"Doctor Snow gave that blessed chloroform and the effect was soothing, quieting, and delightful"
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
James Simpson (1811-1870), Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, was the first doctor to use chloroform in childbirth. He had become dissatisfied with the use of ether and set about finding an alternative, using himself and friends as guinea pigs. On November 4, 1847, the group tried chloroform— tradition has it that Simpson's wife, on bringing in dinner, found them all asleep under the table. Simpson immediately recognized the advantages of chloroform over ether; it was inflammable, lighter, and easier to administer. Within a week he had administered the chemical to over thirty women in labor.
Simpson's innovation brought down the wrath of the Church and the medical establishment. The Bible taught that women should bring forth in pain, and doctors claimed pain was a biological necessity. With such opposition, chloroform did not become widely established until 1853, when Queen Victoria used it for the delivery of her last child. The use of chloroform as an anesthetic was finally abandoned in the early twentieth century when it was shown to be responsible for a number of fatal heart attacks.
