Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, M.D. (1827 - 1910)

It was Friedlieb Runge who discovered creosote, a chemical compound with anti-decomposition properties, widely used in the industrializing countries in the railway and shipping business since it protected the wood on train tracks and boats from rotting. It was also used for treating sewage, because it reduced the odor, although people were not exactly sure how.

Joseph Lister, a surgeon at the University of Glasgow, born on this day in 1827, suspected that chemical compounds such as creosote, could be used to combat skin wound decomposition, as well.

In an 1867 series of articles in The Lancet, entitled: "On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observation on the conditions of suppuration", Lister described the use of carbolic acid solution as a means to reduce the incidence of gangrene in surgical wounds. Lister applied a bandage dressing of carbolic acid onto the wound of a boy who had an open leg fracture. After four days, no infection had developed, and after a total of six weeks the bone healed without infection or decomposition. This was considered a remarkable achievement.