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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 193, 13 February 1912, Page 4

THE GREAT LISTER. The world is poorer by the death of Lord Lister, the famous surgeon, for millions of valuable lives have been saved by his providential discovery of the antiseptic system of .treatment in surgery. Septic poison, be-fore the discovery of the method, was the surgeon's deadliest foe, and as we are reminded even nowadays by the occasional death of a patient through the carelessness of medical men, the danger is not altogether removed. It is estimated that previous to the discovery of the treatment twothirds of the men wounded on the battlefield died from septic poisoning, and the saviour of innumerable lives is an example of the kind of genius all countries delight to honor. Whether antiseptic, treatment has become necessary because modern man is unnatural cannot be ascertained, but it is curious that savage men treat wounds in a way exactly'antithetic to those of the modern surgeon. Among all savage races liberal plasters of mud—often highly offensive mud—are applied to hideous wounds, and whether it is that the savages are so healthy that they are able to fight both septic germs and the mud, no one seems to know. The Maoris certainly had gjreat faith in the mud cure, and Australian black-fellows are equally trustful of its healing properties. To adopt the savage man's method would be to invite death from septic poisoning in a modern white man. The late distinguished surgeon was a Quaker, and, as is the'ease with all geniuses who devote their lives to the service of humanity, he was self-abnegating, and did not advertise. Honors rolled in on him from every quarter. His distinctions, if set out In print, would cover half a column of this paper. Every notable university on earth gave him degrees, he was serjeant surgeon in ordinary to the King, president of the Royal Society, and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was at various times Professor of Surgery and Clinical Surgery at many great colleges, but his many honors came as a direct result of the discovery that added his name to the "immortals." Wherever there is a case of surgery being undertaken, the discovery of Lister is of the first Importance. He died at the age of 85, having lived a life crammed with work—tireless, splendid and wholly unselfish. He was the instructor of every physician who has lived since his discovery, and his instruction will be carried on throughout the ages.