At the royal college of Physicians
and surgeons of Glasgow
and surgeons of Glasgow
On his arrival in Glasgow in 1860, Lister took up the position of Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, but did not start working as a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary until a year later. This was due to an aversion from the members of the Hospital Board to the suggestion that the Infirmary become a teaching hospital for new surgical ideas rather than a hospital solely focused on treating patients.
After ongoing conversations with the managers of the infirmary and even a petition by his students at the university, Lister was finally given a surigcal position at the hospital in 1861. Glasgow at this time was an ever-growing city, becoming overcrowded in places. Thomas Annan's famous photography series of the closes of Glasgow showed the poor living conditions in parts of the "Second City of the Empire". Illness and disease were rampant, and were common ailments for hospital patients at the Royal Infirmary, whose wards were overcrowded and unsanitory. Lister made it his priority to not only improve the treatment of patients (eventually by pioneering his antiseptic principle), but also the general hygiene of the hospital wards "...from some of the most unhealthy in the kingdom into models of healthiness." (Gibson, 1983)
The surgical ward in which Joseph Lister famously undertook his first cases of applying the antiseptic principle became known as the "Lister Ward" over the years.
Lister's wards were within a surgical block of the hospital situated on Castle Street, an extension of the main hospital building. He was in charge of two wards on the ground floor; Ward 24 for male patients and Ward 25 for female patients. It was within these wards that Lister began applying his experiments in antisepsis, dressing the wounds of his patients with carbolic solution.
Unfortunately, the decision was made to demolish the ward in 1924, despite an outcry from many in the medical community. How would Lister's legacy be commemorated? One such report in the Lancet read:
"In these circumstances surgical science, and indeed
humanity, must accept as his monument, now and
in the future, the world-wide continuous application
of his principles."
(The Lancet, 1924)
Some of those who objected to the demolition of Lister's wards were members of the College. In an attempt to salvage some of the ward, members of the College were able to procure one of the fireplaces, as well as a table that was mounted for Professor John H Teacher.
John H Teacher was a pathologist at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the first St Mungo's Professor of Pathology at the University of Glasgow. Teacher worked alongside Professor Joseph Coats at the Glasgow Western Infirmary. Coats had worked with Lister as house surgeon of the Royal Infirmary in 1868 and had been witness to his early antiseptic practice.