Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

James Young Simpson

They Woke Up On The Dining Room Floor · Obstetrician · 1811–1870

The Edinburgh professor who tested chloroform on himself, brought anaesthesia into childbirth within days, and argued that the great infirmaries killed more than they cured.

Defend these ideas against Simpson

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. James Young Simpson is that person for one topic on the course:

• Pain, infection and bleeding; Simpson and chloroform — History · Changes in medicine, c1848–c1948

Who was Simpson?

Born in Bathgate in 1811, the seventh son of a baker, Simpson became Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh at twenty-eight. Dissatisfied with ether, he and two colleagues inhaled chloroform in his dining room on the evening of 4 November 1847 and woke on the floor. He used it in obstetrics within days and published at once. He was opposed by clergy who quoted Genesis on the sorrow of childbirth and, more seriously, by surgeons who believed pain was useful or that the risk was unquantified; the opposition largely collapsed after Queen Victoria took chloroform in April 1853. He also campaigned on hospital mortality, publishing statistics showing that a patient was safer being operated on in a cottage than in a great infirmary — a fact he called hospitalism.

Major achievements

• Introduced chloroform to obstetrics in November 1847, days after testing it on himself
• Published the statistics of hospitalism, showing infirmary mortality far above cottage surgery
• Made anaesthesia respectable and, after 1853, standard

Life in brief

• 1811 — Born in Bathgate: The seventh son of a baker.
• 1840 — Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh: Appointed at twenty-eight.
• 1847 — 4 November: Chloroform inhaled in his dining room; used in obstetrics within days.
• 1853 — The royal precedent: Queen Victoria takes chloroform for the birth of Prince Leopold.
• 1860s — Hospitalism: Publishes the statistics of infirmary mortality.
• 1870 — Dies in Edinburgh: Offered a burial in Westminster Abbey, which his family declined.

Explore the life of Simpson — five chapters

1. The Baker's Son — Edinburgh at fourteen, and a lecture he could not sit through
2. 52 Queen Street — Three men under a dining table
3. The Argument From Genesis — Sorrow in childbirth, and a deep sleep upon Adam
4. Hospitalism — The discovery nobody thanked him for
5. The Funeral Edinburgh Closed For — What one discovery was worth

Read the five-chapter life of James Young Simpson →

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