Discovery of Chloroform
On 4 November 1847, Edinburgh obstetrician James Young Simpson, with assistants Keith and Duncan, inhaled chloroform at his dining table and collapsed unconscious. Waking, Simpson declared: “This is far stronger and better than ether.” Within days, he had used it in childbirth, published his findings, and transformed anaesthesia. Chloroform rapidly displaced ether worldwide—though Simpson’s gamble nearly cost him his life.
