap and  

water, but this was not invariable, for  

the inevitability of corruption made any  

elaboration of cleanliness appear farci-  

cal. The silk or thread used for stitches  

and ligatures was hung over the button  

of the surgeon’s coat, and during the  

operation convenient place for the  

knife to rest was between his lips. The  

instruments were washed after the  

operation with soap and water and put  

away, but the instruments used for  

dressing wounds or lancing abscesses  

were kept in the vest pocket, and often  

only wiped with towel or piece of  

rag as the surgeon or dresser moved  

from patient to patient.  

Lister in 1861 was Professor of  

Clinical Surgery in the University of  

Glasgow, and surgeon of the Glasgow  

Infirmary. “He introduced into his  

wards scrupulous cleanliness. Dressers,  

nurses, and house-surgeons were made  

to wash their hands frequently when  

assisting at operations or dressing  

wounds. Abundant clean towels had to  

be provided. Frequent fresh clean  

dressings were applied to suppurating  

wounds. Deodorant fluids were lavishly  

applied. The members of the lay com-  

mittee expostulated at this extravagance  

in the cause of cleanliness.”  

The use of carbolic acid as deodor-  

ant and to some extent as an antiseptic  

had been made before Lister. It was  

Lister who first applied it systematic-  

ally, with an understanding of the  

principle of its use. His success was  

immediate.. His patients recovered; the  

foul odour left his hospital ward. Other  

surgeons gradually applied his method;  

yet for years it met astonishing opposi-  

tion, particularly in London. Dr. Wrench  

says:  

Professional Opposition to Lister  

“The record of London surgeons in  

these first years of the unfolding of  

Lister’s doctrine was, indeed, miser-  

able one of jealousy and arrogance. The  

provinces, Ireland and Scotland, had  

come forward, not in great numbers it is  

true, to bear testimony to the human  

value of antisepsis. The London medi-  

cal world, however, possessed the Lon-  

don characteristic of haughty indifference  

to anything it had to accept humbly  

from without. Secure in the pride of  

size, London then, as now, only showed  

favour to the gifted when by their ser-  

vice and their presence they acknow-  

ledged her pre-eminence and added to  

her hereditary grandeur. It was for  

merit to come to London and sue her  

favour and patronage, and not for Lon-  

don to bend humbly in service and  

loyalty to merit, however great it might  

be. The surgeons and hospital staffs of  

the London hospitals were clothed with  

this peculiar spirit. Until Lister him-  

self came and took up his work in Lon-  

don, London surgeons seemed to be  

barricaded against his truths by an  

almost monstrous conceit.”  

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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-842966617

APA citation

(1911). The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Retrieved July 30, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-842966617

MLA citation

The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Sydney: Bookfellow, 1911. Web. 30 July 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-842966617>

Harvard/Australian citation

1911, The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Bookfellow, Sydney viewed 30 July 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-842966617

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  |
  | title=The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade.
  | year=1911
  | section=v. ; 32 cm.
  | edition=Trade ed.
  | issue=Vol. 2 No. 10 (15 October 1913)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=Bookfellow
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-842966617
  | id=nla.obj-842966617
  | access-date=30 July 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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