Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in surgery and midwifery

SIMPSON, James Young

Published by Sutherland and Knox, Princes Street; Samuel Highley, 32 Fleet Street, Edinburgh; London, 1847

About this Item

THE DISCOVERY OF CHLOROFORM ANAESTHESIA - PRESENTATION COPY OF THE EARLIEST OBTAINABLE PUBLICATION . Second edition, extremely rare first issue, inscribed presentation copy, of the first use of chloroform as an anaesthetic. This is the earliest obtainable version of Simpson s discovery the first edition, published two or three days earlier, is known in only two copies, both in institutional collections. "While searching for an anaesthetic less irritating than ether, Simpson discovered the advantages of chloroform, and was the first to apply it as a painkiller during labor and childbirth. Simpson first used chloroform in an obstetrical case on 8 November 1847, when he administered it to a woman with a previous history of difficult labor; the baby was born without complications about twenty-five minutes after the first inhalation. Simpson reported his success in an address delivered at the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh on 10 November, and immediately afterwards published the address in this pamphlet, with a postscript describing surgical cases. In spite of Simpson s success with chloroform, he encountered a great deal of opposition from conservative doctors and clergyman who considered labor pains a God-given punishment for Eve s sins, and he embarked on a long publishing campaign to convert the opposition. His most famous non-scientific argument was that God Himself had been the first anaesthetist when he caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam before bringing forth Eve from his rib (Genesis II:21). Simpson s efforts were finally accepted by the medical establishment when Queen Victoria chose to take chloroform for the birth of Prince Leopold in 1853" (Norman). "Chloroform and ether have not been used as human anesthetics since the 1950s; in the past few decades synthetic gases with fewer side effects have replaced the older agents. Yet Simpson s work a century and a half ago legitimized the use of medical interventions to relieve the pain of labor. Millions of women around the world whose labor pains have been eased by various types of anesthesia have benefited from Simpson's ground-breaking efforts" (Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery). ABPC/RBH list no copy of the first edition and only this copy (the Norman copy) of the first issue of the second edition (the second and later issues are notably less rare). Provenance: 1. Presentation copy, inscribed on the title: Dr. Smith/from J.Y.S. Simpson apparently mailed the pamphlet to Smith without an envelope, addressing it on the blank verso of the last leaf to: Dr. Smith/Editor of Boston Med: & Surgical/Journal/Boston/United States. This page also bears two postmarks, one dated 19 November 1847 at Edinburgh, and the other dated 21 November 1847 at Liverpool. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, edited by J. V. C. Smith, first mentioned Simpson s discovery in its issue of 29 December 1847, and acknowledged receipt of Simpson s pamphlet in its issue of 5 January 1848. 2. Warren G. Atwood. 3. Haskell F. Norman. Until the end of the 18th century, surgeons were unable to offer patients much more than opium, alcohol or a bullet to bite on to deal with the agonizing pain of surgery. Based upon his Researches, Chemical and Philosophical: Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide (1799), the English chemist Humphry Davy suggested inhalation of nitrous oxide during surgical operations, but this was not acted upon. In 1813, Davy was joined at the Royal Institution by his assistant Michael Faraday, who studied the inhalation of ether. He published his findings, which included soporific and analgesic effects, in 1818, but again these findings were not followed up, possibly because of the difficulty of quantifying and controlling the effects of ether (one subject had taken over 24 hours to recover full consciousness). The focus of developments now moved to the United States. In 1845, Boston dentists William T.G. Morton and Horace We. Seller Inventory # 5874

Bibliographic Details

Title: Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a ...

Publisher: Sutherland and Knox, Princes Street; Samuel Highley, 32 Fleet Street, Edinburgh; London

Publication Date: 1847

Edition: First edition.