The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-07
A C%HLOROF0RN JUBILEE.
SIR y. SIMPSONS DAUG liter TELLS
OF HIS DISCOVERY.

Fors"Aai Aeouninincohcos nnd Anecdotes OF tue
Great Physician who first Used tho An
THthetic FIFTY Years Age - Hts Per-
sistent struggle aud Ills Rich Reward.
The htticth anniversary OF the first use OF
chloroform rs an anmsthotic took place this
week. On tho evening of Nov. 4, 1sl7, Sir
James Y. Simpson and his assistants, Drs.
George Keith and Matthews Duncan. inhaled
the funcs, and, in simpsons own graphic
words, were AL under the mahogany In q
tricc, TO my wifo's great CONSERVATION
and alarm "Chloroform," said Lawson
TAFT, has been to surgery what the
motive power of steam has been to the
arts. manufactures, and BY
giving US chloroform Sir James Simpson freed
tho shackles which thereby bounded tho prog.
ress OF surgery, so that since that time what
WAS but n rough, almost savage art is now one
of our greatest and most rapidly growing sci.
onccs, and TO him be the glory OF IL ALL"
Ether" said DIR. Lander Brunton. lis n blunt
knife, chloroform is a sharp knife" and hut for
this sharp knife and its discoveries power of
language and overwhelming arguments in its
favor the surgeons lancet would have lain rust.
ing in its case. instead Of relieving thousands
yearly of cankering disease.
When chloroform was in its infancy my father
lonRed to see it's effects on all around. He had
"chloroform parties" and the guests tried 1t In
turn. A student who boosted that he could not
be rendered unconscious by its fumes was dosed
before a roomful of onlookers. To prove to him
beyond denial that he had been under tho sway
OF the drowsy syrup. they proceeded. while he
slept, to take off his dappcr shoes; but below the
patent leather were toeless. heelless stockings,
and n shout Of laughter went up. Poor laddie,
maybe he has not got his mother TO darn for
him" said tho professor. The student found u
loosencd tic and a face black with burnt cork
when he awoke, but was happily unaware that
the nccdlelcss state OF his outwardly dandifed
wardrobe had been revealed.
Prof. Simpson did not rest on his laurels. He
sought for n still ADLER anasthetic agent. and
continued his experiments, with several narrow
escapes of his life. Lyon Playfair saved him
once by insisting that some new compound he
had found be first tried OH rabbits. which proved
1t n fatal drug. lie advocated the use of chloro.
form in Strengthening cattle. He went fishing
one day with n patients son., and noting the
wriGgling of the worm. felt in his pockets for the
inevitable panacea he carried there.
My fathers first big step in his upward career
was his election to, u profcssorship in Edin.
pr; Simpson. presumed to become a candidate.
Did not feel the best man, for the chair, l
would not go in for it," he said. The chief OBJ:
that he was unmarried. He pleaded that years
would cure the former objection. and the sec
ond he promptly remcdied: He wrote to his
cousin Jessie Grindlay. then in Liverpool, whom
he had long admired, asking her to help his
chances rnin@ Si ana IS secure cure one vote in his favor by mar,
said, lido not think ! will get this chair. but
maybe another some day; but l would have in
wealth, real wealth, and much more happiness,
than in the longest purse that might be within
The contest over the election was n severe
one. The doctor OF twcnty.eisht had only the
frepntation he had Won t9, IN the four years he had
the testimonials which he had collected from
men at home and foreign schools proved he had
made his mark and written himself into fame.
One vote he gained oy reason of his fathers
trade: A Councillor who was Of the honorable
candidate. OF course. none Of you will support
young Simpson. He is only u bakers son" said
sns %a lad SonrS c9 INV Fsfh.r "D Dfd:, man ma, an Z.
son Of mine doing as weli." whether It was 8
know not. but he was elected by one vote.
His ability to lecture. the piithiness and elo-
OVERLOOKING, His increasing renown attracted
wealthy patients to Edinburgh, and in 1s47 he
was made one of her Majesty's physicians for
The young professor, then en- moved into bigger
discovered. When a student his heart. always
woman.like in softness. had quailed when in the
witness of suffcrings which moved him with an
intensity beyond mere pity, and set him ear
pain. Mesmerism at one time seemed to him
TO be q means to gain this object. 1t was
In is4S Of that eSe w early eH tTis,, across of s1 the At;
ether, and he set to, work with a viii to
urge its use: He was the first in either the old
practice. Not satisfied with this, he for months
tried on himself various drugs. and at last OBJ
tanned n bottle of chloroform. which had been
recommended to him by MIR. Waldie OF Liver
pool; It's an!esthetic properties were undrcamt
his own hand from the shelf in duncan & Flock.
harris. his chemists. This bottle the professor
tried it, and found it effectual.
70 find an ~3nodync which changed anguish
into all the blessedness of sleep was not only
what was wanted. II required a champion to
fight its way, FOR it was attacked vchemently
great writer has said that the true discov.
erer is not the man who first says a thing, but
he who says 1t so often and SO persistently that
at last he persuadeS the world IL is true. In
this sense also my father won the victory and
became the apostle OF anmsthesia:
reform increased that the firm which made the
first little phial for my father in ls47 now
And other dreams OF his have also come 10 pass.
Possibly" he said in 1868, "by the concentra-
ton of electrical or other lights. We may yet
body, sufficiently diaphanous for the inspection
Of the p~racticed eye of the physician: When
hands appeared in the shop WSindows. a man OF
science looking at them said: How Sir James
uses he would Immediately have applied it."
And a cabman said to me: ''Eh, the peety your
feythcr Is no wi US moo. ia max guild gear of
these newfangledt things"
His quick originality led my father to pene
trate realms not strictly within the lines of his
specially. lie saw the ~lIgatures used to stop tho
bleeding arteries after alnputations were liable
to gather foulness and cause surgical fever. To
the ligature. my fathers idea was to pin the
veins and so restrain the hemorrhagc in a more
~ctfectual and clearly manner. This he called
acupressure; and perfected it about ton years
after the discovery OF chloroforn. The sur
noyed at his trespassing on their domain.
He said: Il shall be quite content II
acupressuro begins to be thought of a quarter
of a century hence" Nevertheless. It advanced
more in ten years than did ParG's ~liRature in
two centuries. But the controversy and abuse
acupressure aroused and the, necessity Of reply
! gave the professor ample work.
He loved n fair fight. Once he took up the
cudgels TO smash the supposltions OF q previous
speaker. The man rose TO reply; no had an I'M
pedimcnt in his speech. and The glow OF battle
died out Of the PIo!essT1r,s face. " forgot lie
taRe. hut we'll fight il out on naDcr Z" which