How chloroform anesthesia reached Lowell, Massachusetts: From Simpson's pamphlet to Gladwin's advertisement

Abstract

J.Y. Simpson of Edinburgh, Scotland discovered chloroform anesthesia in November 1847. During this time, W.T.G. Morton's agents had been collecting royalties for the use of ether across much of the United States. After reading about the advantages of chloroform as cited in C.T. Jackson's writings in the Boston Daily Atlas, S.F. Gladwin, a dentist in Lowell, Massachusetts, who had been reluctant to pay any ether royalties, demonstrated his independence and opportunism in swiftly adopting chloroform in his practice and publicizing its use through local advertisements.