1867

Lister publishes “On a new method of treating compound fractures, abscesses, etc.” in five installments in Lancet (Truax, 117; Fitzharris, 169-70) and is promptly opposed by Lawson Tait and his mentor, James Young Simpson, for whom “Lister’s discovery [was] little more than the advocacy of carbolic acid as an antiseptic in the management of wounds” (Shepherd, 17-20; Truax, 118ff). In June, Lister operates on his sister Isabella for breast cancer – in his home dining-room table (Truax, 136).