Tincture of iodine was used as antiseptic during the Civil War, and Joseph Lister established the practice of aseptic surgery using a disinfectant known as carbolic acid (phenol) in the 1860’s. Since ...Tincture of iodine was used as antiseptic during the Civil War, and Joseph Lister established the practice of aseptic surgery using a disinfectant known as carbolic acid (phenol) in the 1860’s. Since that time, many types of disinfectants (agents that are used to eliminate or kill vegetative cells on surfaces) and antiseptics (agents that are used to eliminate or reduce vegetative cells on living tissue) have been used.