Revision Cards
Nineteenth century Anaesthetics
1. What was popularly used as an anaesthetic before the nineteenth
century?
Opium, alcohol or mandrake
2. At the Battle of Borodino, who’s famous surgeon amputated 200 limbs
in 24 hours?
Napoleon’s – his name was Dubois
3. Why did surgeons operate so quickly before the 1840s?
Because of the lack of pain relief and in an attempt to limit the loss of blood.
4. What did Humphry Davy use in 1799?
Laughing gas or nitrous oxide
5. Why was laughing gas rejected as a form of pain relief?
It didn’t make patients completely unconscious. Also, when the US dentist
demonstrated its use publicly his patient died and public confidence faded
6. Give 3 reasons why ether was rejected as a form of anaesthetic?
It irritated the lungs, caused coughing and sickness and was highly flammable
7. What alternative to ether did Dr James Simpson test out on himself?
Chloroform
8. Where did Simpson practice medicine?
He was Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University.
9. Give two medical problems with chloroform
Difficult to get the dosages right, caused sickness and vomiting
10. Give 5 reasons why there was opposition to the use of chloroform.
It was untested and no one knew the side-effects; anaesthetics encouraged
surgeons to take more risks with surgery leading to more deaths; some
people were opposed to the idea of easing pain in childbirth; some thought
pain was deliberately invented by God; some surgeons thought it useful to
hear patients scream to know they were alive
11. Hannah Greene famously died in 1848 whilst being operated upon using
chloroform. What condition were surgeons trying to remove?
Her toenail
12. Which famous person used chloroform in childbirth, making it popular
with the British public
Queen Victoria for the birth of her eighth (out of nine) child, Prince Leopold
13. Why did some people object to the use of chloroform in childbirth?
They thought it unnatural and that women should suffer. They gave examples
from the Bible to illustrate the necessity of pain in childbirth
14. Why did deaths increase between 1846-1870 with the introduction of
chloroform?
Surgeons attempted more complex surgery, which led to blood-loss and
infection
15. What is this period often known as?
The ‘Black Period’
16. How did Simpson overcome opposition to chloroform? Give 3 examples
He demonstrated how it could be used to doctors; he used it regularly in
surgery; he compared his innovation to that of Ambroise Pare to show how
people had rejected great ideas in the past but regretted their decision later