James Matthews Duncan.

Abstract

Dr Wilkinson is to be congratulated for his eloquent description of further details surrounding ‘the discovery of chloroform’ (Wilkinson. Anaesthesia, 2003; 58: 36–41). The manuscript ‘James Matthews Duncan: A sketch for his family’, which he presumes never to have been published was privately printed in 1891 by Cornwall of Aberdeen [1]. The book has 181 pages and is approximately 25 cm in height; the only copy I have been able to trace is held by the Wellcome Library in London (personal communication – Wellcome Library). The deposit of many of Matthews Duncan's personal belongings in the Medical College Library, St Bartholomew's Hospital, has been noted (1959) by John Thornton, who was honorary librarian and an authority on Duncan. Readers may be interested to know that, on Duncan's death, letters of condolence were sent to his widow from numerous distinguished contemporaries, including Queen Victoria and Lord Lister [2]. The letter written by Matthews Duncan to Sir Robert Christison in 1875 has been mentioned in the book ‘Simpson and Syme of Edinburgh’ by J.A. Shepherd (1969) [3]. Shepherd's references for this came from the honorary librarian, Thornton [4], and an Obituary of Duncan in St Bartholomew's Hospital Report [5]. In the 15th J.Y. Simpson Oration given at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1975, Donald Fraser devoted some time to the life of Matthews Duncan, acknowledging (as sources of information) Simpson's grand-daughter, Mrs Jane McBarnet, and the honorary librarian, Mr Thornton. He mentioned that Simpson had sent a paper to Paris for Duncan to translate into French and also stated that ‘Duncan had certainly tried it (chloroform) two nights before’ the famous dinner party of 4th November 1847. Fraser pointed out that if James Young Simpson took all the credit for the discovery of chloroform, he also took all the risks – no one knew what adverse effects it might have in obstetrics [6]! In all the above references, the role of Matthews Duncan in the discovery of chloroform has received little more than a glance. By quoting the most relevant passages from Isabella Newlands' manuscript and Duncan's letter to Christison, Dr Wilkinson has brought this blurred image into focus.