Lister Unobserved

Abstract

This is a brief historical note, derived from medical records of the time, of Lister's presentation of his revolutionary concept of the Antiseptic Principle to the 35th Annual Medical Meeting of the British Medical Association in Dublin, in 1867. That absolutely no notice was taken of this communication, whose content was to become the basis for our most advanced modern surgery of all kinds, by anyone in his audience; that, in fact, there was not the briefest mention made of it by anyone who had anything at all to do with the meeting, is the reason for submitting this evidence as an ever-recurring lesson to be learned.

S. Afr. Med. J., 47, 1 (1973)