Lister, JOSEPH, LORD

Lister, JOSEPH, LORD (cre. 1897), P.R.S. (from 1895), knight of the Prussian order Pour le Mérite and of other foreign orders, was born at Upton, Essex, 5th April 1827, the son of the microscopist Joseph J. Lister, F.R.S. (1786-1869). He graduated at London University in arts (1847) and medicine (1852), and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, in 1852, and of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in 1855. He was successively assistant-surgeon and lecturer on surgery, Edinburgh; regius professor of Surgery, Glasgow; professor of Clinical Surgery, Edinburgh; professor of Clinical Surgery, King's College Hospital, London (1877); and was made surgeon extra-ordinary to the Queen. In addition to important observations on the coagulation of the blood, the early stages of inflammation, and other matters, his great work has been the introduction of what is known as the Antiseptic (q.v.) system of surgery. This system and the theory upon which it is based are now almost universally accepted; and their acceptance has in great measure revolutionised modern surgery, removing some of its most serious dangers, and thus greatly widening its field of usefulness. Lister has been awarded many foreign honours, and received the medal of the Royal Society in 1880, the prize of the Academy of Paris in 1881. He is LL.D. of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Cambridge, and D.C.L. of Oxford; and has written various papers and lectures. He was made a baronet in 1883.