Joseph Lister And The Tissue Breakdown From Infection

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On April 5th, 1827, Joseph Lister was born. At age 16, he decided to become a doctor, and became the house surgeon at the University Hospital in 1852. While operating at the hospital, he observed that many people fell ill when skin was broken, yet people did not when the skin was not. He reasoned that the tissue breakdown from infection was caused by small organisms in the air. Soon after, he developed a solution containing carbolic acid that he sprayed into the air, and onto his surgical equipment. To his surprise, infection rates dropped dramatically. While doctors in the U.S. and England doubted the solution, he was widely accepted in Germany, where he lectured medical students about antiseptics. Eventually, he was offered a position at

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