Lister

“ The cook gasped, and with gentle firmness took the cabbage from him as being unfit work for a man of such wealth.
"It's very nice," he said, slowly. "It's very nice. You'll be able to live on it in your old age."
Mr. Lister shook his head mournfully, and his eyes became humid.
"There's no old age for me," he said, sadly; "but you needn't tell them," and he jerked his thumb towards the forecastle.
"No, no," said the cook.
"I've never been one to talk over my affairs," said Mr. Lister, in a low voice. "I've never yet took fancy enough to anybody so to do. ”

“ There is no need to make comparisons either of fame, of mental power, or of character; but the choice of Lister may be justified by the fact that his science, the science of Health and Disease, is one of absorbing interest to all men, and that with his career is bound up the history of a movement fraught with grave issues of life and death from which few families have been exempt.
About these issues bitter controversies have raged; but it is to the lesser men that the bitterness is due. By his family traditions, as well as by his natural disposition, Lister was a man of peace ”

“ Lister when at home had free quarters at the house of a married niece, he used to sit about alone, and try and think of ways and means of securing capital sunk in a concern which seemed to show no signs of being wound-up.
"I've got a touch of the 'art again, lad," said the elderly invalid, as they sat alone in the forecastle one night at Seacole.
"You move about too much," said the cook. "Why not turn in and rest?" ”

“ It was four days before I met Sir Philip Lister himself—Davenport, the old butler, told me that his master was "indisposed"—but Sir Philip sent me a polite missive inviting me to take things carelessly a little: so I spent the first days in learning my pupil's moods, and in roaming over the place, from "Queen Elizabeth's Room"—behind the bed still hung a velvet shield broidered with the royal arms in white wire—to the apes and the cascades. ”

“ Lister gave him a look in which astonishment and impatience were mingled.
"Richard can't have anything to do with this girl; he can't play with her, or see her, or talk to her; it isn't decent or right."
"You mean he must be told about Basil?" Dr. [Pg 184] Lister remembered now the events and revelations of the night.
"It must be stopped. Everything must be stopped. Our child must do what is right." ”

“ Lister, feverishly.
The other sat pondering, while the old man watched him anxiously. "It's a pity you don't know your own mind, Jem," he said, at length; "still, you know your own business best. But it's very expensive stuff."
"How much?" inquired the other.
"Well, they won't sell more than two shillings-worth at a time," said the cook, trying to speak carelessly, "but if you like to let me 'ave the money, I'll go ashore to the chemist's and get the first lot now."
Mr. Lister's face was a study in emotions, which the other tried in vain to decipher. ”

“ He added [Pg 56] a "don't you know" to his sentence. "We don't know what serenity is, don't you know." The phrase was still not common property in America, but it offended Dr. Lister's ear.
"I listened with great pleasure to your boys and girls, especially to the playing of your own boy—I believe it was your son who played the organ?"
"Yes," said Dr. Lister.
"I stood at the campus gate and watched your peaceful procession with envy and I might say with awe. I felt that it wasn't real. I seemed to have stepped back just about two thousand years. You ought to keep it forever as a spectacle. ”

“ Lister gave his body a little comfort against the back of his chair.
"I have no objection to your following music as a career, Richard, and I am sure we can win your mother over also. We want to do what is best for you—that is our chief desire in life. We will give you every possible opportunity here and abroad. What did Mr. Faversham say about your playing?" ”

“ He sent rough drafts of the first two parts to Lister in that year, and afterwards replied to Lister's criticisms, defending his own doctrines of determinism and universal happiness, and condemning Butler's doctrine of resentment. He kept his papers by him, and ultimately published them in the beginning of 1749 as 'Observations on Man' in two parts. ”

“ They'll make a fortune, and they are well off already! I shouldn't be surprised if they could live without Dr. Lister's salary. And he gets five hundred dollars more a year than you do. If you charge them well, they'll think better of you. I'll warrant they're trying to get it done here because they think you'll do it for nothing and for no other reason whatever. I am pretty sick of the Listers anyhow. Here is poor Cora in love with Richard and encouraged by all of them since she was a baby and he running round now with that miserable Bent girl. ”

“ LISTER, MARTIN (1638?–1712) , zoologist, was born of a Yorkshire family, several members of which became eminent in medicine, at Radclive, Buckinghamshire, about 1638. He was the son of Sir Martin Lister (knighted 1625) and nephew of Sir Matthew Lister [q. v.] , and was educated under the direction of the latter. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, as a pensioner, at the age of sixteen, 12 June 1655, and graduated as B.A. in 1658–9. He was made a fellow of his college by royal mandate in 1660, and proceeded M.A. in 1662. ”

“ His eyes got brighter and his complexion clearer, nor was he as pleased as one of the other sex might have been when the self-satisfied Henshaw pointed out these improvements to his companions, and claimed entire responsibility for them. It is probable that Mr. Lister, under these circumstances, might in time have lived down his taste for strong drink, but that at just that time they shipped a new cook.
He was a big, cadaverous young fellow, who looked too closely after his own interests to be much of a favourite with the other men forward. ”

“ Here Lister had practically the whole of his profession behind him when he boldly supported the claims of science to have benefited humanity by the experiments conducted on animals and to have done so with a minimum of suffering to the latter. And it was well that science had a champion whose reputation for gentleness and moderation was so well established. Queen Victoria herself showed a lively interest in this fiercely-debated question ”

“ I'm so chock-full o' complaints, that they tell me I can't live more than two years, and I might go off at any moment."
"Well, you've got money," said the cook, "why don't you knock off work now and spend the evenin' of your life ashore? Why should you save up for your relatives?"
"I've got no relatives," said Mr. Lister; "I'm all alone. I 'spose I shall leave my money to some nice young feller, and I hope it'll do 'im good."
With the dazzling thoughts which flashed through the cook's brain the cabbage dropped violently into the saucepan, and a shower of cooling drops fell on both men. ”

“ Casually in Dr. Green's office Dr. Lister asked about the marriage of first cousins and Dr. Green reached into the irregular pile of "Lancets" behind him and dragged out a copy, sending thereby the superincumbent stack to the floor. Upon it he did not bestow a glance.
"There, read the pleasant catalogue! Deaf children, dumb children, children malformed, children susceptible to disease, children with rickets, no children at all. I can give you a dozen articles if this doesn't suffice."
Early in August the Listers went to call upon Thomasina. ”

“ It was in the Glasgow Infirmary that he worked cures which roused the astonishment of his students, however incredulous the older generation might be. He had formed a school and was happy in the loyal service and in the enthusiasm of those who worked under him, and he had no desire to leave such a fruitful field of work. But when in 1869 his father-in-law, owing to ill-health, resigned his professorship, and a number of Edinburgh students addressed an appeal to Lister to become a candidate for the post, he was strongly drawn towards the city where he had married and spent such happy years. ”

“ In December 1826 Lister's notes supply an account of an examination of a set of four plano-convex lenses, each consisting of a biconvex of plate-glass and a plano-concave of flint-glass cemented to it by varnish, constructed by Chevalier of Paris. Here Lister records for the first time some puzzling appearances in combinations of compound lenses, which ultimately led him to his great discovery of the two aplanatic foci. ”

“ Sir John Pickering, Kt. Born at Flamborough in 1544. Was the son of very poor parents, yet became a Privy Councillor and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. Was twice chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Sir John Lister, Kt. Born at Hull in 1585. Became twice Mayor of Hull, and was five times elected M.P. for his native city. Entertained King Charles I. on his visit to Hull in 1639. Founded in 1642 the ‘Lister Hospital’ for six poor men and six poor women. ”

“ LISTER, ARTHUR (1830–1908) , botanist, born at Upton House, Upton, Essex, on 17 April 1830, was youngest son in a family of four sons and three daughters of Joseph Jackson Lister [q. v.] . Joseph, afterwards Lord, Lister (1827–1912) was his elder brother. A member through life of the Society of Friends, Lister was educated at Hitchin. Leaving school at sixteen to engage in business, he soon joined as partner the firm of Messrs. ”

“ Richard will not come any sooner because you wait for him."
"But where can he be?" wailed Mary Alcestis.
Dr. Lister determined that at dawn he would set forth, make a round of the village and all the neighboring walks, and then go to Thomasina Davis's and take counsel with her. If Richard had not come by eight o'clock, his disappearance must be made public. He could have no reason for going away and search could be no longer postponed. Having acknowledged this to himself, Dr. Lister became as much a victim of terror as his wife. There had never been a more obedient son ”

“ Syme's opinion and influence no doubt counted for much. Lister's appointment dated from January 1860, but it was not till a year and a half later that his position in Glasgow was assured by his being elected Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. Before this he could preach his principles in the lecture-room, but he had little influence on the practice of his students and colleagues. Thanks to the reputation which he brought from Edinburgh, his first lecture drew a full room, and his class grew year by year till it reached the unprecedented figure of 182, and each year the enthusiasm seemed to rise. ”

“ But it seems impossible to deny the possession of special ability to a man who consistently drew such large audiences throughout a long career; and if it was the matter rather than the manner which wove the spell, surely that is just the kind of good speaking which Scotsmen and Englishmen have always preferred.
And so it needed an even greater effort than at Glasgow for Lister to strike his tent and adventure himself on new ground. It is true that London was his early home; London could give him wider fame and enable him to make a larger income by private practice ”

“ Lister Family.—In a communication relating to Major-General Lambert (Vol. vii, p. 269.) , Lord Braybrooke mentions his marriage with Frances, daughter of Sir William Lister, of Thornton in Craven. I imagine that this lady was sister to Sir Martin Lister, physician to King Charles I., of whose (Sir Martin's) descendants I shall be glad of any information.
Sir Martin Lister married Susanna, daughter of Sir Alexander Temple, widow of Sir Gifford Thornhurst. This lady, by her first husband (Thornhurst) , had issue a daughter, who married Mr. ”

“ Each of Chevalier's compound plano-convex lenses when used singly presented a bur or coma outwards, but when two of them are combined this coma, instead of being exaggerated, as might have been expected, was ‘less than with any single glass,’ while the performance was in other respects satisfactory. ‘Observing the advantages resulting from this combination,’ Lister ‘tried some others,’ among the rest two of Tulley's triple glasses, each of which taken singly was of fine performance. ”

“ In 1837 A. Ross made an unsuccessful experiment with ‘three glasses to admit a large pencil.’ Lister thereupon suggested a combination of three glasses ‘for the same object;’ he gave the dimensions of the lenses and the curves of the various surfaces, with a statement of the effect proposed to be produced by each glass upon spherical aberration and coma. This resulted in Ross's celebrated 1⁄8 inch object-glass, the construction of which was afterwards adopted by the other principal London makers. ”

“ Luckily, news was received from Lord Listerdale himself from East Africa. He invested his cousin, Colonel Carfax, with power of attorney. It is the latter who conducts all Lord Listerdale's affairs. Yes, rather eccentric, I fear. He has always been a great traveller in the wilds-it is quite on the cards that he may not return for years to England, though he is getting on in years."
"Surely he is not so very old," said Mrs St Vincent, with a sudden memory of a bluff, bearded face, rather like an Elizabethan sailor, which she had once noticed in an illustrated magazine. ”

“ Inside the room Lord Listerdale was fronting Mrs St Vincent.
"Let me explain-if I can! I've been a selfish devil all my life-the fact came home to me one day. I thought I'd try a little altruism for a change, and being a fantastic kind of fool, I started my career fantastically. I'd sent subscriptions to odd things, but I felt the need of doing something-well, something personal. I've been sorry always for the class that can't beg, that must suffer in silence-poor gentlefolk. I have a lot of house property. ”