Lister, on hearing about Pasteur's research, made the connection between microorganisms in the air with wound sepsis. Lister considered that microbes in air were likely causing the putrefaction and therefore had to be destroyed before they entered the wound. In the previous year Lister had heard that 'carbolic acid' was being used to treat sewage in Carlise, and that fields treated with the affluent were freed of a parasite causing disease in cattle. Lister decided to try and clean the wounds and dress them using a solution of carbolic acid. He was proud to announce at a British Medical Association meeting, in 1867, that his wards at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary had remained clear of sepsis for nine months. Lister's method spread rapidly around the world, and German soldiers used antiseptic methods during the Franco-Prussian war saving many Prussian soldiers' lives. Lister published the results of his treatments of 11 cases of compound fracture in which 8 of them made full recoveries. Two of the cases had been attacked by hospital disease where one was recovered after amputation of the limb, the other after conservative treatment. One of the patients died, but his death was caused by the broken bone-end piercing an artery and was not due to sepsis. 8 out of 11 uneventful compound fractures with only one death was a record of success never before attained in this type of injury.
Despite the successful operations conducted by Lister and the mortality rate dropping greatly, there was still much opposition against Lister and his carbolic treatment. Firstly, his method depended upon the acceptance of the airborne theory of germs v/s which already was creating much controversy since people were not willing to accept that germs could not be seen using the naked eye and therefore cause putrefaction and wound healing. Also, many surgeons wanted and waited for undoubted proof that Lister's technique was an advance before they abandoned their own methods.