that of tooth extraction. So heartily was the
discovery welcomed by some leading surgeons
in Great Britain, that its announcement
seemed half expected. The scientific world
once roused on the subject, it was soon felt
that other agents must possess like properties,
and that ether had many attendant
inconveniences, being bulky, unpleasant to
smell, and not very manageable. To
Professor Simpson, of Edinburgh, belongs the
distinguished credit of introducing chloroform;
which has nearly superseded all other
anæsthetics. Possessed with the notion that
something better than ether existed in the
chemical world, the Professor set about
deliberately to examine any volatile
substances which afforded promise of
revealing the required properties. Various
gases and liquids were experimented upon;
and, at last, chloroform—a ponderous liquid which
provoked no great expectations, and only
known as a chemical curiosity in the
laboratory—was brought to the trial. Doctor
Simpson, with his two assistants, sat down late
one night, after an arduous day's toil; and,
when most physicians as well as patients
were wrapped in sleep, began to inhale
various substances which had been collected.
A small bottle of chloroform had been raked
up out of some obscure corner, and was to
take its turn with the rest. Each experimenter
having provided himself with a
tumbler or finger-glass, a portion of each
selected fluid was poured into the bottom
of it, and the glass was placed over warm
water to favour the evolution of vapour.
Holding the mouth and nostrils over the
vessels, these votaries of science courageously
explored this terra incognita by inhaling
one vapour after another. At last, each
charged his tumbler from the small bottle
of chloroform, when immediately, says
Professor Miller, an unwonted hilarity seized
the party; they became bright-eyed and
very happy, and conversed with such
intelligence as more than usually charmed
other listeners, who were not taking part in
the proceedings. But, suddenly, there was a
talk of sounds being heard like those of a
cotton-mill, louder and louder; a moment
more, then all was quiet, and then—a crash.

On awaking, Doctor Simpson's first perception
was mental. "This is far stronger and
better than ether," he said to himself. His
second was to note that he was prostrate on
the floor, and that his friends were confused
and alarmed. Hearing a noise, he turned
round and saw his assistant Doctor Duncan
beneath a chair; his jaw dropped, his eyes
staring, and his head half bent under him;
quite unconscious, and snoring in a
determined and alarming manner. More noise
still, and much motion. And then his eyes
overtook Doctor Keith's feet and legs, making
valorous efforts to overturn the table, or more
probably to annihilate everything that was
upon it.

All speedily regained their senses, and, from
that day—or, rather, from the middle of that
night—dates the discovery of the marvellous
properties of chloroform. A patient was
found in the Royal Infirmary, who submitted
to its influence during operation, and
who awoke up afterwards, quite unconscious
of what had happened, with a merry eye and
placid countenance. Henceforward, ether
was all but abandoned; and chloroform is
now used, more or less, in every public
hospital both in Great Britain and on the
Continent.

In writing a biography of this new child
of science, it can never be forgotten how
nearly it was being strangled at its very
birth. In the very first surgical case in
which it had been intended to give
chloroform, Doctor Simpson was unable to
be present, and it was consequently withheld.
The patient who had thus to bear the pain of
the proceeding unanæsthetised died suddenly
after the first incision had been made, and
with the operation uncompleted. Had chloroform
been administered with the same result,
it would, of course, have been regarded as the
cause of the accident, and might have proved
its coup-de-grâce. Escaped this danger, the
prejudices excited against it were so strong
that the greatest caution was needed to carry
it safely through its infancy. When Doctor
Simpson was first introducing anæsthetics
into his special department of practice, he
purposely abstained from employing any in
the case of one particular lady for whom he
had reason to anticipate coming evil. His
fears were realised; for the patient, though
escaping with life, made a most protracted
recovery. The acquaintances of the lady,
strong in opposition to the unnatural
innovation then much talked of, and bent on
regarding this as the source of the entire
mischief, asserted that the quantity of the
anæsthetic vapour which had been
administered to their unfortunate friend was
so great, that they felt the odour of it quite
oppressive when calling to ask after her, even
days after. The simple answer to all this was, that
not a drop of the supposed agent had ever been in
the house.

Devout and well-meaning people were
persuaded that to seek immunity from the
pain which God in His good Providence had
seen fit to inflict upon them, was in the
highest degree sinful, and that our wives and
mothers, in seeking to annul suffering which
had been entailed upon them as part of the
primeval curse, were "yielding to a decoy of
Satan, apparently offering itself to help
woman, but which, in the end, would harden
society and rob God of the deep earnest cries
which arise in time of trouble for help."
These small theologians, indeed, were scarcely
tranquillised by being shown that, to be
consistent, they must uproot no more thorns
and thistles, and that physicians, whose good
offices they were so willing to accept on a