William Johnston Almon


William Johnston Almon (27 January 1816 – 19 February 1901) was a Nova Scotian physician and Canadian parliamentarian.
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Almon received his medical education from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. He was awarded a medical degree from the later university in 1838. By 1839, Almon had returned to Halifax and had an established a medical practice. He is noted for being among the first physicians in North America to employ chloroform as a surgical anesthetic, a procedure he first performed on 5 February 1848, within 90 days of the first-ever application of chloroform as an anesthetic by James Young Simpson in Edinburgh. Almon was also a pivotal figure in the establishment of the first hospital in Halifax, and helped found, and served three terms as president of, the Medical Society of Nova Scotia.