Chloroform : its action and administration ; a handbook / by Arthur Ernest Sansom.

  • Sansom, Arthur Ernest, 1839-1907
Date:
1865
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chloroform : its action and administration ; a handbook / by Arthur Ernest Sansom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    crossed the minds of a few a little later, for iu 1831 a case is recorded of a druggist who was found in a state of complete insensibility from having inhaled air strongly impregnated with the vapour of ether. At this time chemists had pointed out the great resemblance between the effects of ether vapour and of nitrous oxide gas. Chloroform had just (1835) been investigated chemically by Dumas. Soon afterwards it was thus mentioned in Wood and Bache's 'American Dispensatory:'*—Iu affections charac- terised by difficult respiration, chloroform may be used by in- halation. Humphrey Davy's suggestion was not acted upon until 1844, when Horace Wells, the American dentist, used nitrous oxide successfully in several cases, inaugurating a new era in tooth-pulling. Unfortunately he failed in one instance, owing to an accident—people could not reconcile the breathing of laughing-gas with the serious business of having a tooth extracted, so Wells was laughed out of his practice ; but the idea sank deeply into the mind of Morton, Wells' pupil, who had heard of the employment of ether. Dr. Jackson, the chemist, was also impressed by it, and between them the value of ether was made known. The history is here unfortunately sullied by a squabble. Was the merit of finding out ether as an ana'sthetic due to Morton, the dentist, or to Jackson, the chemist ? Many English books have given the credit to Morton; the last French book (Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy) declares that Jackson made the discovery and communicated it to Morton. These discrepancies are reconcileable—the chemist selected the agent, reasoned by analogy on its probable properties, and gave it to Morton to put to a practical test. The experiment succeeded ; neither could predict the result, but both should have the credit of it. However this may be, a man named Frost had a tooth extracted under the influence of sulphuric ether, absolutely without his knowledge of the operation, at 19, Tennants Eow, Boston, on the 13tli of September, 1846. Thus, after long incubation, one of the greatest benefits mankind ever received saw the hght. The boon was too great not to be recognised. The news was brought to England, and ether was immediately employed * Kidd, ' On Ether, &c.,' p. 54.