Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion

By Linda Stratmann

Linda Stratmann traces the social, medical and criminal history of chloroform, from early medical practices to create oblivion through the discovery of chloroform and its discovery, its use and misuse in the 19th century, to the present.

Please note that unfortunately some of the global reviews are a result of this book being incorrectly listed as chloroform outside of the UK.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Jan 20, 2005
• ISBN: 9780752499314

Reviews for Chloroform

[meggyweg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This started out well, but after a very detailed account of the first hundred or so years of chloroform use and all is pitfalls and controversies, it ended quite abruptly. It was around 1900 and then suddenly it was like, "So, this is the state of chloroform today..." It was like the author got tired of writing. I would have given the book four stars if it weren't for the hasty ending, which left me hanging.

[ladycato · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

My feelings on this book are mixed. It's not a bad book. It's not even dreadfully dull. But it also felt scattered in its approach and almost dizzying with the number of names it introduces, and didn't live up to my expectations. Chloroform is a fascinating subject matter. It's a powerful anesthetic. It's a tool of rapists and murderers. I was intrigued by the early debates against chloroform, especially regarding its use in labor--that a woman should experience pain, because it's God's edict against Eve. This was countered by one of my early champions of chloroform who pointed out that God sedated Adam while his rib was removed, so God understood the subject. However, too much of the book ended up covering the squabbles of Scotland versus London among their medical schools, and about ether versus chloroform. The book gains more focus near the end as it details scandalous Victorian cases where anesthesia was abused, including the infamous Holmes of Chicago, a mass murderer during the Chicago World's Fair (though I don't think that fact was even mentioned in this book; I know about Holmes from Devil in the White City).I had hoped this book would provide useful medical material for research purposes, but it didn't. My existing book on Civil War medicine is just as useful, and has far more pictures.