Joseph Lister efficacy of carbolic acid when applied directly to wounds. Therefore, Lister tested the results of spraying instruments, the surgical incisions, and dressings with a solution of carbolic acid. Lister found that the solution swabbed on wounds remarkably reduced the incidence of gangrene. In August 1865, Lister applied a piece of lint dipped in carbolic acid solution onto the wound of a seven-year-old boy at Glasgow Infirmary, who had sustained a compound fracture after a cart wheel had passed over his leg. After four days, he renewed the pad and discovered that no infection had developed, and after a total of
A Is for Acid Olive's disappearance and persuades Haigh to accompany her to the police to report Olive missing. Burton also goes to the police after seeing Haigh's picture in a newspaper article about the missing woman, prompting detectives to launch an investigation. Haigh confesses to killing Olive, saying he dissolved her in acid and therefore cannot be prosecuted for her murder, there being no body. He goes on to confess to the other five murders, and claims another three killings. A Home Office pathologist is called in to examine Haigh's workshop where gallstones and a pelvic bone are recovered. After being convicted of