It was invented in the 19th century by a Dr. John Collis Browne, a doctor in the British Indian Army; its original purpose was in the treatment of cholera.
Dr. John Collis Browne MRCS (1819–1884) was a British Army officer, inventor of items for yachts and the originator of the medicine Chlorodyne.
His naked body was found in a house in Parson's Green on his 46th birthday, surrounded by empty bottles of Dr J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne.