Edward Henry Embley (28 February 1861 – 9 May 1924) was an Australian physician who studied the effects of chloroform on the human body. Embley was born at

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , non-locally also ) is a small city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the major provincial centre of Be ...

, younger son of Richard Edward Embley, a baker, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Smith, who both came from

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was educated at Castlemaine Grammar School, the Bendigo High School and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, where he graduated M.B., B.S. in 1889. He practised in Latrobe-street,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and taking much interest in

anaesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

s, gained the degree of M.D. in 1901 with a thesis on that subject. There had been various investigations into the question of the safe administration of anaesthetics, but Embley was not satisfied with the conclusions arrived at and made a comprehensive inquiry into the problem. In 1902 he was able to show "that heart muscle is very sensitive to chloroform poisoning, that this drug raises the excitability of the vagus, that deaths in the induction stage of anaesthesia are syncopal and unconcerned with respiration, that failure of respiration is mainly due to fall of blood pressure, and that in the post-indication stages of anaesthesia there is a general depression of all activities and no longer syncope through excited vagus action". This was Embley's most important achievement, and the value of his work was widely recognized. Embley continued his investigations into various aspects of the subject for many years, and was honorary anaesthetist to the Melbourne hospital until 1917. Ill-health caused his retirement from practice in 1920 and he died of cerebro-vascular disease at Melbourne after a long illness on 9 May 1924. He married and left a widow and two daughters. In 1929 the International Anesthesia Research Society held a memorial dinner in Chicago, and presented a scroll of honour to the University of Melbourne. Embley was awarded the first David Syme Research Prize at the University of Melbourne in 1906.

References

* *Geoffrey Kaye,
Embley, Edward Henry (1861 - 1924)
, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 8, MUP, 1981, pp 436–437. Retrieved on 12 October 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Embley 1861 births 1924 deaths Australian anaesthetists People from the Colony of Victoria