ABSTRACT
The first successful demonstration of general anaesthesia took place at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA on 16 October 1846 when Morton, a local dentist, administered ether to Gilbert Abbot so that John Collins Warren could operate upon a vascular tumour on the patient’s neck. News of the operation reached England later that year and on the 21 December Liston, at University College Hospital, London, amputated a leg through the thigh under ether anaesthesia. In 1847, Simpson of Edinburgh introduced chloroform as an alternative to ether, and this was used extensively for general surgery, and also to relieve the pain of labour. This latter use was opposed by some members of the public who felt that relieving labour pains was contrary to the teaching of the Bible. Public recognition of the benefits of anaesthesia for childbirth was attained when Queen Victoria accepted chloroform from John Snow during the birth of Prince Leopold, in April 1853 (chloroform a la reine).
