Discovery of a new anaesthetic agent, more efficient than sulphuric ether.

In an attempt to find an anesthetic less irritating than ether, Simpson discovered the advantages of chloroform. He had previously used ether with great benefit in midwifery, but now substituted chloroform, being the first to do so. Preliminary announcements in Lond. med. Gaz., 1847, n.s. 5, 906.