A RARE VICTORIAN SCOTTISH PHYSICIAN`S BOX of shallow oblong form with rounded corners and "n

A RARE VICTORIAN SCOTTISH PHYSICIAN`S BOX of shallow oblong form with rounded corners and "neo-gothic" engraving, crested & inscribed "JESUS ONLY", the gilt interior divided into nine compartments (eight small & one large) to take a pill form or powdered drug, each with a hinged cover, inscribed with the abreviated name of the drum & its weight, the inside cover inscribed "Alexander R. Simpson MD from Mrs Barbour", maker`s mark "RJ", Edinburgh 1861; 3.25 (8.2 cms) long; 5 oz *Alexander Russell Simpson was Professor of Medicine & Midwifery and the Diseases of Women & Children in the University of Edinburgh and nephew of the famous Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870), who became Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University in 1840, Physician to Queen Victoria in 1847, President of the Royal College of Physicians in 1850 and Baronet in 1866. A man of enormous energy and great personal charm, Simpson was a keen controversialist and much loved physician. His contributions to obstetrics are overshadowed by his discovery of the anaesthetic effects of chloroform in November 1847. After ether was discovered in 1846, Simpson was quick to use it to relieve the pains of labour, earning the gratitude of countless women & the condemnation of some members of the church and the medical profession. Simpson was a doughty advocate of the cause of general anaesthesia and his final vindication came when Queen Victoria had chloroform at the birth of Prince Leopold in 1853.