James Young Simpson

Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, FRCPE (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans and helped to popularise its use in medicine.[1]

For his nephew the Australian pastor , see James Young Simpson (minister) . For his great-nephew the diplomat , see James Young Simpson (diplomat).

Sir

James Young Simpson

Bt FRCPE
James Simpson
Born(1811-06-07)7 June 1811
Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland
Died6 May 1870(1870-05-06) (aged 58)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Known forUse of chloroform as anaesthetic in childbirth, design of obstetric forceps
Spouse(s)Lady Janet Grindlay Simpson (m.1839)
Notes
James Young Simpson (great nephew)

Simpson's intellectual interests ranged from archaeology to an almost taboo subject at the time: hermaphroditism. He was an early advocate of the use of midwives in the hospital environment. Many prominent women also consulted him for their gynaecological problems. Simpson wrote Homœopathy, its Tenets and Tendencies refuting the ideas put forward by Hahnemann.[2]

Simpson was a close friend of Sir David Brewster, and was present at his deathbed. His contribution to the understanding of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform had a major impact on surgery.

Education and early career

James Simpson was born in Bathgate a younger son of Mary Jervais and David Simpson, a baker. He attended the local school, and in 1825, at the age of 14, entered the University of Edinburgh to study for an arts degree.[3] Two years later he began his medical studies at the University,[3] graduating with an MBChB. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1830[3] and received his MD in 1832.[4] While at University he took additional classes including those delivered by the surgeon Robert Liston. As a result of the quality of his MD thesis on inflammation, Professor of Pathology John Thomson took him on as his assistant.[5]

As a student he became a member and then Senior President of the Royal Medical Society, initiating a lifelong interest in the Society's advancement.[6]

His first role was as a general practitioner in the Stockbridge district based at 2 Deanhaugh Street.[7]

At the age of 28, he succeeded James Hamilton as Professor of Medicine and Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh.[8]

He kept a town house at 52 Queen Street, Edinburgh and a country house near Bathgate.

In religion Simpson was a devout adherent of the Free Church of Scotland, but he refused to sign the Westminster Confession of Faith, because of what he believed to be its literal interpretation of the book of Genesis.[5]

He improved the design of obstetric forceps that to this day are known in obstetric circles as "Simpson's Forceps". His most significant contribution was the introduction of anaesthesia to childbirth.

In 1838, he designed the Air Tractor, the earliest known vacuum extractor to assist childbirth but the method did not become popular until the invention of the ventouse over a century later.[9]

52 Queen Street, Edinburgh

Obstetric anaesthesia

Sir Humphry Davy used the first anaesthetic in 1799: nitrous oxide (laughing gas). William T. G. Morton's demonstration of ether as an anaesthetic in 1846 was initially dismissed because it irritated the lungs of the patients. Chloroform had been invented in 1831, but its uses had not been greatly investigated. Dr Robert Mortimer Glover had first described the anaesthetic properties of chloroform upon animals in 1842 in a thesis which won the Harveian Society's Gold Medal that year, but had not thought to use it on humans (fearing its safety).[10][11]

Norman Macbeth - Sir James Young Simpson. Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh collection

In 1847, Simpson first demonstrated the properties of chloroform upon humans, during an experiment with friends in which he learnt that it could be used to put one to sleep. Dr Simpson and two of his assistants, Dr George Skene Keith (1819-1910) and James Matthews Duncan (1826-1890), used to sit every evening in Dr Simpson's dining room to try new chemicals to see if they had any anaesthetic effect. On 4 November 1847, they decided to try chloroform. On inhaling the chemical they found that a general mood of cheer and humour had set in. But suddenly all of them collapsed only to regain consciousness the next morning. Simpson knew, as soon as he woke up, that he had found something that could be used as an anaesthetic. They soon had Miss Petrie, Simpson's niece, try it. She fell asleep soon after inhaling it while singing the words, "I am an angel!".[12] There is a prevalent myth that the mother of the first child delivered under chloroform christened her child "Anaesthesia"; the story is retailed in Simpson's biography as written by his daughter Eve. However, the son of the first baby delivered by chloroform explained that Simpson's parturient had been one Jane Carstairs, and her child was baptised Wilhelmina. "Anaesthesia" was a nickname Simpson had given the baby.[13]

Bust of Sir James Y. Simpson at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Scotland

It was much by chance that Simpson survived the chloroform dosage he administered to himself. If he had inhaled too much and died, chloroform would have been seen as a dangerous substance, which in fact it is.[14] Conversely, if Simpson had inhaled slightly less it would not have put him to sleep. It was his willingness to explore the possibilities of the substance that set him on the road to a career as a pioneer in the field of medicine.

An account of some of Simpson's early uses of ether in childbirth are related by Manchester-based doctor Edmund Lund who visited him in 1847 and can be found in a manuscript held by special collections at the University of Manchester with the reference MMM/12/2.[15]

Antiquarian research
An illustration from Simpson's book on archaic Sculpturings

Simpson joined the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1849, and became its vice-president in 1860.[16] He made contributions to both the history of medicine and to archaeology.[17][18] He published several papers on leprosy and syphilis. In both cases he was concerned with the symptoms of the diseases and the relation between historical reports and contemporary cases, and also with the institutions that were set up to care for and segregate the patients.[19][20] Another area he worked on was medicine in Roman Britain[21][22]

Simpson published an early and important work on prehistoric rock art Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, &c. Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England, & Other Countries.[23] Simpson listed and categorized examples of sculpturings from many parts of the British Isles, often from personal examination, and also included examples from other countries for comparison. Many illustrations are provided. After Simpson's death, a collection of his antiquarian essays was published in two volumes[24]

Death and memorials
Sir James Young Simpson statue, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
Memorial plaque in St. Giles, Edinburgh

Simpson was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1850[25] and created a Baronet of Strathavon in the County of Linlithgow, and of the City of Edinburgh, in 1866.[26] He died at his home in Edinburgh in May 1870 at the age of 58. A burial spot in Westminster Abbey was offered to his family, but they declined and instead buried him closer to home in Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh.[27] However, a memorial bust can be found in a niche at Westminster Abbey in London.[28] On the day of Simpson's funeral, a Scottish holiday was declared, including the banks and stock markets, with over 100,000 citizens lining the funeral cortege on its way to the cemetery, while over 1,700 colleagues and business leaders took part in the procession itself.

Dr Alexander Russell Simpson, his nephew, inherited his town house at 52 Queen Street[29] and lived there until his death in 1916, when it was then bequeathed to the Church of Scotland. Since then the building has been through many uses including being requisitioned by the army during the Second World War and being used as a centre for training Sunday School teachers in the 1950s. Today, the town house is the premises of a charity called Simpson House, which provides a counselling service for adults and children affected by alcohol and drug use.[30] There is a plaque on the wall outside to mark the house as having been the home of James Young Simpson from 1845 to 1870.

In 1879 the Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital and in 1939 the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion were named in his honour, as is the current Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The Quartermile development, which consists of the Old Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, named its main residential street Simpson Loan in his honour.

See also
Simpson family grave (marked by the tall obelisk), Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh

References
  1. "Sir James Young Simpson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  2. William Haig Miller; James Macaulay; William Stevens (1867). "Sir James Young Simpson, Bart". The Leisure Hour: An Illustrated Magazine for Home Reading. W. Stevens, printer. XVI: 9.
  3. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Simpson, Sir James Young" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 135.
  4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
  5. "Simpson, Sir James Young, first baronet (1811–1870), physician and obstetrician | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25584, retrieved 22 July 2018
  6. "RMS Notable Members".
  7. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1838
  8. https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/notablefellows_1.pdf
  9. Venema, Vibeke (3 December 2013). "Odon childbirth device: Car mechanic uncorks a revolution". BBC World Service. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  10. http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/anaesthesia59_394_400_2004.pdf
  11. Blessed Days of Anaesthesia by Stephanie Snow 2009
  12. Gordon, H. Laing (November 2002). Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811–1870). The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4102-0291-8. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  13. Defalque, Ray J.; Wright, Amos J. J (September 2009). "The Myth of Baby "Anaesthesia". Anesthesiology. 111 (3): 682. doi:10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181b2800f. PMID 19704255.
  14. T. K. Agasti (1 October 2010). Textbook of Anaesthesia for Postgraduates. JP Medical Ltd. pp. 397–. ISBN 978-93-80704-94-4. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  15. "ELGAR: Electronic Gateway to Archives at Rylands :: Display in Full".
  16. Anderson, Joseph (1911). "Sir James Young Simpson's Work in Archaeology". Edinburgh Medical Journal. 6 (6): 516–522. PMC 5253907.
  17. Peck, Phoebe (1961). "Doctors afield. Sir James Y. Simpson". New England Journal of Medicine. 265 (10): 486–487. doi:10.1056/NEJM196109072651009. PMID 13733828.
  18. Turk, J.L. (1994). "Sir James Simpson: leprosy and syphilis". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 87 (9): 549–551. PMC 1294776. PMID 7932466.
  19. Simpson, J.Y. (1841). "Antiquarian Notices of Leprosy and Leper Hospitals in Scotland and England". Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. Part 1; Part 2; Part 3
  20. Simpson, James Young (1862). Antiquarian notices of syphilis in Scotland in the 15th & 16th centuries. Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas.
  21. Simpson, James Y. "Was the Roman Army provided with medical officers?". In Stuart, John (ed.). Archaeological Essays by the late Sir James Y. Simpson, Volume 2. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. pp. 196–227.
  22. Simpson, James Y. "Notices of ancient roman medicine-stamps, etc., found in Great Britain". In Stuart, John (ed.). Archaeological Essays by the late Sir James Y. Simpson, Volume 2. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. pp. 228–299.
  23. Simpson, James Young (1867). Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, &c. Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England, & Other Countries. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.
  24. Simpson, James Y. Stuart, John (ed.). Archaeological Essays by the late Sir James Y. Simpson, Volume 2. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. Volume 1; Volume 2
  25. Pharand, Michel. Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1868, Vol. X. p. 97.
  26. "No. 23064". The London Gazette. 30 January 1866. p. 511.
  27. For a photograph of his gravesite, see Baskett, T. F. "Edinburgh connections in a painful world". Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
  28. 'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p17: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966
  29. Edinburgh Post Office Directories
  30. "Our history - Simpson House CrossReach".

Further reading
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Strathavon and the City of Edinburgh)
1866–1870		 Succeeded by
Walter Grindlay Simpson
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