Opposition and limitations

• Public didn’t accept his ideas because germ theory wasn’t fully understood
• Charles bastion fought hard against lister
• Carbolic acid is an irritant
• Surgeons thought their methods worked well enough
• Doctors didn’t accept germ theory
• Lister was shy and not a strong public speaker, so people though he didn’t know whys he was doing
• Didn’t fully understand microbes, and thought there was only one microbe that caused disease
• Didn’t scrub hands before surgery and operated in his street clothes