150 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [jUNE 6, 



of the American Journal of Science, included in the correspondence 

 between Dr. Guthrie and the editor, Professor Silliman, and has 

 established beyond all doubt or cavil the right of Dr. Guthrie to 

 the title of "Discoverer of Chloroform.'" 

 The following article was also presented : — 



Chicago, February 6, 1888. 

 Mr. Chairman and Ilembers of the Chicago Medical Society : — 



Your committee appointed to consider the subject of the discovery 

 of chloroform would respectfully submit the following report: — 



There are three claimants to the honor of the discovery — Liebig, 

 of Germany, Soubeiran, of France, and Guthrie, of America. 



Liebig's claim. — Liebig claims to have published his di-scovery 

 in November, 1831 (see Liebig's Annalen, vol. 162, page KJl). 



Soubeiran's claim. — Soubeiran claims to have published his 

 paper on ether bichlorique in October, 1831, in the Annales de 

 Chimie et de Physique. 



Liebig shows (see Liebig's Annalen, volume 162, page 161) that 

 the October numlier of the Annales de Chimie et de Physique was 

 delayed in its publication, and that it did not appear until January, 

 1832. It certainly is evident that it was not published in October, as 

 it contains the meteorological report for the entire month of October. 



Gdthrie's claim. — In the January number, 1832, of Silliman's 

 American Journal of Science and Art, we find an article by Dr. 

 Samuel Guthrie, dated September 12, 1831, in which he says: "A 

 bottle and phial contain alcoholic solution of chloric ether. The 

 contents of the phial are as strong as I could conveniently prepare 

 them, but not equal to some which I made not long ago." 



In the October number, 1831, of the same journal (page 64, vol. 

 xxi) we find an article by Dr. Guthrie, without date, upon a 

 "new mode of preparing a spirituous solution of chloric ether," in 

 which he says: "During the last six months a great number of 

 persons have drunk of the solution of chloric ether not only freely 

 but frequently to the point of intoxication." 



We find a notice to contributors in Prof. Silliman's journal in 

 which he says: "Communications to be in hand six weeks, or 

 when long, and especially with drawings, two months before the 

 publication day." 



Dr. Guthrie's paper on chloric ether must then have been in the 

 hands of the printer in July or August, 1831, and if people had 

 drunk his chloric ether for six months, it would place the date of 

 his discovery in the early part of 1831. 



We therefore conclude that Dr. Samuel Guthrie is justly entitled 

 to the honor of first discovering chloroform, and that the publica- 

 tion of his discovery antedates that of either Liebig or Soubeiran. 



Respectfully submitted, 



F. E. Waxham, 



N. S. Davis, Jr., 



E. Wyllys Andrews. 



