Townley’s Chloroform Inhaler

Abstract

While cataloguing the historical items in the Department of Anaesthesia, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK, we discovered an unusual chloroform inhaler, which incorporated two air-inlet tubes in addition to its main inspiratory valve as well as a funnel on one of its lateral walls. An accompanying card stated that the device was thought to be a modification of Snow’s inhaler, by James Robinson. It had been found among some old instruments in a General Practice in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and had probably been acquired by an early practitioner named Dr. Newton, who qualified in 1851 and performed a lot of minor surgery in the practice.Using information published in books, medical journals, instrument catalogues, and other sources available in the public domain, we sought to confirm the identify of this inhaler and further investigate its provenance.Soon after the introduction of chloroform anesthesia in November 1847, James Robinson modified Snow’s ether face-piece to produce an ingenious device for administering the vapor of chloroform. However, Robinson’s inhaler did not include the air-inlet tubes, or funnels, which are an integral feature of the device found in the Addenbrooke’s collection. Following further research, we formally identified our device to be of the type introduced by James Townley in 1862 for use with his “Anodyne mixture.”We describe Townley’s chloroform inhaler and provide an insight into the life and work of its inventor, as well as Dr. Newton and his son, who may have used the apparatus in the Cambridgeshire area.