Premium
George Hogarth Pringle and the mystery of the first antiseptic operation in Australia
Author(s) -
Hollands Michael,
Macintyre Iain,
Richardson Arthur
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/ans.15569
Subject(s) - antiseptic , george (robot) , medicine , classics , ancient history , history , art history , pathology
Abstract Early life George Hogarth Pringle, later an associate of Joseph Lister, was born in Kintail, Scotland in 1830. In 1854, he worked as a dresser at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh with Joseph Lister. After serving in the Crimean War, he settled in New South Wales and began practice in Parramatta. Pringle and antiseptic surgery In October 1867, Pringle performed the first operation in Australia using the antiseptic principles advocated 6 months previously in the first of a series of articles published in The Lancet by Joseph Lister. Mystery surrounds how Pringle was able to adopt Lister's principles so quickly. Lister and Pringle had been friends in Edinburgh and previous writers have hypothesized that the two men corresponded whilst another has suggested Pringle was using antiseptic principles prior to Lister's work being published. Both these scenarios are unlikely. The Lancet appears to have been available in Australia within 4 months of publication. Conclusion The conjunction of an appropriate case and the arrival of a recent copy of The Lancet highlighting Lister's work is the likely source of Pringle's decision to apply antiseptic principles.