Charles and Emma Darwin: Under the 'influence' of chloroform anaesthesia

Abstract

A number of Charles Darwin's biographies record the administration of chloroform by Darwin to his wife Emma, during her labour and delivery of her eighth child, Leonard. This occurred on 15 January 1850, a little over two years after James Young Simpson in Edinburgh described the analgesic action of inhaled chloroform. An online search of more than 9000 items of Darwin's correspondence at Cambridge University and other sources revealed that he was an active proponent and user of chloroform in midwifery, for euthanising animals he studied, as well as in botanical studies of carnivorous plants. He also discovered that the concurrent inhalation of chloroform, during its administration to his wife, alleviated his distressing anxiety which he suffered when present at her earlier confinements.

Keywords: Charles Darwin; Emma Darwin; Joseph Hooker; chloroform; confinement; death; obstetric anaesthesia.