Joseph Lister discovered that he could reduce infections in hospitals by using carbolic dressings, soaps and sprays. Within years, carbolic soap and powder used in many schools, to try to curb the incidences and deaths from contagious diseases such as diphtheria, measles and scarlet fever which spread through schools at an alarming rate.
Schools were often crowded, hot in Summer and cold in Winter. Hygiene practises were poor and the children were often under nourished.
The use of antiseptics reduced the rates of infectious illness and the smell of carbolic soap, in the corridors of our schools, is a smell many of us can recall.