Inhalants: Difference between revisions

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'''Chloroform''', or '''trichloromethane''', is an organic compound with formula CHCl<sub>3</sub>. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid. It is a volatile solvent that was used as a medical anesthetic during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of the four chloromethanes and a trihalomethane. It is a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic and sedative when inhaled or ingested.<ref>{{cite book | veditors=((Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area)) | date=31 January 2012 | chapter=The MAK-Collection for Occupational Health and Safety | title=Chloroform [MAK Value Documentation, 2000] | publisher=Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA | pages=20–58 | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/3527600418.mb6766e0014 | doi=10.1002/3527600418.mb6766e0014 | isbn=9783527600410}}</ref>

The ~~anaesthetic~~ qualities of chloroform were first described in 1842 in a thesis by Robert Mortimer Glover, which won the Gold Medal of the Harveian Society for that year. Glover also undertook practical experiments on dogs to prove his theories. Glover further refined his theories and presented them in the thesis for his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1847. The Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson was one of the persons required to read the thesis, but later claimed to have never read the thesis and to have come to his conclusions independently.

The anesthetic qualities of chloroform were first described in 1842 in a thesis by Robert Mortimer Glover, which won the Gold Medal of the Harveian Society for that year. Glover also undertook practical experiments on dogs to prove his theories. Glover further refined his theories and presented them in the thesis for his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1847. The Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson was one of the persons required to read the thesis, but later claimed to have never read the thesis and to have come to his conclusions independently.

The use of chloroform during surgery expanded rapidly thereafter in Europe. In the 1850s, chloroform was used by the physician John Snow during the birth of Queen Victoria's last two children. In the United States, chloroform began to replace ether as an anesthetic at the beginning of the 20th century; however, it was quickly abandoned in favor of ether upon discovery of its toxicity, especially its tendency to cause fatal cardiac arrhythmia analogous to what is now termed "sudden sniffer's death". Some people used chloroform as a recreational drug or to attempt suicide.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors=((Martin, W.)) | journal=British Medical Journal | title=A Case of Chloroform Poisoning; Recovery | volume=2 | issue=1331 | pages=16–17 | date=3 July 1886 | issn=0007-1447 | doi=10.1136/bmj.2.1331.16-a}}</ref>

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 '''Chloroform''', or '''trichloromethane''', is an organic compound with formula CHCl<sub>3</sub>. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid. It is a volatile solvent that was used as a medical anesthetic during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of the four chloromethanes and a trihalomethane. It is a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic and sedative when inhaled or ingested.<ref>{{cite book | veditors=((Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area)) | date=31 January 2012 | chapter=The MAK-Collection for Occupational Health and Safety | title=Chloroform [MAK Value Documentation, 2000] | publisher=Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA | pages=20–58 | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/3527600418.mb6766e0014 | doi=10.1002/3527600418.mb6766e0014 | isbn=9783527600410}}</ref>
-The anaesthetic qualities of chloroform were first described in 1842 in a thesis by Robert Mortimer Glover, which won the Gold Medal of the Harveian Society for that year. Glover also undertook practical experiments on dogs to prove his theories. Glover further refined his theories and presented them in the thesis for his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1847. The Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson was one of the persons required to read the thesis, but later claimed to have never read the thesis and to have come to his conclusions independently.
+The anesthetic qualities of chloroform were first described in 1842 in a thesis by Robert Mortimer Glover, which won the Gold Medal of the Harveian Society for that year. Glover also undertook practical experiments on dogs to prove his theories. Glover further refined his theories and presented them in the thesis for his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1847. The Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson was one of the persons required to read the thesis, but later claimed to have never read the thesis and to have come to his conclusions independently.
 The use of chloroform during surgery expanded rapidly thereafter in Europe. In the 1850s, chloroform was used by the physician John Snow during the birth of Queen Victoria's last two children. In the United States, chloroform began to replace ether as an anesthetic at the beginning of the 20th century; however, it was quickly abandoned in favor of ether upon discovery of its toxicity, especially its tendency to cause fatal cardiac arrhythmia analogous to what is now termed "sudden sniffer's death". Some people used chloroform as a recreational drug or to attempt suicide.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors=((Martin, W.)) | journal=British Medical Journal | title=A Case of Chloroform Poisoning; Recovery | volume=2 | issue=1331 | pages=16–17 | date=3 July 1886 | issn=0007-1447 | doi=10.1136/bmj.2.1331.16-a}}</ref>