Anæsthetics antient and modern : an historical sketch of anæsthesia.

  • Wellcome, Henry S. (Henry Solomon), Sir, 1853-1936.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anæsthetics antient and modern : an historical sketch of anæsthesia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    given the name of bichloric ether, the formula being CHC1. Still a third claimant to the discovery came forward in the person of Liebig, who published his account in November, 1831, six months after Guthrie's manuscript was in the publisher's hands, and one month after its publication. The formula which Liebig deducted from his analysis was C^Cl,., and he called his product chloride of carbon. Although there may be some doubt as to which of these claimants was actually the first to manufacture the liquid, it is clear that Guthrie was the first to publish the account of the discovery. He was born in 1782, was a surgeon in the United States Army in 1812, and died in 1848. From an account given by D. B. Smith, of Phila- delphia, in the Journal of the College of Pharmacy* in 1832, there can be little doubt that the liquid first made by Guthrie was a fairly pure chloroform. He describes it in the following words: The action of this ether on the living system is interesting, and may hereafter render it an object of importance in commerce. Its flavour is delicious, and its intoxicating properties equal to or surpassing those of alcohol. In 1834, Dumas examined the liquid as prepared by Soubeiran, and declared that he had not obtained it pure, and further, that Liebig had made an error in its composi- tion. On further research, Dumas gave the liquid the name of chloroform, and first worked out the real formula, C2HC13 (or, using the present system of atomic weights, CHCI3) Although its narcotising properties were known to some extent, no one who used it at that time seems to have conceived the idea of fully testing its previous properties. In 18^1, Ives, of Newhaven, uffof, r L •J 1 chloroform treated a case of difficult respiration by actual in medical inhalation of the vapour, and published the practlce facts in Silliman's Journal in January, 1832. Four * Now the American Journal of Pharmacy