James Young Simpson (redirected from James Young, 1st Baronet Simpson)

Simpson, James Young 

Born June 7, 1811, in Bathgate, Scotland; died May 6, 1870, in Edinburgh. Scottish surgeon, obstetrician, and gynecologist.

Simpson graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1832. In 1840 he was appointed to the university’s chair of midwifery. In 1846 he introduced the use of anesthetic ether in obstetric practice, and in 1847 he proposed the use of chloroform as an anesthetic. Simpson developed a method of prophylactic version (1850) and perfected several medical instruments, including the obstetrical forceps.

Simpson was a member and president (from 1847) of the Edinburgh Royal College of Physicians and an honorary member of many scientific societies in Europe and America. A medical center that includes a general hospital and a maternity hospital has been named in honor of Simpson in Edinburgh.

WORKS

Anaesthesia. Philadelphia, 1849.
Clinical Lectures on Diseases of Women. Philadelphia, 1863.

REFERENCES

Aleksandrov, L. P. Pamiati W. Morton’a i J. Simpson’a. Moscow, 1896.
Gordon, H. L. Sir J. Y. Simpson and Chloroform. London, 1897.

R. S. RABINOVICH