This article has no abstract; the first 100 words appear below.
Joseph Priestley first reported his discovery of oxygen in 1775 through observations of a candle burning in “dephlogisticated air.” He remarked that the candle burned with great “strength and vivacity” and speculated that this oxygen-enriched air could be used as a medicine; he also expressed concern for its toxic potential, since the candle burned out much faster in it than in “common air.”1 In many respects, these inferences on the potential for benefits and harms of supplemental oxygen have been borne out by experience over the subsequent two centuries. Blodgett first reported the beneficial effect of supplemental oxygen continuously administered . . .
Disclosure forms provided by the author are available with the full text of this editorial at NEJM.org.
This editorial was published on August 28, 2017, at NEJM.org.
Source Information
From the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.