This page has been validated.
Lord Lister and Sir Alexander Fleming
The septic microbes, not so long ago
Were to the surgeon a most bitter foe;
They got into the wound, which, thus inflamed,
Oft killed the patient or might leaved him maimed.
"Twas Lister first showed us the simple way
To keep the microbes out, and thus to stay
The dreaded sepsis of but yesterday.
Yet there remained a battle still to win
How to destroy the germs that had got in
Twas Fleming showed the way that gap to fill in
By finding that great wonder - penicillin
Which kills the germs, and has this extra charm
It scarcely ever does the patient harm.
Thank God for what these two great men achieved
For all the sick they have from death reprieved
Or of their ailments painlessly relieved.
