These were the men who helped us kill germs. Louis Pasteur invented a method of destroying dangerous microbes on food; Alexander Fleming developed the powerful antibiotic found from mold; Edward Jenner popularized the vaccination method against smallpox; and Joseph Lister invented the…mouthwash? Not quite, but Doctor Lister did have a hand in developing antiseptics for oral surgery. That was just one of many applications arising from his finding that antibacterial agents can prevent infections of open wounds.

On this day, August 12, in 1865 Joseph Lister first used carbolic acid in the treatment of an eleven-year old boy with a compound fracture, where the bone had penetrated the skin. The boy survived, and in further testing the death rates from infection in his patients dropped from 45% for 15%.

Two years later Lister presented to the British Medical Association his findings on the use of carbolic acid to prevent wound infections, and in 1869 he first described use of a carbolic acid spray to the disinfect the wound and the air in the operating room. Listerine was founded ten years after as an antiseptic for oral surgeons.