26 
SIMPSON ON CHLOROFORM. 
hermit, whom I never saw before nor since ; and was not 
only cared, but recovered my strength, and appeared to all 
so remarkably beautiful that the King of Poland asked me 
in marriage, he being a widower and I a widow. I, 
however, refused him for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, 
from one of whose angels I believe I received the remedy. 
The recipe is as follows: — R. Aqua vitas four times dis- 
tilled, three parts ; and the tops of flowers of rosemary two 
parts. Put these in a close vessel and let them stand fifty 
hours in a gentle heat, and then distil them. Take 5j. of 
this in the morning once every week, and let your face and 
diseased limb be washed with it every morning.' " 
P. 
ART. VI.— ACCOUNT OF A NEW ANESTHETIC AGENT, AS 
A SUBSTITUTE FOR SULPHURIC ETHER IN SURGERY 
AND MIDWIFERY. By J. Y. Simpson, M. D., F. R.S.E., Pro- 
fessor of Midwifery in the University of Edinburgh, Physician- 
Accoucher to the Queen in Scotland, &c. 8vo. pp. 21. Edin- 
burgh: 1847. 
We gather from this pamphlet that its author, Dr. Simp- 
son, on the 10th November, 1847, communicated to the 
Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, the substance of 
the present publication, the title of which is given above. 
After experimenting with various articles for the purpose 
of discovering a substitute for sulphuric ether, Mr. Waldie 
suggested that the perchloride of formyle was worthy of a 
trial. 
Chloroform, or perchloride of formyle, after having tried 
