Simpson first administered chloroform in 1847 by simply sprinkling it on a handkerchief and placing it over the patient's mouth and nose so that she could inhale the vapors. One mother was so delighted by the painless delivery that she named her child Anaesthesia. In 1853, Queen Victoria was given chloroform during the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold. The announcement of this in the press was received with amazement, grief, and criticism. The use of chloroform in childbirth became fashionable and what was fashionable soon became moral and acceptable.
Chloroform is more potent and more toxic than ether.
Its use as an anaesthetic decreased with increased experience and knowledge of its dangers. Cocaine is another example of a tool for medical usage which came from a primitive and ancient source. It was the Incas of Peru who regarded the coca-plant with great religious devotion and made offerings of its leaves to their Sun God. We also owe to the Incas of Peru a preparation which is now being used on a big scale in conjunction with anaesthetics, the drug called curare . Curare has the special property of paralyzing the nerve endings in the muscles and when the anaesthetist found it impossible to obtain good muscular relaxation by his anaesthetic alone, he gave the patient an injection of this drug.