Joseph lister By JAKE BLACK

Who is Joseph Lister? Joseph Lister studied at the University of London and he entered the Royal College of Surgeons when he was 26. Lister worked as a professor of surgery at universities in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was born on April 5th 1827. He died on February 10th 1912.His family were members of a religious group called the Quakers.

What is he best known for? He was trying to stop bacteria from getting into a humans body. Lister tested carbolic acid, or phenol, which was used to remove the smell from sewage. He sprayed it on surgical instruments , wounds and dressings, and found a big reduction of gangrene and infections. Wounds no longer became septic, so the carbolic acid was anti-septic. He made surgeons wear gloves and wash their hands before and after operations with carbolic acid diluted in water.

Did his idea work? Yes it did work, but before that surgeons did not wash their hands and that’s why thousands of people died. After that he told them to wear gloves so that no other people would die because the gloves protected their hands from germs.

My thoughts... I think his idea was a great one actually one of the best in the world. Without him millions of would have died because of germs, doctors not washing their hands before surgery and not wearing gloves at the operation.

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