Article ID: CBB001320253

Joseph Lister and the Performance of Antiseptic Surgery (2013)

unapi

Worboys, Michael (Author)


Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Volume: 67
Pages: 199-209


Publication Date: 2013
Edition Details: Part of a symposium on Joseph Lister
Language: English

This article highlights a neglected feature of Joseph Lister's work, namely how, in addition to promoting germ theories and the principles of the antiseptic system, he also devoted much time and effort to communicating the performative aspects of antisepsis and of the many other surgical innovations that he developed. Attention to `detail' and striving for `improvement' were crucial to Listerian practice, and he sought to convey his credo in three main ways: first, his publications aimed at `bringing the subject out in the same sort of way as it had been worked out by himself'; second, he set out strict protocols and information on materials and methods, yet also encouraged surgeons to improvise; and third, he made himself an exemplar of a new form of professionalism, which made constancy and vigilance in practice a moral duty for surgeons.

...More
Included in

Article Hurwitz, Brian; Dupree, Marguerite W. (2013) Learning from Lister: Antisepsis, Safer Surgery and Global Health. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (p. 187). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320253/

Similar Citations

Article Crowther, M. Anne; (2013)
Lister at Home and Abroad: A Continuing Legacy (/isis/citation/CBB001320258/)

Article Kirkup, John; (2013)
Lord Lister's Antiseptic Steam Spray (/isis/citation/CBB001200764/)

Article Hurwitz, Brian; Dupree, Marguerite W.; (2013)
Learning from Lister: Antisepsis, Safer Surgery and Global Health (/isis/citation/CBB001320251/)

Article Kernahan, Peter J.; (2009)
Causation and Cleanliness: George Callender, Wounds, and the Debates over Listerism (/isis/citation/CBB000930497/)

Article Worboys, Michael; (2013)
Joseph Lister and the Performance of Antiseptic Surgery (/isis/citation/CBB001213886/)

Article Richardson, Ruth; Rhodes, Bryan; (2013)
Joseph Lister's First Operation (/isis/citation/CBB001320591/)

Article Schlich, Thomas; (2013)
Farmer to Industrialist: Lister's Antisepsis and the Making of Modern Surgery in Germany (/isis/citation/CBB001320256/)

Article Schlich, Thomas; (2013)
Farmer to Industrialist: Lister's Antisepsis and the Making of Modern Surgery in Germany (/isis/citation/CBB001213889/)

Book Crowther, M. Anne; Dupree, Marguerite W.; (2007)
Medical Lives in the Age of Surgical Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB000950323/)

Article Gautam Chandra; (2022)
Medical profession and unemployment in colonial Madras (1835–1930) (/isis/citation/CBB106867993/)

Article Richardson, Ruth; (2013)
Inflammation, Suppuration, Putrefaction, Fermentation: Joseph Lister's Microbiology (/isis/citation/CBB001320254/)

Article Claire L Jones; Marguerite Dupree; Iain Hutchison; Susan Gardiner; Anne Marie Rafferty; (2018)
Personalities, Preferences and Practicalities: Educating Nurses in Wound Sepsis in the British Hospital, 1870–1920 (/isis/citation/CBB389754765/)

Article John Kirkup; (2016)
Lord Lister’s Antiseptic Steam Spray (/isis/citation/CBB250627949/)

Book Claire L. Jones; (2020)
The Medical Trade Catalogue in Britain, 1870-1914 (/isis/citation/CBB308894843/)

Authors & Contributors
Schlich, Thomas
Dupree, Marguerite Wright
Richardson, Ruth Drucilla
Kirkup, John
Jones, Claire L.
Crowther, M. Anne
Concepts
Surgery
Medicine
Antisepsis
Germ theory of disease
Medical education and teaching
Professions and professionalization
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
Modern
21st century
18th century
Places
Great Britain
Germany
London (England)
Scotland
India
Institutions
University College, London
Royal Society of London
Royal College of Surgeons, London
St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment