In fact, one note-worthy attendee of a Lister lectures was a pharmacist from Brooklyn, Robert Johnson. Robert Johnson and his brothers started a dry cotton and gauze dressing company that shipped and packaged its products in germ-resistant packages inspired by the work of Joseph Lister. This company is now a household name - Johnson & Johnson. Another common household item that contains Joseph Lister's antiseptic is mouthwash. First formulated by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert, and sold to dentists in 1895, it was ultimately sold over the counter starting in 1914. The mouthwash developed by Lawrence and Lambert was named Listerine to honor Dr. Lister and his pioneering of antiseptic formulas.

Lister eventually retired from being a surgeon after his wife died in 1893. However, Lister's impact in the medical field has been long lasting. Lister became the president of the Royal Society, a society for learned science, in 1895. After he died, a memorial fund was set up in his name. Eventually the fund created an award known as the Lister Medal which is a prestigious award given every year to an esteemed surgeon.


Without Dr. Joseph Lister's keen thinking and innovative ideas, who knows where we would be in terms of medical hygiene and practice. Since then, procedures and materials have changed but Lister's antiseptic standard still provides a breath of fresh air.

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