Early Research Into Medicinal Gases and Their Effects on Blood
An Essay on the Medicinal Properties of Factitious Airs: With an Appendix, on the Nature of Blood
Research hubs: Respiratory System · Cardiovascular System
- Authors
- Tiberius Cavallo
- Journal
- C. Dilly, P. Elmsly, and D. Bremner, London
- Study Type
- Human
- Delivery
- Gas
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- United Kingdom
TL;DR
Cavallo described therapeutic inhalation of hydrogen-containing gases for respiratory disorders and reported human cases in which patients appeared to improve, including a 16-year-old girl with symptoms of phthisis.
Summary
Cavallo examined the possible medicinal use of several artificially produced gases and identified hydrogen as one of the gases potentially applicable to human physiology. He proposed diluted hydrogen-containing atmospheres for respiratory conditions such as asthma, cough, catarrh, and inflammatory disorders and collected case reports from physicians using different forms of “hydrogen gas.” In one explicitly hydrogen-treated case, a 16-year-old girl with symptoms consistent with what was then called phthisis experienced nausea and vomiting during treatment but was subsequently reported to lose the broader set of phthisical symptoms. Other reported cases involved gases termed hydrocarbonate rather than molecular hydrogen itself. The work is historically important as an early primary source on therapeutic gas inhalation, but the gas terminology, purity, dosing, diagnoses, and clinical observations predate modern experimental and clinical standards.