Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1764

SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON (1811-1870) Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in surgery and midwifery. Republished by Rushton, Clark 1848 24 pp. 22.7 cm.

Simpson, the leading obstetrician of his time and a member of the faculty at the University of Edinburgh, introduced the use of chloroform as an anesthetic after experimenting with ether and finding that it had some undesired side effects. Within weeks of his demonstration in 1847 of the superiority of chloroform, it had almost universally displaced ether as a general anesthetic. Simpson presented the results of his experiences with chloroform to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh at its meeting of November 10, 1847. His findings were published in a pamphlet at Edinburgh later that year and this reprint was published in the United States in January 1848. Simpson had observed the use of sulphuric ether in January 1847 and was immediately convinced that similar agents would be found. Concerned about the disadvantages of sulphuric ether, Simpson tried a number of other volatile chemicals and here reports on his successful use of chloroform. He discusses its advantages, chemical properties, and four case histories in which it was employed with great success.

Cited references: Osler 1479 (1st Edinburgh printing, 1847)