The first who reported to have produced Chloroform was the French chemist Eugène Soubeiran, in 1831. Soubeiran took acetone and ethanol, and used bleach powder for the reaction. The American physician Samuel Guthrie prepared gallons of the material and described its "deliciousness of flavor." Independently, Justus von Liebig also described it. Chloroform was named and chemically characterised in 1834 by Jean-Baptiste Dumas. Starting in the 1850s factories made large amounts. Its use as an anesthetic declined in the early 20th century as safer chemicals were more used.