Chloroform used in operating theatres and to reduce pain in childbirth.
Sometimes affected heart, making patients suddenly die.
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Lister
Semmelweis used chloride of lime to control spread of puerpal fever but it was very unpleasant so wasn't widely used.
Had seen carbolic acid being used in sewage works to keep smell down.
Tried it in the operating theatre in early 1860s and saw it reduced infection rates.
Heard about Pasteur's germ theory in 1865, realised germs could be in air or on surgical instruments and bandages so he used carbolic acid on them which produced further improvements.
However, carbolic acid is unpleasant to get on skin or breathe in so many doctors and nurses didn't use or like it.
Use of antiseptic conditions reduced death rates from 50% to 15%.
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Why Lister was more important.
His ideas reduced death rates, whereas early anaesthetics led to a rise in death rates.
Even though carbolic acid was unpleasant, it didn't cause sudden deaths like chloroform did.
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