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Linda Stratmann. Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion. Phoenix Mill, U.K.: Sutton, 2003. xiii + 258 pp. 111. £15.99 (0-7509-3098-5).
Chloroform-the name conjures up a nineteenth-century physician administering anesthesia with a handkerchief. In the twentieth century, it is central to many a spy thriller: an unsuspecting victim passes out without a struggle shortly after a handkerchief soaked in the liquid is passed under the nose. In this remarkable book, Linda Stratmann traces the history of the second-oldest effective surgical anesthetic agent from its development in the late 184Os until its demise in the 1950s and 1960s.
The first chapter of the book recounts the history of the quest for anesthesia from antiquity through the discovery and use of ether as an anesthetic agent; while Stratmann skips over quite a bit, this is a tight and concise summary of events. Chapter 2 begins the chloroform story in earnest, tracing the roots of the discovery of the agent from the shores...