THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
  M 
U  Ufr> 
DECEMBER,  i8q2. 
—   
ON  THE  MEDICAL  USES  OF  COMPRESSED  GASES. 
By  Clement  B.  Lowe,  Ph.G.,  M.D. 
Read  at  the  Phai-maceutical  Meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  Nov.  15. 
Within  a  comparatively  recent  period  there  has  been  introduced 
to  the  notice  of  the  medical  profession  the  use  of  compressed  gases, 
the  principal  ones  now  being  used  in  this  way  being  oxygen  and 
nitrogen  monoxide  (formerly  known  as  nitrous  oxide,  or  laughing; 
gas). 
The  medicinal  properties  of  both  of  these  gases  have  been  known 
for  many  years.  Experiments  made  upon  animals  have  shown  that 
the  inhalation  of  oxygen  produces  no  injurious  effects,  but  the 
reverse ;  they  gain  in  body-weight  through  the  stimulating  effects, 
upon  the  nutritive  functions,  these  results  being  produced  mainly 
by  the  effects  of  oxygen  upon  the  blood  through  the  increase  and 
stimulation  of  the  red  corpuscles.  The  effects  thus  produced  upon 
animals  have  been  verified  by  numerous  cases  reported  by  physi- 
cians of  prominence.  The  chief  diseases  in  which  it  is  indicated  are 
diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs,  characterized  by  difficulty  in 
breathing,  such  as  asthma,  croup,  etc.,  also  in  the  early  stages  of 
phthisis  pulmonalis ;  in  chronic  indigestion,  and  especially  in 
asphyxia  from  poisonous  gases,  such  as  carbon  monoxide,  etc.  In 
the  latter  case  its  use  may  be  invaluable  ;  for  instance,  a  person  has 
been  found  insensible  from  the  inhalation  of  carbon  monoxide  pro- 
duced by  imperfect  combustion  in  a  stove  in  a  bed  chamber.  If  the 
carbon  monoxide  has  not  been  present  in  sufficient  amount  to 
saturate  all  of  the  haemoglobin  of  the  red  corpuscles  of  the  blood, 
recovery  takes  place,  but  very  slowly,  it  being  weeks  or  months 
before  the  patient  is  restored  to  normal  health.    In  such  a  case  the 
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