Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion
by Linda Stratmann
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Right up until the 19th century, physicians and philosophers regarded sleep as a state of near-oblivion in which there was no mental activity, a kind of halfway stage between wakefulness and death. For the Victorians, therefore, when anaesthesia was first practised, it was commonly seen as traumatic - for doctors were being asked to induce a condition looked upon as partial death. Viewed with suspicion, many feared that they would never wake again, or that they would lose their faculties on show more a permanent basis, even become insane. childbirth, its use to block out pain became widespread. This engaging and entertaining book traces the social, medical and criminal history of chloroform, from early medical practices to create oblivion through the discovery of chloroform and its discovery, its use and misuse in the 19th century, to the present. Today chloroform is no longer used as an anaesthetic, but has a multitude of uses in industry and medical research, including a role in DNA profiling. A by-product of the chlorination of water, we inhale infinitesimal amounts of chloroform every time we have a shower. show lessTags
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My feelings on this book are mixed. It's not a bad book. It's not even dreadfully dull. But it also felt scattered in its approach and almost dizzying with the number of names it introduces, and didn't live up to my expectations.
Chloroform is a fascinating subject matter. It's a powerful anesthetic. It's a tool of rapists and murderers. I was intrigued by the early debates against chloroform, especially regarding its use in labor--that a woman should experience pain, because it's God's edict against Eve. This was countered by one of my early champions of chloroform who pointed out that God sedated Adam while his rib was removed, so God understood the subject. However, too much of the book ended up covering the squabbles of Scotland show more versus London among their medical schools, and about ether versus chloroform. The book gains more focus near the end as it details scandalous Victorian cases where anesthesia was abused, including the infamous Holmes of Chicago, a mass murderer during the Chicago World's Fair (though I don't think that fact was even mentioned in this book; I know about Holmes from Devil in the White City).
I had hoped this book would provide useful medical material for research purposes, but it didn't. My existing book on Civil War medicine is just as useful, and has far more pictures. show less
Chloroform is a fascinating subject matter. It's a powerful anesthetic. It's a tool of rapists and murderers. I was intrigued by the early debates against chloroform, especially regarding its use in labor--that a woman should experience pain, because it's God's edict against Eve. This was countered by one of my early champions of chloroform who pointed out that God sedated Adam while his rib was removed, so God understood the subject. However, too much of the book ended up covering the squabbles of Scotland show more versus London among their medical schools, and about ether versus chloroform. The book gains more focus near the end as it details scandalous Victorian cases where anesthesia was abused, including the infamous Holmes of Chicago, a mass murderer during the Chicago World's Fair (though I don't think that fact was even mentioned in this book; I know about Holmes from Devil in the White City).
I had hoped this book would provide useful medical material for research purposes, but it didn't. My existing book on Civil War medicine is just as useful, and has far more pictures. show less
This started out well, but after a very detailed account of the first hundred or so years of chloroform use and all is pitfalls and controversies, it ended quite abruptly. It was around 1900 and then suddenly it was like, "So, this is the state of chloroform today..." It was like the author got tired of writing. I would have given the book four stars if it weren't for the hasty ending, which left me hanging.
The subject is well documented and the stories behind the facts are quite fascinating. However, I'm finding this one is quite the soporific, and can only manage a few pages before my eyelids get heavy! I'm staying with this one as it mentions at least two of my ancestors, one manufactured Chloroform, and one was accused of abusing it's properties!
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- Adelaide Bartlett; James Young Simpson; Richard Thomas Freeman; Richard Freeman (snr)
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