In 1847, a Scottish obstetrician showed the world the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic during childbirth and surgery . Sir James Young Simpson was a doctor and professor of midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. His work came at a time when patients often experienced pain during medical procedures because effective anaesthesia was still developing. Simpson had already tested ether for labour pain after news of its surgical use reached Scotland in 1846. He later searched for another substance and tested chloroform with colleagues. His work helped establish chloroform as an anaesthetic and changed medical practice.
