Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811-1870) BY H. LAING GORDON LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE MDCCCXCVII Copyright by T. Fisher Unwin, 1897, for Great Britain and Longmans Green & Co. for the United States of America MASTERS OF MEDICINE EDITED BY ERNEST HART, D.C.L "HOMINES AD DEOS NULLA IN RE PROPIUS ACCEDUNT QUAM SALUTEM HOMINIBUS DANDO." CICERO. Title. Author. JOHN HUNTER _Stephen Paget_ WILLIAM HARVEY _D'arcy Power_ SIR JAMES SIMPSON _H. Laing Gordon_ EDWARD JENNER _Ernest Hart_ HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ _John G. McKendrick_ WILLIAM STOKES _Sir William Stokes_ CLAUDE BERNARD _Michael Foster_ SIR BENJAMIN BRODIE _Timothy Holmes_ THOMAS SYDENHAM _J. F. Payne_ VESALIUS _C. Louis Taylor_ [Illustration: J. Simpson] To PROFESSOR ALEXANDER RUSSELL SIMPSON "Him by the hand dear Nature took, Dearest Nature, strong and kind." RALPH WALDO EMERSON. "When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it." _Id._ PREFACE I have endeavoured to condense the vast amount of matter which has been written concerning this Master of Medicine and his work into the form of a readable narrative, and to represent him in his social and intellectual environment in accordance with the object of this Series. The selections from his own writings illustrate as far as possible his versatility and many-sided character. I have chosen for quotation out of the numerous sketches and memoirs of him those written from undoubted knowledge of the man. I am indebted especially to Professor A. R. Simpson for kind advice, to Mr. Cuthbertson of the Edinburgh University Library for useful help, to Mr. C. Louis Taylor for valuable criticism, and to my wife for assistance in research and compilation. I have also to thank those friends who from time to time have favoured me with personal reminiscences of Sir James.