Problems with the 3 main Anaesthetics

• It was very weak
• It did not make the patient completely unconcious so the patient still felt pain

• It was highly flammable
• Irritated patients lungs so they coughed even when they were unconcious
• It made patients vomit 
• Produced very deep sleep which could last for days
• It had to be carried in large heavy glass bottles which were difficult for the surgeon to carry around with them. 

Simpson's discovery of choloroform was an important advance in Surgery when ether was already acailable because choloroform did not have any of the problems ether did so was a much better anaesthetic. 

Problems with Choloroform 

• It was difficult to get the dosage right i.e. if you had too little you still felt pain, if you had too much you could die. ( Hannah Greener died in 1848 due to an overdose), 
• Damaged the liver
• Affected the heart; a number of young physically fit patients died after inhaling it!

However in 1848 John Snow developed a choloroform inhaler which regulated the dosage.