Joseph Lister History Drama

The following is a fictionalized dramatization of the life of Joseph Lister based upon real sources, based upon real events. The 5th of April, 1827, Upton, Essex, United Kingdom. A woman is giving birth to a child. His father says, your name shall be Joseph, as is mine. Nearly three years later, in the Lister household, the young boy enters to study. Joseph says to his father, father, what are you doing? To which his father replies, writing my findings up. I'm hoping it will be published. The young boy picks up the sheets. On some properties in anachromatic object glasses applicable to the improvement of the microscope. What does that mean? It means we're going to be able to see things even smaller than ever before. Like ants? Like ants, just much smaller. Smaller than a grain of sand. And some years later, Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr. are walking out of church. Joseph Sr. approaches a priest and says, father, could you possibly get my son into a place at your school? I'd rather he had a good, solid Quaker education. The priest replied to his father, well, it's not really my school, but I'll see what I can do. He really enjoys his French and German. To which the priest laughed. Even more years later, in Tottenham, Joseph Jr. walks into Joseph Sr.'s study. I'll never hold a candle to you, father. Oh, come on. It's your first day at the Grove House School tomorrow. You'd best be off to bed. But father, I can hardly sleep. Maths, natural sciences, and languages, all of them are a mock in my mind. How can one sleep with such excitement? Because one should know the faster one drifts asleep the earlier the day shall follow. By 1853, Joseph had received his master's degree and had been accepted into the Royal College of Surgeons. He went to tell his parents, Mr. Joseph Lister, after your great success in medicines while studying at the University of London, your acceptance into the Royal College of Surgeons. All this hard work has led me up to this. A future where more hard work lays in store. Well done, son. His mother replied, I'm proud of you, as your brother John would have been. And what of Mary, Isabella, William, and Arthur? I'm sure they'll be just as pleased. A year later, he was working at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He was talking to his friend, Professor Syme. Professor Syme, my friend, why do we have out these wards? My traumatic theory, my dear friend, disease and bad air. What evidence do we have? Look it up, there's loads of it. What of contagion, though? What of the air? Roughly 1866, Joseph was working at the University of Glasgow and was doing some research into hygiene and the such. Etudes sur le vent, by Louis Pasteur. He flicked through the pages. Incredible, so rotting is from these microorganisms. And then we need to get rid of them. We'll trace an exposure to heat could be too dangerous when dealing with a human. That means finding the right chemical then. So he went to the laboratory, he tested out two chemicals, but the results weren't very great. These two get rid of the rotting agents, but burn straight through the skin. Carbolic acid is used in sewage treatment, however. Nobody's suffered adverse effects, to my knowledge. I've got it. He walked into an operating room and talked to the doctor during the surgery. Doctor, you wouldn't mind me washing your instruments, would you? Of course not. Of course not, Professor. And so he sprayed the instruments with carbolic acid, and a few weeks later a nurse approached him in the corridor to present him with some figures. Professor, since we started cleaning the utilities with carbolic acid, the amount of people contracting gangrene has plummeted. Truly a success for medical science. Indeed. Now where's the boy? Through here. So his leg was broken by a wheel. Yeah, nasty thing to happen. They entered the room, the boy was lying on the bed. How are you feeling, son? I'm in agony. Nurse, pass me some lint. He took the lint and sprayed it with carbolic acid and applied it to the boy's injury. And four days later he returned to remove the pad. He noticed no infection and replaced it with a clean pad. Six weeks later he returned to his child again to check up on him. How are you feeling, son? Completely fine. Joseph checked the leg. To his amazement, the bone is completely fused back together. In 1867 he was working on a study and his father approached him and said, oh, I see you're working on a paper. What's it about? Antiseptic principle of the practice of surgery is about how antiseptics save a boy's leg. Anyway, what did you say about these statistics? He handed his father some statistics from the hospital. I'd say the show-and-tell baby survived a midwife-led birth, with a surgeon using sterilized equipment. It's because they washed their hands, whereas surgeons spread blood-worn infections from delivery to delivery. So surgeons would be donning gloves to save lives and washing their hands, of course, between surgeries. In 1869 he returned to the University of Edinburgh. The head of the university approached him. Welcome back, Professor. Thanks. A messenger ran in. Joseph, it's your father. He died. You can leave if you want. I'm a believer in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. He's in a better place now. Do you want me to go out there, do a selection, and enlighten another 400 people on the importance of antiseptics? Several years later at the King's College Hospital in London, the nurse approached him again. He was about to do surgery on a brain tumour. It was the second time anyone's ever done this. Professor, are you sure you want to do this? This is only the second time anyone's ever done surgery on a brain tumour. Someone must innovate. Someone must take risks. I'm doing that now. I'm jumping into the unknown once more. In 1897 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. For revolutionising surgery, for saving millions of lives, for making the country and the world feel safe in the knowledge that they will not die of infection, that their bones can heal, I name you Baron Lister. The 7th of August 1902, two days before Edward was due to be coronated, the King's aide approached him. Edward has fallen ill with appendicitis. What should we do? Here are the latest resources on antiseptics. Follow them to the word and do your duty for your country. Later he was approached by King Edward himself. I know that if it had not been for your work, I wouldn't be sitting here today, only doing my duty for my country, replied Joseph. On the 10th of 1912 Joseph passed away. His funeral took place at Westminster Abbey and he was buried in Hampstead Cemetery at the Fortune Green.