CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PREPARING AND APPLYING CHEMICAL FUMIGATIONS TO THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN DISEASES, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Amelie Angelina Bonnet, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PREPARING AND APPLYING CHEMICAL
FUMIGATIONS TO THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN DISEASES, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH."-Partly a communication from her late
husband, M. Leon Bonnet.
Sealed the 10th January 1865, and dated the 16th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
16th July 1864.
I, AMELIE ANGELINA BONNET, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PREPARING AND APPLYING CHEMICAL
FUMIGATIONS TO THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN DISEASES, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," partly communicated to me by my late husband,
M. Leon Bonnet, and partly invented by myself:-
The Invention consists in producing improved chemical fumigations or
vapour baths for the treatment of certain diseases or affections of the human
body, and in the construction of apparatus for the application of the same to
the whole body or part affected.
The chemical agents employed are either simple or compound, and vary in
their nature and proportions according to the disease or affection to be treated
and the constitution and age of the patient, and sometimes also to the duration
and virulence of the disease. For gout, rheumatism, lumbago, and skin diseases

page_text: carbonate of soda or of potash, resin from turpentine, and other analagous
substances are used, either separately or in a compound state, for the production
gases; for rheumatism, lumbago, and other similar diseases I also use
bicarbonate of soda or potash, chloride of calcium, benzoin, for forming the
of
vapours.
The apparatus for applying the fumigation or vapour bath is constructed in
such a manner as to allow of the fumigation or vapour being applied either to
the whole body of the invalid except the head, or to the invalid's limb or
diseased part of the body; its construction varies accordingly, but an example
of an apparatus suitable for administering a vapour or gas bath, composed of
gases obtained from the chemical agents herein-before described, to the whole
of the body of a patient, head excepted, will suffice to make this part of my
Invention understood.
The apparatus or bath consists of a chamber of a suitable form and
susceptible of being closed as nearly air-tight as possible, and so constructed
as to enable the patient to be seated with his head outside the top of the
chamber. At the bottom of this chamber is a small perforated compartment,
in which is fitted a heating apparatus, such compartment having a door
opening outside the chamber or bath to enable the heating apparatus to be
fed with fuel. A pan or other suitable vessel co obtaining the chemical
agents to be formed into gas or vapour is placed over the heating apparatus,
and the vapours egressing therefrom pass out through the perforations in the
compartment into the chamber or bath. To assist the formation of the gases
or vapours a chimney is adapted in communication with the furnace, the
draught in which is regulated by a valve. A thermometer is also used to
register the temperature of the gases. The back of the patient when in the
bath is supported by a buffer fixed against one side of the chamber. A support
is placed on the opposite side for his hands, and a stool or rest for his or her
feet. An india-rubber ring is placed in the orifice at the top of the apparatus
through which the patient's neck passes, which fits so closely as to prevent as
much as possible any escape of gas or vapour. The apparatus is provided
with a side door, which allows of inspecting the inside. A vacuum may be
formed inside the apparatus by means of an air pump to increase the energy of
the disengaged gases. The size of the apparatus should, as a rule, be three
times that of the subject submitted to treatment, but may be varied to suit
circumstances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AMELIE
ANGELINA BONNET, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of
France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet, Her special license that I, the said
Amelie Angelina Bonnet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PREPARING AND APPLYING
CHEMICAL FUMIGATIONS TO THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN DISEASES, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," (partly communicated to me by my late husband,
M. Leon Bonnet, and partly invented by myself,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the
hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet, do bereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being bad to the Drawing hereto annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in producing improved chemical fumigations for the
treatment of certain diseases or affections of the human body or parts of the
human body, and in the construction of apparatus for the application of the
same. The apparatus is so constructed that the fumigations are applied to

page_text: the whole of the body, the head excepted, or to any special part or limb of the
human body.
The chemical agents employed by me are either elementary or compound;
they vary in their nature and proportions according to the kind of disease or
affections to be treated, the constitution, and the age of the patient, and very
frequently according to the duration and virulence of the disease. I do not,
therefore, confine myself to any particular kind, proportions, or compound of
the chemical agents producing the gases; however, for the gout, lumbago, and
diseases of the skin, I preferably make use, either separately or in a compound
'state, for the production of gases carbonates of soda or of potash, rosin from
turpentine, and other similar substances; for rheumatisın, lumbago, and
similar diseases I use bicarbonate of soda or of potash, chloride of calcium,
benzoin, and other like chemical agents. The arrangements of the apparatus
for applying the chemical fumigations must naturally vary and be different
according to the part or to the whole of the human frame to which it is to be
applied.
But in order to have my Invention better understood, I will proceed to
describe the annexed Drawing, in which the several letters of reference in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 indicate parts which are similar.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan of an apparatus in
which the patient is sitting, having only his head above and out of the
apparatus. A represents the chamber in which the small furnace B is placed;
it has small apertures a, a, for the egress of the gases; a door b serves to feed
the fire, and to place the vessel c containing the chemical substances which
are to produce the gases. The chimney D for increasing the draught is
provided with a tap or valve d, and a thermometer E serving to regulate the
temperature. The patient's back is supported by the buffer F, his hands rest
on the cross piece G, and his feet on the stool H. A caoutchouc collar I at
the top of the apparatus surrounds the neck hermetically. The chamber X
is at first heated by means of the fire-place B before the introduction of the
substances producing the gases which are disengaged from the vessel c. The
side door y permits of examining the interior of the apparatus by withdrawing
the lid Z.
Figures 3 and 4 represent in elevation and in section an apparatus of the
same kind, but prepared only for the introduction of the arms or legs. For
this purpose four orifices T, T, are made on the lateral face of the chamber X;
the two upper apertures serve for the arms, which rest either on a cross piece
or on straps, which are not shewn in the Drawings; caoutchouc collars close

page_text: hermetically the apparatuses. The same means as above described are employed
for the legs, which are placed on the lower orifices.
->
Figures 5 and 6 represent a section and plan of the said apparatus, in
which the patient is shewn sitting on the stool S.
In Figures 7 and 8 the fire-place B has its upper part of a rounded form,
terminated by the tube L, reaching under the stool t, where it has the form of
a rose, in order to introduce the gases under the patient's feet. The injection
of the gases may take place at any other part of the apparatus. A moveable
slide P. shuts off at will the gases from the opening a, a, from which they
escape laterally into the chamber A. A small sucking pump R is employed
to produce the vacuum in the apparatus when required. The pipes Q and
9, 9, are connected, with the stove K, Figure 9, from which heated air is sent
to several apparatuses when the chamber A is not employed. The stove K is
provided with a chimney and pipe F, through which the heated air is caused
to pass when that pipe is connected with the pipes Q.and q, q.
It will be easily understood, as herein-before stated, that several variations
in the construction of the apparatus can be effected without deviating from the
principle of my Invention; for instance, Figure 10 is an external, and
Figure 11 a side view of an apparatus, the door plate of which is opened; the
substances which are to produce the fumigation in the chamber A are intro-
duced by its upper part, closed by the lid B, provided with hinges in the
galvanized iron box c, which contains an iron plate rendered red hot by the
stove E; the gases rise in the funnel G to pass through the pipe, having a
rose by which they are introduced into the chamber A. The eduction of the
watery substances arising from perspiration takes place through the tap H.
Whatever may be the apparatus employed its capacity must be of a dimension
at least three times as large as the body submitted to the action of the gases.
Charcoal at a red heat is employed for heating the apparatus.
Having now described my Invention, and the best means of putting the
same into execution, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself,
as I have before stated, to the dispositions or arrangements of apparatus, nor
to the agents, their compounds, or the proportions of their compounds, to
produce the gases, as the same may vary according to the requirement of the
different diseases; but what I claim as my Invention, and wish to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is-
Firstly, the special arrangements in the construction of apparatus to
administer chemical fumigations for the treatment of human diseases, as
herein-before described, reference being had to the Figures of the Drawing.

page_text: Secondly, the employment of the vacuum obtained by a sucking pump or
otherwise to increase the action of the created gases, as herein-before
described, reference being had to the Drawing.
Thirdly, the construction of an independent stove serving to introduce heated
air in the chambers where the human body or limbs of the human body
receive the fumigations, as herein-before described, reference being had to the
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Amelie Angelina Bonnet, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
HY. GILBEE,
10, Rue de la Fidélité,
.Paris..
11 January 1865.
A. ANGELINA BONNET. (Ls.)