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Show merly been calledw grene" disappeared k geons laughed at whan i; cated. Many of th6a , f ' gone completely a2 i , 4 ed their taunts and d'em. R" daily that he was right Ultimately doctors im a the world beat a pathwa, , operations for he had m" surgery and reduced ( hazard at least 75 perceM. THE (yWEAwafflsmm Antiseptics ... Antiseptics were not used by surgeons until late in the nineteenth nine-teenth century. Had they been known earlier, millions of lives would have been prolonged, especially espe-cially among men who were wounded during wars. It is estimated esti-mated that more than half of those who died during the Civil War could have been saved for gainful occupations and have lived many years afterwards had their wounds been treated with such a simple antiseptic as iodine. Surgeons in "the good . old days" operated with their street clothes on. One famous surgeon is quoted as saying he had "operated "oper-ated in the same frock coat for twenty years." Surgeons' hands were seldom washed with soap and water before they began operations, oper-ations, and most of them went from patient, to patient in the J hospital wards, their hands stained stain-ed with the blood of other inmates in-mates whose wounds they had redressed. re-dressed. Satures were frequently carried in the buttonholes of the doctor's coat. Infected wounds after operations were expected; and had it not been for the strong constitutions of many of the sick, few would have survived. In 1865, Joseph Lister, aged 3 8 years, and a young surgeon at the hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, Scot-land, had brought to him a case of compound fracture of the leg a mighty bad fracture accompanied accompan-ied by great bruising of the limb and the loss of much blood. He had the nurse boil a towel, and with it washed fne wound, using a solution of carbolic acid, which he reasoned would prevent the usually anticipated suppuration. In eight days the patient was so improved that he sat up in bed and had not complained of pain. But the great thing was there had been no infection in that wound a most unusual happening. happen-ing. Obviously, Lister had made a remarkable discovery. He carried his idea still further. fur-ther. He washed his hands thoroughly thor-oughly before operations in soap and water and immersed them In a dish containing water and carbolic car-bolic acid. He cleaned under his fingernails with an orange stick. He boiled ligatures, ' needles, and instruments which he intended ! using. He sprayed the walls, ceil- ing and floor of the operating room with a carbolic solution. He covered his face with sterilized towels and advocated that surgeons sur-geons remove their beards and moustaches because they harbored jerms. He cleansed with an antiseptic anti-septic solution the site of the operation op-eration on the patient's body. He j had operating room assistants, ' nurses and attendants, cleanse themselves thoroughly and wear sterilized clothing. Patients brought to his clinic recovered quickly and without the j presence of pus. What had for-1 |