The Washington herald., 1913-10-01
new GAS TO AID
CONSUMPTIVES
Vitalizes the Blood and Is of
Great Health-Giving
Value.
DISCOVERY OF W. J. KNOX
Surprising Medical Records Revealed.
y Work Done Among Blackwells
Island Patients.

The New York Globe. in its Tuesdays
issue. says it believes the subjoined ar
:icle to be an extremely conservative de-
;cription of a scientific discovery that
promises to be of great medical value.
The doctors mentioned are naturally
lOncommittaL They are unwilling to
make general deductions. viii may
prove misleading. from individual cases.
they are well satisfied, however, with
he results obtained,
To bring to the sick room, wherever
5ituated and in any environment arti-
icialIy atmospheric conditions which, in
1 natural state, have been found of
he highest health h-giving value is a new
achievement of science described in the
most modest terms), details Of which the
Globe has learned and now makes pub
lc in advance of their announcement
through professional channels Well-as-
certained facts regarding this remark
able discovery have been known for
three years, and during that period by
means of it, no inconsiderable amount
of medical work has been accomplished,
with results that seem to warrant the
most sanguine expectations. But, for
reasons not altogether based on scien-
titic reticence, the secret has, until now,
been carefully guarded.
The discoverer, William J. Knox, an
American chemist, processes no more
than to have hit upon a means of re-
storing. by natural process, to impov-
erlshed blood the normal supply of
hemoglobin and red -OrpusCles, and so
increasing the essential oXidative activ-
ity of the healthy blood stream. In sim
pier language. he is able to make good
radical deficiencies in the blood, and so
restore its vital qualities The powers
Of resistance of the patient are thus
raised to the maximum and the process
of upbuilding impaired tissue and life
cells is accelerated.
This is Mr.. EnOx's view of what he
has done. Description of the medical
applications he leaves to physicians
who have tested his discovery. That
they have found ii of great value in
The treatment of consumption, striking
as that fact is, he regards as merely
an incident of his work which he is
unwilling to emphasize. His original
purpose, once the principle he had con-
ceived was demonstrated to his salts
faction, was to devote his attention to
the problems presented by secondary
anaemia, that is a condition of the
blood accompanying certai in diseases, of
which tuberculosis is perhaps the most
conspicuous, in which the Iife-preserv-
ing properties of the blood are serious
ly diminished. Victims of consumption
came readily to hand and offered in the
most definite form the conditions with
which he sought to deal The effect
shown in the blood stream confirmed
his belief.
Apart from the direct destruction Of
the lungs, one of the marked symptoms
of consumption is the loss of hemoglo-
bin and red corpuscles in the blood
which is followed as a consequence by
general emaciation and debility Mr..
Knox found that in many cases, even
where exhaustion was extreme he could
in a reasonably short time bring back
to the blood the vital constituents II
had lost. Arrest of the primary disease
and restoration OF patients to health.
natural as they were in such Circum-
stances, he looks upon as a result out
side his province.
Nature of the New Agent.
Before going into the medical aspects
Of the matter it is necessary to describe
briefly the nature of the Knox discovery
II rests on a theory. new in its fullest
development to science. that the guam
tity Of the oxygen in the air we breathe
is less important than the degree of its
readiness to combine with other sub
stances for which, in chemical phrase.
it has an affinity. In this view, bad
air" is air the oxygen in which is for
one reason or other inert. In other
words it is in such a condition of in
activity that when respired into the
lungs. although it is taken up by the
hemoglObin of the blood, nevertheless the
blood in such condition fails TO perform
as fully as it should its functions as an
CXidizer.
To these conclusions Mr.. Knox was
led by observations Of the effect upon
the blood of certain atmospheric con-
ditions. That consumptives have the
best chance OF life in fairly high alti-
tudes among pine-clad hills is well
known. Mr.. Knox traced this result to
the oNidiZing activity of the air in such
conditions and to the consequent OXidiz-
ing activity Il the blood of those who
hreathed it He sought an artificial |
means of tmparting this property to con-
fined air wherever those who need il NAV
be- This he obtained by combining ozone
with plnlne, the essence of turpentine
forming a gaseous Ozonide of pinine
which, allowed to permeate the air in a |
room. can be breathed as easily as or- |
Ginary air and without irritation When
taken into the lungs each moIecuIe of |
this gas, which has been named Terpe- |
zone, as soon as it comes into contact |
with the moist surface OF the blood !
stream lberates active oxygen. which
has the oxidizing power of nascent oxy-