is nerves. That
it affected him differently from most experienced surgeons is shown by
the fact that he used always, all his life, to perspire freely when
starting to operate; but he learnt to overcome this nervousness by
concentrating his attention on his work. He was not a man who had
religious phrases on his lips; but in letters to his family, quoted by
Sir Rickman Godlee, he gives us the secret of his confidence and his
power. 'Yesterday', he says in a letter written to his father on
February 26, 'I made my debut at the hospital in operating before the
students. I felt very nervous before beginning; but when I had got
fairly to work, this feeling went off entirely, and I performed both
operations with entire comfort.' A week later, in a letter to his
sister, he returns to the subject. 'The theatre was again well filled;
and though I again felt a good deal before the operation, yet I lost all
consciousness of the presence of the spectators during its performance,
and did it exactly as if no one had been looking on. Just before the
operation began I recollected that there was only one Spectator whom it
was important to consider, one present alike in the operating theatre
and in the private room; and this consideration gave me increased
firmness.' Interest in the work for its own sake, forgetfulness of
himself, these were to be the key-notes of his life-work.

As yet, to a superficial observer, there were not many signs of a
brilliant career ahead of him. His private practice was small and did
not grow extensively for many years. The attendance at his earlier
course of lectures was discouragingly meagre. This would have been more
discouraging still, had not his dressers, from personal affection for
him, made a point of attending regularly to swell the number of the
class. Indeed, in view of the exacting demands made on him by the
hospital, Lister might have been content to follow the ordinary routine
of his profession. With his wife at his side and friends close at hand,
he had every chance of living a useful and happy life. But he still
found time to conduct experiments and to think for himself. His
researches were continued along the line which he had opened up in 1855,
and in 1858 he appeared before an Edinburgh Surgical Society to read a
paper on Spontaneous Gangrene.

This gave Mrs. Lister an opportunity to show her value. All his life
Lister was prone to unpunctuality and to being late with preparations
for his