When chloroform became widely available in the 19th century, there was a furious debate over its use in childbirth.

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But rather than using nets and chloroform, their tools are the high-speed gene-sequencing machines developed for the Human Genome Project.

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Prosecutors alleged Casey Anthony used chloroform to render her daughter unconscious and then duct-taped her mouth and nose to suffocate her.

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On cross-examination, agent Walsh acknowledged that contrary to his e-mail claims, Valle had no chloroform, ropes or large oven in which to cook his alleged targets.

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The controversy lost some of its heat after Queen Victoria let it be known that she had relied on "blessed chloroform" during the birth of Prince Leopold.

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Ten months earlier, in January 1905, a teenage girl from a good family guzzled a mug of chloroform and died on the floor of 33rd Street's American Dance Hall.

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Prosecutors alleged that she killed Caylee by using chloroform and covering her nose and mouth with duct tape, and that she put her body in the trunk of her car before dumping it in the woods.

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The killing jar was introduced in the 1850s, after the royal physician used chloroform to ease the delivery of Queen Victoria's eighth child, and net-wielding country vicars across Great Britain realized they could amass their collections of marbled whites and Camberwell beauties without overt violence.

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The computer search was a key piece of evidence in the murder trial as the prosecution sought to prove that Anthony had carefully studied the use of chloroform to render her daughter unconscious as part of a plan to murder 2 year old Caylee Anthony.

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