Anesthesia and Simpson

One of the most important inventions in medicine was anesthesia. I found the debates around the use particularly interesting. For centuries surgeries had been conducted without anything that would let the patient totally relax and not feel pain. Laudanum, a mixture of alcohol and opium, was used to help with surgery pain, but it was expensive and very addictive. When Dr. James Simpson, an Edinburgh obstetrician discovered chloroform could be used as an anesthesia, he began using it in hospitals to help women deliver their babies with more comfort. However, there was a huge theological debate over chloroform. Some believed that women should not be allowed to have chloroform because the Bible had written that childbirth should be a painful experience as a reminder of Adam and Eve’s Original Sin. I thought Simpson’s counter was perfect: Adam was put to sleep when God removed his rib to create Eve; therefore, God had anesthetized Adam making it acceptable for all Eves to be as well. Although the Bible was an effective tool, April 1853, marked a conversion in chloroform’s acceptability when it was administered to Queen Victoria while she was in labor. If Queen Victoria were able to use chloroform and survive, it was deemed safe enough for use by the general public. It struck me that it was common knowledge that the Queen used chloroform during her delivery. With the Royal endorsement, people began to shift their attitudes within medicine and society toward pain. With the use of chloroform, surgeons became more willing to perform longer surgeries, yet they were not performing them under hygienic circumstances. How much did mortality rates increase after the use of anesthetics?

When we visited the Royal College of Physicians, we saw a collection of books from Simpson’s private library. The building was constructed during the Victorian era, though the Royal College of Physicians existed long before they moved into their current building. One of the books that we saw recorded the first use of chloroform in a hospital for the assistance in a delivery. The use of chloroform was noted nonchalantly in the book, in the notes column like any other special note the doctor needed to write. How long after Simpson used chloroform on his private patients did he wait to bring it into the hospital or did he just use it on his hospital patients first?

Another book in the collection was one that Simpson’s nephew wrote before Simpson died. I thought it was interesting that both Simpson and his nephew would have considered a project recording his own death. We heard that he was making this journal because he wanted to be remembered. I wonder if he was inspired by Plato’s Trial of Socrates to try and leave his teachings to the world. Was Simpson not inspired by the classics and instead inspired by contemporary religious beliefs? Why would a religion inspire people to want to hear accounts of people’s deaths? Was taking an account just before death a method to make a person into a saint?