Continual exposure to phenol could be quite unpleasant, however, and as the germ theory of disease became more widely accepted, it was realised that infection could be better avoided by preventing bacteria from getting into wounds in the first place: the rise of sterile surgery. Some consider Lister the father of modern antisepsis.
Listerine mouthwash is named after him.
A British Institution of Preventive Medicine, previously named after Edward Jenner was renamed in 1899 in honour of Lister.
He credited Ignaz Semmelweis for earlier work in antiseptic treatment: "Without Semmelweis, my achievements would be nothing." [1] (http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi622.htm)
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump