The shift in the medical training system to favor Western practices occurred parallel to the emergence of new scientific innovations from Europe such as chloroform, an early type of anesthetic. The first use of chloroform in India took place in 1848, just one year after its first usage in the UK, demonstrating how quickly knowledge and technologies spread. Sen references how doctors forcibly “held me and placed the chloroform cap on my mouth” (Sen 136) during a particularly difficult childbirth, illuminating how both Sen’s education and her physical body were shaped by British imperialism. British influence occurred on the systemic and the individual level.