A MEDICAL DIPLOMA SIGNED BY JOSEPH LISTER AND THIRTY-ONE OTHERS

JOSEPH LISTER, Lord. Partly Engraved Document Signed, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1 August 1874. 1 page, 15" x 19½", on vellum.

This diploma from the University of Edinburgh awards a bachelor of medicine degree to Samuel McVie. The university’s coat of arms is printed at the top center of the document, and the attractively-embellished Latin text of the degree is just below. The document is then signed by a total of thirty-two professors and officials of the university, the most notable of whom is Joseph Lister, who has signed with the Latin form of his name, "Josephus Lister," near the bottom center.

Joseph Lister, the English physician who founded antiseptic surgery and introduced other advances in surgical techniques, had received his own medical degree in 1852. Shortly thereafter, he had settled in Scotland, and it was there that he began his experiments with antisepsis and developed the methods which drastically reduced surgical mortality. In 1869, Lister was named professor of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh, and according to one biographer, "there followed the seven happiest years of his life when, largely as the result of German experiments with antisepsis during the Franco-German War, his clinics were crowded by foreign visitors and eager students" (Encyclopedia Britannica). Lister remained at Edinburgh until 1877 when he moved to King’s College, London.

Many of the other signers of this diploma were noted scholars and practitioners in their fields who are profiled in the Dictionary of National Biography. Among them are Robert Christison, toxicologist; Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer; William R. Sanders, pathologist; Philip Kelland, mathematician; John Hughes Bennett, physician; William B. Hodgson, educational reformer; James Lorimer, jurist and political philosopher; and John H. Balfour, botanist.

The document is in fine condition, clean, with some very slight creasing at the outer corners.

A scarce type of Lister autograph – the first such diploma signed by him that I have had. $1500.00

The image of the complete document, above, omits some of the blank left and right margins. Below is a close-up of Lister's signature.

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