“This, too, is a direct result of laborious laboratory researches, beginning with the investigations of Liebig and Pasteur on fermentation. Lister went still further. Even before the discovery of the bacteria of suppuration, of tetanus, and of erysipelas he showed us experimentally how, by surgical cleanliness, we could avoid all infection and so banish these pests from our hospitals and bring life and health to many who otherwise would have perished from operations which are now perfectly safe. “The mortality of compound fractures in the pre-antiseptic days was about sixty per cent. It was one of the most dreaded of all accidents. Its mortality now is perhaps not over three per cent., and the mortality from sepsis after such a fracture, in the hands of well-instructed surgeons, is almost nil. Prior to Lister’s day the mortality of major amputations varied from fifty to sixty-three per cent. Now it is from ten to twenty per cent. And so I might go on with operation after operation and show how they have become so safe that one need not dread any, saving exceptional cases. “These two modern discoveries, anæsthesia and antisepsis, have utterly revolutionized modern surgery. They have made possible operations which, by reason of their length and pain and danger, were utterly unjustifiable in former days, but are now the daily occupation of a busy surgeon. And, far better than this, they have enabled us to bring to homes and hearts, which otherwise would have been broken up and wrung with sorrow, the comfort of life restored to dear ones upon whom depended the happiness and support of the families. Translate figures into happy hearts and prosperous homes if you can, and then you can tell me what Warren and Lister have done for humanity!” The result of these two wonderful discoveries has been to separate us from the surgical past, as by a great gulf.