Discovery of Chloroform Anæsthesia

Abstract

The discovery of the use of chloroform as an anæsthetic, made by Sir James Young Simpson in Edinburgh in 1847, was marked by a graduation ceremony at the University at which the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on Dr. H. W. Feather-stone, founder-president of the Association of Anæsthetists of Great Britain, and Mr. T. B. Simpson, a grand-nephew of Simpson. A meeting to discuss the present-day use of chloroform was also held, at which Prof. R. R. Macintosh (Oxford) and Drs. D. S. Middleton and John Gilles (Edinburgh) read papers. Dr. Douglas Guthrie, lecturer on the history of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, gave an address at a reception in the Upper Library, where an exhibition of Simpson relics had been arranged. Dr. Guthrie said that the discovery of chloroform anæsthesia was one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of medicine, and with antiseptics had revolutionized surgery; it was remarkable that it had been delayed until the middle of last century. After graduating M.D. at Edinburgh in 1832, Simpson became assistant to Prof. John Thomson, professor of pathology, who advised him to specialize in midwifery. He was appointed professor of midwifery in the University in 1840, a post which he held until his death at the early age of fifty-nine in 1870. Since the discovery by Simpson of the anæsthetic properties of chloroform, there have been great advances in the technique of its administration, to which he himself contributed; and in spite of the introduction of many new substances, it still holds its place as a general anæsthetic.