Joseph Lister (1827-1912)

On June 17, 1967, Lister performed the first aseptic surgery in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Scotland). In 1876, Lister spoke at the International Medical Congress in Philadelphia. Lister was the most distinguished medical person at the Congress and was seated next to Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, at the Medical Congress banquet. After listening to Lister’s two and one-half hour presentation, Joseph Lawrence, a Missouri physician, returned to his lab and developed an antibacterial mouthwash. The mouthwash, named Listerine®, was manufactured by Lambert Pharmacal Company. Robert Johnson, a New York pharmacist, was also in the audience in Philadelphia. Johnson listened to Lister’s description of a nine-layer gauze dressing covered with a layer of rubber. Lister made these dressings himself, soaking the gauze in carbolic acid and dying the rubber pink so it could easily be identified and placed away from a wound. Johnson and his two brothers, James and Edward, founded Johnson and Johnson Company to manufacture and sell sterile cotton and gauze dressings. (Why wasn’t it called Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Company?)

Read a little about Semmelweis.