"Inventor and revealer of anaesthetic inhalation, By whom pain in surgery was averted and annulled; Before whom in all time surgery was agony, Since whom Science has control of Pain." Whilst the discoverer of nitrous-oxide anaesthesia was dying from chagrin and inaction, and the revealer of anaesthetic inhalation by ether was wasting time in unworthy disputes concerning priority, and fruitless endeavours to gain pecuniary reward, a bolder than either had taken up the work where they had left it, with the high object of pursuing it until he had for ever established the benefit to humanity which he recognised in it. He went straight forwards and onwards, strong in his endeavour; undeterred by the jeers of the ignorant, the opposition of the prejudiced or the attacks of the jealous, with no thought of or wish for reward except that which was to come daily from the depth of sufferers' hearts. During the Christmas holidays of 1846 Simpson was in London, and discussed the new discovery with Liston, who was one of the first to operate under ether in Great Britain at University College Hospital. The great surgeon thought that the chief application of the process would be in the practice of rapidly operating surgeons; it was at first generally believed that the inhalation could be borne for only a brief period. Simpson speedily showed that no evil resulted if the patient remained under the influence of the vapour for hours. In the month of January, 1847, he gained for the Edinburgh Medical School the proud honour of being the scene of the first use of anaesthetics in obstetric practice. In March of the same year he published a record of cases of parturition in which he had used ether with success; and had a large number of copies of his paper printed and distributed far and wide at home and abroad, so eager was he to popularise amongst the members of his profession the revolutionary practice which he introduced. From the day on which he first used ether in midwifery until the end of his career he constantly used anaesthetics in his practice. He quickly perceived, however, the short-comings of ether, and having satisfied himself that they were unavoidable, he set about his next great step, namely, to discover some substance possessing the advantages without the disadvantages of ether. In the midst of his now immense daily work he gave all his spare time, often only the midnight hours, to testing upon himself the effect of numerous drugs. With the same courage that had filled Morton he sat down alone, or with Dr. George Keith and Dr. Matthews Duncan, his assistants, to inhale substance after substance, often to the real alarm of the household at 52, Queen Street. Appeal was made to scientific chemists to provide drugs hitherto known only as curiosities of the laboratory, and for others that their special knowledge might be able to suggest. The experiments usually took place in the dining-room in the quiet of the evening or the dead of night.