Memorial gaffe forces council chiefs to change sign
A COUNTY memorial to one of the world's greatest medical pioneers is to be changed because the details etched on it regarding his best known achievement is wrong.
Community leaders in Bathgate have found a mistake on an arched gateway to a memorial garden in honour of Sir James Young Simpson ahead of bi-centennial celebrations of his birth next year, forcing red-faced council chiefs to change it.
The doctor, one of West Lothian's and Scotland's most famous sons, pioneered the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic during childbirth in 1847 and a number of memorials celebrating his link to Bathgate have been built in the town, where he was born in 1811, including a memorial garden in Marjoribanks Street, a (Wetherspoons) pub and a primary school.
But the arch at the memorial garden, which was put up by West Lothian Council four years ago costing just over 3,000, has an embedded chloroform formula on it reading CH2CL3, when it should be CHCl3.
There is also a debate as to whether all the letters should be in lower case instead of capitals. The error was spotted earlier this month and the council has already blacked out the 2 and part of the capital L in the formula.
Bathgate councillor John McGinty said: "I am sure that the council will want to put this right and make sure that everything is sorted well in advance of the commemoration and any visitors coming to the town.
"It would be very embarrassing if visitors ended up looking at the formula for Coca Cola or something like that by mistake, and I am glad that the error has been drawn to the council's attention well in advance."
David Main, a local community councillor, has helped organise the visit of medical dignitaries on Newland's Day (Bathgate gala day) next year as part of an international conference being held in Edinburgh to commemorate Simpson's bicentenary.
Mr Main, a librarian at Edinburgh's Napier University, has also campaigned to Royal Mail to have a commemorative stamp made for Simpson next year.
He said: "I had been told that about the gateway not being quite right, although what I was told was that the formulae, CHCl3, was all capitalised when it should not be and both the 'l' and the '3' should be in lower case.
"To be honest, I think that unless you knew your chemical compounds, the whole idea was a wee bit too arcane, but maybe there are more chemists and chemical scientists in Bathgate than I had assumed."
The council has now sought to rectify its mistake and has received a quote of 395 to have the work carried out.
A spokesman said: "The memorial arch has been in place for four years, and the error in the chemical formula was pointed out to us just a few weeks ago.
"The decision was made to blackout the error until a permanent solution was found. We are currently in discussions with our community partners on the best way to proceed. We aim to have the error rectified this year. The arch is a much admired landmark of Bathgate town centre."
Simpson's chloroform work saved the lives of countless women in the 19th and 20th centuries and paved the way for the development of the medical profession's modern birthing techniques.
A spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh said: "Simpson was a hugely significant figure both here in the local area and in medicine more widely."
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Monday 21 May 2012
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