Volume 1

Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in surgery and midwifery / [Sir James Young Simpson].

Simpson, James Young, 1811-1870

Date:: 1847

Credit: Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in surgery and midwifery / [Sir James Young Simpson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Propor. of | Propor. of Propor. of | Propor. of ; Propor. of Nitrogen. |, Oxygen. Carbon, | ‘Hydrogen. |, Chlorine. . | peetncene: | ene pantera | meme Seanad ten erss So ee Nitrous \ 1 Atom. 1. Atom. Oxide, ee | ‘es 1 Atom. | 4 Atoms. | 5 Atoms. | Ether, ‘ta f Chloroform, | —«.. isis 2 Atoms, | 1 Atom. | 3 Atoms. It is perhaps not unworthy of remark, that when - Soubeiran, Liebig, and Dumas engaged, a few years back, in those inquiries and experiments by which the formation and composition of Chloroform was first discovered, their sole. and. only object was the investigation of a point in philosophical Chemistry. Theylabouredfor the pure love and extension of know- ledge. They had no idea that the substance to which they called the attention of their chemical brethren could or would be turned: to any practical purpose, or that it possessed any physiological or therapeutic effects upon the animal economy. J mention this to show,.that the cui dono argument against philosophi- eal investigations, on the ground that there may be at first no ‘apparent: practical benefit’ to be derived from them, has been amply refuted in this, as it has been in many other instances. For I feel assured, _ thatthe use of Chloroform will soon entirely super- sede the:use of Ether; and, from the facility and B$