Chloroform, also known as chloroform, is prepared by the chlorination of methane gas. In 1831, American chemist Dr. Samuel Guthrie mixed whiskey with chlorinated lime in an attempt to produce an inexpensive insecticide. The sweet-smelling, colorless, nonflammable liquid was first used as an anesthetic in 1847 by Scottish physician Sir James Young Simpson. When chloroform is dropped on a sponge or cloth and the vapor is inhaled by the patient, it is thought to have a narcotic effect on the central nervous system, and this effect occurs relatively quickly.
Chloroform, on the other hand, has a higher risk than ether, and its administration requires greater physician skill. The earliest reports of death from chloroform began with a 15-year-old girl in 1848. It takes skill and caution to distinguish between an effective dose (enough to render a patient unconscious during surgery) and a dose that paralyzes the lungs, leading to death. Deaths have been widely reported, and the risks involved have led some patients facing surgery to forego anesthesia and brave the pain. Still, the use of chloroform spread quickly, and Queen Victoria of England famously used chloroform in 1853 when she gave birth to her eighth child, Prince Leopold.
Chloroform and the chemical formula CHCl3. Chloroform is used as a solvent in the paper, construction, and wood processing industries, as well as in the production of pesticides. Small doses of chloroform can also cause numbness or loss of consciousness.
