Over sixty years after the discovery of chloroform anaesthesia, doctors would finally get a conclusive answer about its risks. And as we head towards the 200th anniversary of William Morton’s ether demonstration, new problems with the modern inhaled anaesthetics we use are being debated.

Featuring:

Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne

Dr Martin Vollmer, of EMPA the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology’s Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology

The voice of Alfred Goodman Levy was provided by Max Dowler

Featuring extracts from Dr Edmond ‘Ted’ Eger’s Living History of Anaesthesiology interview, courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology. woodlibrarymuseum.org

Open Drop Ether Anaesthesia audio courtesy of the Wellcome Library.

You can find more information about the risks of anaesthesia from the website of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, www.RCOA.ac.uk

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com

Chloroform could stop patients breathing if you accidentally gave too much, but could it also cause the heart to suddenly stop beating? John Snow thought it did, but doctors in Scotland disagreed. Through the second half of the 19th century, the commissions and committees that investigated chloroform’s risks would chase an answer around the world, to India. And the results would be controversial.

Featuring:

Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and former Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology

Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne

Professor Tim Cook, Consultant Anaesthetist and Royal College of Anaesthetists Director of National Audit Projects

Alan Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, as the voice of Edward Laurie.

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com

Chloroform's ease of use and lack of side effects compared to ether made it an attractive choice for doctors and patients, but as its use spread across the country, doctors and dentists using it would discover it could have sinister consequences both for their patients, and for themselves, and questions about its safety would set Edinburgh against London in an argument about its use.

Featuring:

Dr Sophie Boles, trainee anaesthetist, London

Dr David Wilkinson, consultant anaesthetist and former Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology

Dr Christine Ball, consultant anaesthetist, Laureate of the Wood Library-Museum of Anaesthesiology, and honorary curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Melbourne

Alan Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, as the voice of James Young Simpson.

Music by Nicola Chang

Podcast Artwork by Matthew Johnston

Written, recorded and edited by Dr Matthew Heron.

Executive Producer Joel Myers

www.etherorpod.com