The Chloroform Committee was commissioned by the

Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London (RMCS), created in 1805 as the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, was a learned society of physicians and surgeons, that received a Royal charter in 1834, and a supplement charter in 190 ...

(now known as the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

) in 1864 to investigate the use of

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...

. The committee recommended the use of

in the same year (although

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R� ...

was safer for patients). It was the first of such committees (see the box at the bottom of this page) and concluded that chloroform depresses the action of the heart and frequently kills. One of the members, Joseph Clover, during his time on the committee developed apparatus for using chloroform called the Clover bag.

References

{{Chloroform committees and commissions History of anesthesia Committees 1864 establishments in the United Kingdom