Samuel Guthrie Discoverer of Chloroform, Predecessor of modern day anesthesia

by Patricia R. James, author
published August 2004
                               

     If asked to name the scientists whose medical discoveries made a remarkable difference or improvement in the course of a lifetime, the name of Dr. Samuel Guthrie would not have come to the minds of your grandparents or even great-grandparents.  Yet it could be that one of his discoveries may have saved their lives.                                            

     Born in 1782, he settled after his marriage in Chenango County, NY.  During the War of 1812, he was employed at Madison Barracks hospital at Sackets Harbor as the Examining Surgeon.  (Editor's note:  Just think!  He may have attended to your ancestor!)  Having to operate on the war-wounded without anything to alleviate the pain except whiskey deeply affected him.  These experiences inspired him to look for a better solution.                                                 

     In July of 1831, Dr. Guthrie published an article in the American Journal of Science and Arts on the "new mode of preparing a spirituous solution of Chloric ether."  He wrote (p.65): "During the last six months, a great number of persons have drunk of the solution of cloric ether in my laboratory."  His objective was to "...ascertain the effect of it in full doses on the healthy subject, to discover as far as such trials would do, its probable value as a medicine."  Although two others would later claim to have independently discovered what would became known as "chloroform," the Medico-chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, investigated the claims, awarded the right of the discovery to Dr. Guthrie.     

     That he was successful both in theory and in practice is illustrated by the story that one day he'd been sent word that a man was seriously injured at the Post and he would have to operate immediately.  He intended to make use of his discovery on a person for the first time.  He went out with a stern and sober face but when he came back, he 'stepped spry and was all smiles.'  The operation and the use of chloroform as an anesthetic had been successful.       

     Dr. Guthrie is described as "of medium stature, slender build, and (being of a) slightly stooped figure.  He was of dark complexion and thoughtful mien.  His head was well-formed, the face slightly oval, the nose prominent... his most distinguishing feature... was his dark expressive eyes."  His mother often worried about his 'unwholesome' interest in anatomy.  As a child, he had some skeletons shipped to his home in barrels.  His mother, thinking the barrels contained flour, opened them, and had the fright of her life!

     Later as an adult, skeletons were stored in innocent-looking boxes in the guest bedrooms of his home. A guest (a child!) one day saw him 'open a large chest… When she was that it contained skeletons, she was horrified.  'I've been sitting on them all this time,' she wept. 'Don't you put any more boxes in my room.'  To which Dr. Guthrie adjoined, 'But they wouldn't hurt you, Eliza...  They were real good people.  I got them in the army. "                        

     The dictionary describes chloroform as "a colorless, volatile, non-flammable, pungent, sweet-tasting liquid derived from ethyl-alcohol..." Dr. Guthrie's first experiments were performed upon the family cat.  This unwitting 'volunteer' literally had to use his nine lives because the doctor put it to sleep over and over, conducting his experiments in secret as usual, but being forced to bring the cat outside so it could revive.  He repeatedly changed the dosage, but the cat would always finally awaken and with a kick, dash off to its private haunts..."                                 

     Dr. Samuel Guthrie was born in 1782 in Brimfield, MA, the son of Samuel and Sarah. He died at the age of 66years old in Sackets Harbor on Oct. 19, 1848.  Towards the end of his life, he developed a 'spasmodic twitching of the muscles of one side of his face' and this so 'disfigured it that a daguerreotype was never taken of him." 

Sources for this article:

1.  From Saints to Red Legs -- Madison Barracks  
     The History of a Border Post   p. 32-33, pub ca 1937
2.  American Guthrie and Allied Families by Lawrence R. Guthrie
     Book II, pages 88 - 90