Editing Joseph Lister (section)

===First experimentalist===
The first experimentalist surgeon to question the validity of the airborne microorganisms hypothesis was Edinburgh surgeon and professor of medicine [[John Hughes Bennett]].{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=63}} In a January 1868 lecture for the [[Edinburgh Medical Journal]], Bennett advanced ''The Atmospheric Germ Theory'',{{sfn|Bennett|1868}} agreeing with the theories of [[Félix Archimède Pouchet]], professor of natural history at the [[University of Rouen]], who believed in [[spontaneous generation]] of life.{{sfn|Bennett|1868}} Bennet described his own theory of molecular degeneration to explain how microorganisms transformed old tissue into new tissue by the action of molecules.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=63}} Bennett taught that [[molecule]]s rather than [[Cell (biology)|cells]] were the foundational building blocks of tissue and that microorganisms could be spontaneously created from different combinations of molecules. In his view, each molecule had a specific function, i.e. certain molecules were destructive to tissue, while others constructed tissue.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=63}}

Bennett believed that diseases developed from the physical properties of the air, such as its density or changes in temperature.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=63}} Bennett believed that the germs that Pasteur captured could not be identified as organic organisms.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=64}} The components of this dust were also found in minerals and they were either lint, debris from clothing, vegetable matter or pieces of seeds.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=64}} Bennett particularly disagreed about temperature. Pasteur stated that germs died when heated to 30 degrees above boiling, and also from extreme cold. In the lecture, he referred to Pouchet's experiments duplicating Pasteur's, and refuted Pasteur's conclusions.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=64}} Bennet did not realise that Pasteur had proved his theory by both isolating the germs and stopping them from reappearing. In his experiments, Bennett reported that he "proved" that germs generate spontaneously, so therefore one could never create a germ-free environment.<ref name="Ravi">{{cite journal |last1=Ravichandran |first1=Balaji |title=Celebrating the medical past, again |journal=BMJ |date=17 March 2007 |volume=334 |issue=7593 |pages=587 |doi=10.1136/bmj.39153.707465.59|pmc=1828304 }}</ref>

{{multiple image
| header            = The experimentalists
| align             = center
| direction         = horizontal
| total_width       = 300
| float             = none
| image1            = John Hughes Bennett. Photograph. Wellcome V0028519.jpg
| caption1          = Bennet believed in the spontaneous generation of life.
| alt1              = John Hughes Bennett
| image2            = Félix-Archimède Pouchet. Reproduction of etching by L. Flame Wellcome V0004765.jpg
| caption2          = Pouchet believed in the spontaneous generation of life.
| alt2              = Etching of Pouchet
}}

It was likely that Hughes Bennett never adequately sterilized his experimental apparatus correctly.<ref name="Ravi"/> On 8 November 1868, Lister gave a lecture on germ theory, where he elaborated on the origin of germs, as a rebuttal of Bennett's theory.{{sfn|Gaw|1999|p=65}}

Lister's meticulous nature became ever more apparent in his casebooks for wards 4 and 5 at the infirmary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lister |first1=Joseph |title=Journal of Wards 4 and 4 |date=1870 |publisher=Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh |location=The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Library and Archive, Edinburgh |url=https://archiveandlibrary.rcsed.ac.uk/special-collections/royal-infirmary-of-edinburgh-class-photographs/ward-books-and-clinical-casebooks-18th-19th-century/patient-casebook-1870-joseph-lister/1276778 |language=en}}</ref>