Letters received from Joseph Lister

Three items of correspondence all received by Frederick Crace-Calvert from Joseph Lister largely concerning the supplies of carbolic acid (phenol) that Calvert was sending to Lister and the development of Lister's work into antiseptic methods of surgery. Discussion focuses on the properties of the carbolic acid and Lister's development of antiseptic dressings using Calvert's product with evidence of the sharing and development of ideas between the two men.

Joseph Lister (1827-1912) was a British surgeon and founder of the system of antiseptic surgery. He was born in Essex on 5 April 1827, the son of Joseph Jackson Lister FRS (1786-1869) and his wife Isabella Harris, and was the fourth of seven children in a relatively affluent Quaker family. At the age of 17 he commenced his studies at University College, London and in 1847 gained a BA in botany. Following a break in his study owing to illness he registered as a medical student in 1849 and in 1852 gained his MB and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 1853 he visited Edinburgh to observe the work of James Syme (1799-1870), Professor of Clinical Surgery, which resulted in him remaining in Edinburgh and serving as Syme's assistant and house surgeon at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for one year. After this he became an active extramural teacher and in 1856 was appointed assistant surgeon to the Infirmary. In the same year he resigned his membership of the Society of Friends, joined the Scottish Episcopal Church, and married Syme's eldest daughter Agnes Syme (1834-1893).

In 1860 he moved to Glasgow where he was appointed Chair of Surgery at the University of Glasgow and a year later of the surgical wards at the Glasgow Infirmary. He had begun investigating the nature of inflammation during his time in Edinburgh but following his move to Glasgow his clinical research began to focus very heavily on inflammation and the management of wounds eventually leading to the publication in The Lancet in 1867 of his pioneering works on antiseptic surgery. He had applied, but unsuccessfully, in 1864 for the Chair of Systematic Surgery at Edinburgh but eventually returned to the city in 1869 as Professor of Clinical Surgery and remained there until 1877. During this period he was in contact with Frederick Crace-Calvert who supplied him with quantities of carbolic acid to aid his research as well as for use in private practice.

In 1877 he left Edinburgh to take up the post of Professor of Surgery at King's College, London, a role he held for 15 years. Lister's techniques and discoveries inevitably met with some resistance and criticism but ultimately his work into antiseptics is seen to have revolutionised the practice of surgery. He continued to develop new methods and to defend his works on antiseptic surgery throughout his career.

Lister had been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1860, and became foreign secretary of the Royal Society in 1893 and president in 1895. In 1897 he was given the title Baron Lister of Lyme Regis. He became Sergeant-Surgeon to Queen Victoria in 1900 and subsequently Edward VII who also appointed him to the Order of Merit and the Privy Council. His health began to decline in 1903 when he suffered a small stroke, but he continued to engage in important professional matters and he died in Kent on 10 February 1912 and was buried alongside his wife at Hampstead Cemetery following a service at Westminster Abbey.