1865

Lister, influenced by Pasteur’s papers on fermentation and putrefaction, begins search for effective antiseptic, seeking one that worked prophylactically; lands on tries carbolic acid (from coal-tar; in raw form, creosote, a wood strengthener); he limited his trial to compound fractures after two preliminary failures; achieved success with 8 of 9 cases; then applied “antiseptic system” to abscesses (especially psoas abscesses), then to lacerated and contused wounds  publication in Lancet in 1867 his five-part article, On a New Method of Treating Compound Fracture, Abscess, etc., with Observations on the Conditions of Suppuration (Fitzharris, 162-170).