Solution elementary 3rd edition: Unit 7b Joseph Lister

Before the 19th century, many patients died after operations. Surgeons didn't wash their hands between operations, and hospitals were not clean places. They were full of germs, very small living things which often carried diseases. Joseph Lister was a famous British surgeon. He invented antiseptic surgery. This meant that doctors could kill many of the germs on themselves and their tools. It changed surgery forever. Lister was born near London in 1827. He studied medicine at University College London, and after that moved to Scotland to work as a surgeon. To start off with, he worked in Glasgow, but later he moved to Edinburgh to work as the Professor of Surgery at the city's university. This is St Thomas' Church in London. It was part of an old hospital and still has an original operating theatre. At that time, surgery was very different from the operations we know today. There were no drugs to help you sleep during the operation, so the patient lay, awake, on a wooden table like this. The surgeon used a variety of instruments. Most of these weren't clean, because doctors and surgeons didn't understand the danger of germs. Even their clothes were still dirty with other patients' blood. Most operations were terrifying and painful, and patients often died. Lister wanted to improve the situation, but he didn't find the answer in a book or even in a hospital. He found it in the countryside. At that time, farmers used carbolic acid to treat a common disease in cows. First of all, Lister mixed the carbolic acid with water, creating the first antiseptic. Next, he cleaned all his instruments and his clothes with the antiseptic. Finally, he used the new, clean instruments in his surgery. The results were amazing. Before he started using antiseptics, around 45% of Lister's patients died during surgery. After he introduced antiseptics, only 15% of his patients died. Soon, all surgeons used antiseptics in surgery. Today, we know that germs are dangerous, and it's important to be clean. All surgeons wash their hands with antiseptic liquid. They wear clean clothes and face masks, so they don't carry germs into the operating theatre. The theatre itself doesn't have any germs, because staff members clean the equipment with antiseptics before and after each operation. Lister's work changed surgery forever. And today, over a century after his death, his antiseptics are still saving lives.