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Social History of Medicine 1997 10(3):437-457; doi:10.1093/shm/10.3.437
© 1997 by Society for the Social History of Medicine
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‘My Beloved Chloroform’. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland:

A Case Study

HELEN R. WOOLCOCK, M. JOHN THEARLE and KAY SAUNDERS*

*Dr M. J. Thearle, Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics and Child Health, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland 4101, Australia

SUMMARY In 1847 the anaesthetic and analgesic properties of chloroform were discovered. This technology generated a new era for midwifery: mothers could be relieved of pain in childbirth. The introduction of chloroform for childbirth saw increasing medical dominance in obstetrics, traditionally in the hands of the midwife. At the same time the use of chloroform sparked a medical and moral controversy which lasted for several decades. On the one hand women were destined by the ‘curse of Eve’ to experience pain during childbirth; on the other, medical humanitarians and practitioners believed that there were technical and moral reasons for alleviating pain in childbirth. In concentrating on the debate historians have largely ignored the reactions of mothers to the introduction of the technology. This paper explores changing attitudes to childbearing within the context of colonial Queensland society, 1860–90, by examining the correspondence of an upper-class mother. Her education and liberal outlook, and a certain ambivalence towards motherhood, all influenced her attitude to the use of chloroform and the process of childbirth.

Keywords: colonial; childbirth; midwifery; chloroform; anaesthesia


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B. Dolan
Twenty Years of Social History of Medicine
Soc Hist Med, December 1, 2007; 20(3): 435 - 440.
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