For all of recorded history, mankind has been in search of the Perfect Anodyne, just as alchemists sought the Philosopher's Stone, and with somewhat similar results. The Philosopher's Stone was a mythical substance which could transmute base metals into gold, and also confer both immortality and perpetual youth....the perfect anodyne would consist of a drug which took away all noxious sensations when required, but passed through the body without any side-effects or after-effects and was not addictive. In the present state of knowledge, there ain't no such thing; but there have been many drugs which raised hopes, served for a while, but proved to be dead ends.

Chloroform is one such. This book is a well-researched, popular study of the discovery, development, and uses of the drug. Like many such stories, it is full of weird characters and unlikely coincidences. August personages such as Justus von Liebig and Queen Victoria rub shoulders with less savoury characters such as Adelaide Bartlett, who was acquitted of poisoning her husband with an oral dose of chloroform in 1886 - which should have been physically impossible as it is violently irritant; neverlethess Edwin was dead, and with a stomach full of the stuff. (After the acquittal, the eminent surgeon Sir James Paget expressed the general opinion when he remarked that now she ought to tell us how she did it, in the interests of science!) Chloroform is no longer used as an anaesthetic, simply because it is too dangerous: in a significant number of patients it immediately induces ventricular fibrillation in the heart, which, as any paramedic can tell you, is not a good idea, and as a long-term effect even a single dose can cause severe liver damage. But it still has its uses in industry and in forensic science, and it is an excellent solvent. 272pp paperback; references; bibliography; index; b/w plates