The medical establishment revolted against Simpson, and all official institutions declared that this idea was an aberration, and that pain was something innate in childbirth that should not be eliminated.
But the medical establishment revolted against Simpson, and all official institutions declared that this idea was an aberration, and that pain was something innate in childbirth that should not be eliminated, because such a thing would be unnatural. A rejection that was joined by the religious authorities, who kept citing Genesis and the divine punishment towards women of "you will give birth to your children with pain." Apparently, Simpson replied, with little success, that also according to Genesis God would have put Adam to sleep before removing a rib.
The baseless opposition to chloroform led to women continuing to give birth amid screams for years. That did not stop some doctors, including the respected John Snow, who had managed to stop cholera in London, from learning about Simpson's discoveries and aligning themselves with him. Until the queen arrived and everything changed.
The queen's anesthesia
Victoria was facing her eighth pregnancy, and everything suggested that the birth would be as difficult as the previous ones: the queen suffered enormously when giving birth, and the fact that she was already 33 years old, an advanced age at that time to be again mother, did not help to improve the omens.
Both she and her husband, Prince Albert, heard about the whispers of chloroform, and Albert called Snow to give him a thorough examination of all the details of the new technique. The event provoked an immediate reaction against the entire palace medical staff, but the decision of the royal couple was immutable and, when the time came, Snow was called to anesthetize the queen on April 7, 1853.
According to testimonies of the time, Snow suffered a profound shock when he saw his sovereign in "a state identical to that of the simplest of women." The birth was attended by three doctors, all men, including the chamber physician, James Clark, who contemplated this as if it were a demonic ritual.
Snow's technique consisted of applying a limited number of drops to the parturient with a handkerchief each time contractions occurred, just enough to avoid total narcotization. Snow, famous for his misanthropy and sullen nature, seemed especially livid and tense but, after 53 agonizing minutes, the queen gave birth without complications to her eighth child, Prince Leopold.