UK 1965 FDC Lister Centenary Antiseptic Surgery Postmarked London Airmailed to Singapore
Item Number: 000071
Price: US$15.00
NEW: 
First Day Cover issued by the United Kingdom to commemorate the Lister Centenary of Antiseptic Surgery in 1965
Postmarked: London
Airmail to Singapore
The two postage stamps on the FDC above were issued in September 1965 to honour Joseph Lister for his contributions to antiseptic surgery.
The First Day Cover above was issued in 1965 to commemorate the Centenary of Joseph Lister's first use of carbolic acid (phenol) as an antiseptic in surgery.
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, was an English surgeon who discovered the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic and introduced antiseptic surgical techniques. He is sometimes known as the "father of modern surgery" or "the father of modern antisepsics."
In 1860, Lister became aware of a paper published (in French) by the French chemist Louis Pasteur which showed that rotting and fermentation could occur without any oxygen if microorganisms were present. Lister made the connection with wound sepsis. Lister had heard that 'carbolic acid' was being used to treat sewage in Carlise, and that fields treated with the affluent were freed of a parasite causing disease in cattle.
In 1865, Joseph Lister began to use carbolic acid (phenol) in surgery.
Carbolic acid (phenol) had been in use as a means of deodorizing sewage, so Lister tested the results of spraying instruments, the surgical incisions, and dressings with a solution of it. Lister found that carbolic acid solution swabbed on wounds markedly reduced the incidence of gangrene and subsequently published a series of articles on the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery describing this procedure in Volume 90, Issue 2299, of The Lancet, published on September 21, 1867. Carbolic acid became the first widely used antiseptic.
Lister was president of the Royal Society (The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge) between 1895 and 1900. Following his death, a Memorial Fund was set up in his name and eventually, in 1924, the Memorial Fund was used to establish the Lister Medal, which became the most prestigious prize that could be awarded to a surgeon.
The popular antiseptic mouthwash, Listerine, is named after Joseph Lister.
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