Practically synonymous today for a mouth wash, Listerine takes its name,
despite his protests, from Joseph Lister, first Baron Lister (1827-1912),
famous for founding antiseptic surgery. Basing his methods on Pasteur’s
theory that bacteria causes infection, Lister in 1865 used a mixture
containing carbolic acid as a germicide and invented methods of applying
it on wounds and incisions, also advocating the sterilizing of all
surgical instruments before operations. Such procedures greatly reduced
post-operative fatalities from infection. Lord Lister, who became
president of the Royal Society later invented antiseptic, absorbable
ligatures and the drainage tube for wounds, the sinus forceps, among other
instruments, and perfected numerous operations. He was created a baronet
in 1883 and raised to the peerage in 1897 as Baron Lister of Lyme Regis.
The eminent surgeon, whose father Joseph Jackson Lister is famous for his
work in optical science, tried unsuccessfully to disassociate his name
from Listerine when the product was first marketed. He much preferred to
see himself commemorated by the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in
London, of which he was a founder.