- Sir James Young Simpson.
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh collection
Sir Humphry Davy used the first anaesthetic in 1799:
nitrous oxide (laughing gas).
William T. G. Morton's demonstration of
ether as an anaesthetic in 1846 was initially dismissed because it irritated the lungs of the patients. Chloroform had been synthesised in 1831, but its uses had not been greatly investigated.
Dr Robert Mortimer Glover had first described the anaesthetic properties of chloroform upon animals in 1842 in a thesis which won the Harveian Society's Gold Medal that year, but had not thought to use it on humans (fearing its safety). Simpson's most significant contribution to medicine was the introduction of
anaesthesia to childbirth; On 4 November 1847, Simpson and his friends decided to try chloroform themselves, which Simpson had obtained from local pharmacist
William Flockhart of Duncan and Flockhart of
North Bridge, Edinburgh. On inhaling the chemical they found that a general mood of cheer and humour had set in, but suddenly all of them collapsed only to regain
consciousness the next morning. Simpson knew, as soon as he woke up, that he had found something that could be used as an anaesthetic. They soon had Miss Agnes Petrie, Simpson's niece, try it. She fell asleep soon after inhaling it while singing the words, "I am an angel!". There is a prevalent myth that the mother of the first child delivered under chloroform christened her child "Anaesthesia"; the story is retailed in Simpson's biography as written by his daughter Eve. However, the son of the first baby delivered by chloroform explained that Simpson's parturient had been one Jane Carstairs, and her child was baptised Wilhelmina. "Anaesthesia" was a nickname Simpson had given the baby. It was much by chance that Simpson survived the chloroform dosage he administered to himself. If he had inhaled too much and died, chloroform would have been seen as a dangerous substance, which in fact it is. Conversely, if Simpson had inhaled slightly less it would not have put him to sleep. It was his willingness to explore the possibilities of the substance that set him on the road to a career as a pioneer in the field of medicine. Subsequently, organising supplies to
Florence Nightingale and
Queen Victoria, led to its use in obstetrics and for the military, and according to the
British Medical Journal changed the face of medicine for a century. An account of some of Simpson's early uses of ether in childbirth are related by Manchester-based doctor Edmund Lund who visited him in 1847 and can be found in a manuscript held by special collections at the University of Manchester with the reference MMM/12/2. ==Other medical contributions==