John Snow's Chloroform Inhaler, 1850s

A young woman in Victorian dress inhaling chloroform. The chamber at lower right is made of metal, and consists of a double cylinder, the outer space of which contains cold water, and the inner serves for the evaporation of the chloroform which the patient is to breathe. This illustration appeared in On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics: Their Action and Administration (1858) by English anesthetist and epidemiologist John Snow (1813-1858). Snow's advances in the administration of dosages of ether and chloroform changed the way patients endured surgical and obstetric procedures. He personally administered chloroform to Queen Victoria during the birth of two of her children, which led to wider public acceptance of obstetric anaesthesia. This image has been colorized

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

Anaesthesia Anesthesia Chloroform Ether Inhaler Surgery

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > PHR