1853

First two successful hysterectomies for fibroid tumor performed by Walter Burnham of Worcester Medical School and Gilman Kimball of Lowell, MA. (Barr, 113); Queen Victoria’s use of chloroform, administered by John Snow, during labor with her 8th child, Prince Leopold, breaks opposition to chloroform during confinement (Caton, 26-28, 63; Fulop-Miller, 341-42; Simpson, 155-57; Newson, 869), though this general claim is belied by lack of attention in lay press and failure to alter entrenched opposition to anesthesia in childbirth (Connor & Connor, 1996). Cholera epidemic in Edinburgh (Simpson, 199). Passage of Britain’s Vaccination Act, instituting compulsory vaccination against smallpox (all infants to be vaccinated within first three months of life, in default of which parents liable to fine or imprisonment), the compulsory aspects of which were extended under the Vaccination Act of 1867 (Porter & Porter)