ess," is all that Listerism purports to accomplish. The use of
antiseptics has been decried in the interest of asepticism, as if the
whole purpose of antisepticism were not to secure asepsis. Lord Lister
is entitled to the full credit of establishing the aseptic surgery of
the present day, in spite of the facts that his doctrine followed rather
than preceded his early improvements, that aseptic procedures have been
brought nearer perfection elsewhere than in his own country, and that
the whole system rests on foundations laid by Pasteur.

While it is quite true that to the Listerian theory and practice are
almost wholly to be ascribed the favorable results of the major surgery
of the present day, we must not forget the immeasurable benefits to the
diseased, the injured, and the crippled that have arisen from patient
efforts and occasional brilliant intuition that have had no connection
with the germ theory of infection. Take the case of a broken leg, for
example, an injury that formerly condemned the victim to weeks and weeks
of confinement to bed, together with the suffering and danger almost
inseparable from the old methods of the long straight splint and tight
bandaging. At the present time he who has met with such a misfortune is
commonly able to be about on crutches within a few days, and his broken
bone mends while he is cultivating his appetite and indulging in
pleasant intercourse with his fellow-men. This great change has been
made possible by one device after another, invented by different men.
Josiah Crosby introduced the use of sticking-plaster for extension,
instead of the chafing bands previously employed; Gurdon Buck
substituted elastic extension by means of a weight and pulley for the
rude and arbitrary traction in vogue before; James L. Little devised the
plaster-of-Paris splint, whereby broken bones were immobilized with
hardly appreciable discomfort; and Henry B. Sands established the safety
and practicability of applying the plaster-of-Paris splint almost
immediately after the reduction ("setting") of the fracture. In the
meantime Nathan R. Smith and John T. Hodgen had demonstrated the
advantages of suspending a fractured limb from above. All these men were
Americans; surely our country has contributed powerfully to the
well-being of the subjects of fracture. Other Americans, notably Lewis
A. Sayre, have enabled sufferers with joint disease, including the
dreaded hip disease, to run about and gain hea