clearly and could hold the
attention of his audience. His voice, though musical, was not of great
power. He was often impeded by a slight stammer, especially at the end
of a session. He was not naturally an eloquent man, and attempted no
flights of rhetoric. But it seems impossible to deny the possession of
special ability to a man who consistently drew such large audiences
throughout a long career; and if it was the matter rather than the
manner which wove the spell, surely that is just the kind of good
speaking which Scotsmen and Englishmen have always preferred.

And so it needed an even greater effort than at Glasgow for Lister to
strike his tent and adventure himself on new ground. It is true that
London was his early home; London could give him wider fame and enable
him to make a larger income by private practice; yet it is very doubtful
whether these motives combined could have induced him to migrate again,
now that he had reached the age of fifty. But he was a man with a
mission. Some of his few converts in London held that only his presence
there could shake the prevailing apathy, and he himself felt that he
must make the effort in the interests of science.

The professorial chair to which he was invited in 1877 was at King's
College, which was relatively a small institution; its hospital was not
up to the Edinburgh standard; the classes which attended his lectures
were small. Owing to an unfortunate incident he was handicapped at the
start. When receiving a parting address from 700 of his Edinburgh
students he made an informal speech in the course of which he compared
the conditions of surgical teaching then prevailing at Edinburgh and
London, in terms which were not flattering to the southern metropolis.
Some comparison was natural in the circumstances; Lister was not
speaking for publication and had no idea that a reporter was present.
But his remarks appeared in print, with the result that might be
expected. The sting of the criticism lay in its truth, and many London
surgeons were only too ready to resent anything which might be said by
the new professor. When he had been living some time in London, Lister
succeeded in allaying the ill feeling which resulted; but at first, even
in his own hospital, he was met by coldness and opposition in his
attempt to introduce new methods. In fact, had he not laid down definite
conditions in accepting the post, he could never have made his way; but
he had stipulated f