Spotlight
The photo shows George Poe (left) with Arthur Ostrander (right).
Historical Profile George Poe American scientist and inventor who pioneered the use of mechanical ventilation to treat victims of asphyxiation. Born in Maryland, USA, on May 8, 1846, he died on Feb 3, 1914, aged 67 years. As a child, George Poe’s greatest claim to fame was probably the fact that he was a cousin of the acclaimed late Romantic poet, Edgar Allen Poe. However, he grew up to become a successful businessman, scientist, and entrepreneur, earning a name for himself as a notable historical figure in his own right. One of six children born to George Poe Senior and Elizabeth Ross Ellicott, Poe was educated at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, the oldest state-funded military college in the USA, before serving as a medic in the Confederate army during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. After completing his active service, he set up the Poe Chemical Works in Trenton, NJ. He chose this particular site because of the gas works located there, 280
which provided the raw materials needed to create nitrous oxide or, as it is more widely known, laughing gas. The Poe Chemical Works became the first site for the mass production of liquid nitrous oxide for commercial use and was hugely successful. By 1883, Poe was supplying the gas to more than 5000 dental practices across the USA. In 1885, he married socialite Margaret Amy Wallace, and the couple moved to Washington, DC, and had three children. However, Poe loved his work at the factory and continued to travel to Trenton regularly, leading to long periods away from his home and family. Poe’s enquiring scientific mind and innovative nature led him to experiment with the resources available to him at his factory. He also held a fascination with death and dying, which perhaps heralded from an incident in which one of his sisters, pronounced dead from typhoid fever, suddenly revived just a few hours before she was about to be buried. Doctors at the time did not have a complete understanding of prolonged unconsciousness, and this event inspired him to try to create an artificial respirator to revive people who had experienced oxygen deprivation. He used brass oxygen cylinders and tubing to create a device that could be operated with a handle to resuscitate small mammals—mostly rabbits and rats—that had recently been asphyxiated. In 1889 he undertook a nationwide tour to demonstrate the first prototype of his device to physicians. As the years passed, Poe began to suffer ill health as a result of years of hard work, stress, and exposure to chemicals. By 1900, at the age of 54 years, a stroke had rendered him partially blind and paralysed. Following recommendations from his doctors that he should retire to the peace and calm of the countryside, he moved to a farm in Norfolk, VA, which was owned by one of his friends, Abram Cline Ostrander, and his wife Harriet Louise. However, determined not to let his health problems become an obstacle to his research, he built a laboratory in a second-floor room on the farm and enlisted the help of Abram’s 10-year-old son Arthur to help him continue his work. Arthur, who was apparently bored with school, acted as Poe’s sight and hands, helping him to further refine his respiration device and also to construct a working model of the heart. Arthur’s grandson, Gregory Ostrander, refers to his grandfather as a “child prodigy” and describes the mutually beneficial relationship between George and Arthur: “Poe tutored Arthur through high school, and in exchange, Arthur performed the detailed machine work and assembly of the respiration device.” Other members of the Ostrander family also got involved, as Gregory explains: “Harriet drew the detail drawings. The Ostrander family doctors assisted with determining the medical finishing details, and the device was ready in 1907.” A retired Norfolk businessman, Thomas Black, showed the plans for the device to a local physician, Dr Francis Morgan, who immediately saw its potential. After the final artificial respiration device was patented on July 9, 1907, despite www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 3 April 2015
Spotlight
Poe’s rapidly ailing health, he began another tour of the USA to promote his refined respirator, accompanied by Arthur, Francis Morgan, and another physician, Dr J P Jackson. The group travelled from city to city, and did numerous presentations to large, expectant audiences, in which they suffocated animals, including stray dogs. They then brought the animals “back from the dead” using Poe’s device, which was operated by young Arthur. Gregory Ostrander explains: “Poe had wanted to develop such a device for years, but was too busy during his career, and too ill to do it alone in retirement. It was only through the combined efforts of Poe, the Ostrander family, and Morgan and Black, that the device came to be.” The presentations attracted a great deal of interest and media attention: audiences were hugely impressed by the successful revival of the apparently dead animals—some of which were even resuscitated multiple times—and newspaper headlines boldly proclaimed of the respirator: “It brings the dead to life!” Poe claimed that the apparatus could be developed further to be used to revive patients who had undergone asphyxiation events, such as drowning or gas poisoning. He recommended that such a
device ought to be provided in hotels and guest houses to be used in cases of gas lamp poisoning. Sadly, the 1907–08 tour was to be Poe’s last. Although in 1909 he gained some new publicity when his device was used to revive an unconscious man called Moses Goodman at Norfolk Protestant Hospital, eventually his ill health caught up with him. He died in Norfolk, Virginia on Feb 3, 1914, at the age of 67 years. He was buried in Confederate Square, a Civil War memorial located in Magnolia Cemetery in Norfolk. According to his obituary published in The Washington Post, he received a mention for the Nobel prize in Scientific Attainment in Chemistry for his work, although he did not win the award. Other inventors would go on to use Poe’s findings as a basis to start developing their own respirators. Thus, Poe’s efforts formed the groundwork for future progress in the field of artificial respiration. His invention was ultimately a precursor to the advanced life-saving devices that are used today in hospitals worldwide—ensuring his place in history as a true pioneer of mechanical ventilation.
Katherine Gourd
Ten Most Wanted • Comparative community burden and severity of seasonal and pandemic influenza: results of the Flu Watch cohort study on behalf of the Flu Watch Group; Hayward AC; Fragaszy EB, Bermingham A, et al • Effect of nicotine patches in pregnancy on infant and maternal outcomes at 2 years: follow-up from the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled SNAP trial; for the Smoking, Nicotine and Pregnancy (SNAP) Trial Team; Cooper S, Taggar J, Lewis S, et al • Atorvastatin as a stable treatment in bronchiectasis: a randomised controlled trial; Mandal P, Chalmers JD, Graham C, et al • Assessment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in Oxfordshire, UK, 2007-12, with whole pathogen genome sequences: an observational study; Walker TM; Lalor MK; Broda A, et al • Continuous positive airway pressure in older people with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (PREDICT): a 12-month, multicentre, randomised trial; on behalf of the PREDICT Investigators; McMillan A, Bratton DJ, Faria R, et al • Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation for the treatment of severe stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective, multicentre, randomised, controlled clinical trial; Kohnlein T, Windisch W, Kohler D, et al • Azithromycin maintenance treatment in patients with frequent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COLUMBUS): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial; Uzun S, Djamin RS, Kluytmans JAJW, et al • Effectiveness of neuraminidase inhibitors in reducing mortality in patients admitted to hospital with influenza A H1N1pdm09 virus infection: a meta-analysis of individual participant data; PRIDE Consortium Investigators; Muthuri SG, Venkatesan S, Myles PR, et al • A CFTR corrector (lumacaftor) and a CFTR potentiator (ivacaftor) for treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis who have a phe508del CFTR mutation: a phase 2 randomised controlled trial; on behalf of the VX09-809-102 study group; Boyle MP, Bell SC, Konstan MW, et al • Effectiveness of ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease in Brazil: a matched case-control study; the Brazilian Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Effectiveness Study Group; Domingues CMAS, Verani JR, Montenegro Renoiner EI, et al This list represents our most downloaded papers for those published online between March and August 2014. To compile the list, the number of downloads for the first 6 months after online publication were used.
www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 3 April 2015
281
The photo shows George Poe (left) with Arthur Ostrander (right).
Historical Profile George Poe American scientist and inventor who pioneered the use of mechanical ventilation to treat victims of asphyxiation. Born in Maryland, USA, on May 8, 1846, he died on Feb 3, 1914, aged 67 years. As a child, George Poe’s greatest claim to fame was probably the fact that he was a cousin of the acclaimed late Romantic poet, Edgar Allen Poe. However, he grew up to become a successful businessman, scientist, and entrepreneur, earning a name for himself as a notable historical figure in his own right. One of six children born to George Poe Senior and Elizabeth Ross Ellicott, Poe was educated at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, the oldest state-funded military college in the USA, before serving as a medic in the Confederate army during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. After completing his active service, he set up the Poe Chemical Works in Trenton, NJ. He chose this particular site because of the gas works located there, 280
which provided the raw materials needed to create nitrous oxide or, as it is more widely known, laughing gas. The Poe Chemical Works became the first site for the mass production of liquid nitrous oxide for commercial use and was hugely successful. By 1883, Poe was supplying the gas to more than 5000 dental practices across the USA. In 1885, he married socialite Margaret Amy Wallace, and the couple moved to Washington, DC, and had three children. However, Poe loved his work at the factory and continued to travel to Trenton regularly, leading to long periods away from his home and family. Poe’s enquiring scientific mind and innovative nature led him to experiment with the resources available to him at his factory. He also held a fascination with death and dying, which perhaps heralded from an incident in which one of his sisters, pronounced dead from typhoid fever, suddenly revived just a few hours before she was about to be buried. Doctors at the time did not have a complete understanding of prolonged unconsciousness, and this event inspired him to try to create an artificial respirator to revive people who had experienced oxygen deprivation. He used brass oxygen cylinders and tubing to create a device that could be operated with a handle to resuscitate small mammals—mostly rabbits and rats—that had recently been asphyxiated. In 1889 he undertook a nationwide tour to demonstrate the first prototype of his device to physicians. As the years passed, Poe began to suffer ill health as a result of years of hard work, stress, and exposure to chemicals. By 1900, at the age of 54 years, a stroke had rendered him partially blind and paralysed. Following recommendations from his doctors that he should retire to the peace and calm of the countryside, he moved to a farm in Norfolk, VA, which was owned by one of his friends, Abram Cline Ostrander, and his wife Harriet Louise. However, determined not to let his health problems become an obstacle to his research, he built a laboratory in a second-floor room on the farm and enlisted the help of Abram’s 10-year-old son Arthur to help him continue his work. Arthur, who was apparently bored with school, acted as Poe’s sight and hands, helping him to further refine his respiration device and also to construct a working model of the heart. Arthur’s grandson, Gregory Ostrander, refers to his grandfather as a “child prodigy” and describes the mutually beneficial relationship between George and Arthur: “Poe tutored Arthur through high school, and in exchange, Arthur performed the detailed machine work and assembly of the respiration device.” Other members of the Ostrander family also got involved, as Gregory explains: “Harriet drew the detail drawings. The Ostrander family doctors assisted with determining the medical finishing details, and the device was ready in 1907.” A retired Norfolk businessman, Thomas Black, showed the plans for the device to a local physician, Dr Francis Morgan, who immediately saw its potential. After the final artificial respiration device was patented on July 9, 1907, despite www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 3 April 2015
Spotlight
Poe’s rapidly ailing health, he began another tour of the USA to promote his refined respirator, accompanied by Arthur, Francis Morgan, and another physician, Dr J P Jackson. The group travelled from city to city, and did numerous presentations to large, expectant audiences, in which they suffocated animals, including stray dogs. They then brought the animals “back from the dead” using Poe’s device, which was operated by young Arthur. Gregory Ostrander explains: “Poe had wanted to develop such a device for years, but was too busy during his career, and too ill to do it alone in retirement. It was only through the combined efforts of Poe, the Ostrander family, and Morgan and Black, that the device came to be.” The presentations attracted a great deal of interest and media attention: audiences were hugely impressed by the successful revival of the apparently dead animals—some of which were even resuscitated multiple times—and newspaper headlines boldly proclaimed of the respirator: “It brings the dead to life!” Poe claimed that the apparatus could be developed further to be used to revive patients who had undergone asphyxiation events, such as drowning or gas poisoning. He recommended that such a
device ought to be provided in hotels and guest houses to be used in cases of gas lamp poisoning. Sadly, the 1907–08 tour was to be Poe’s last. Although in 1909 he gained some new publicity when his device was used to revive an unconscious man called Moses Goodman at Norfolk Protestant Hospital, eventually his ill health caught up with him. He died in Norfolk, Virginia on Feb 3, 1914, at the age of 67 years. He was buried in Confederate Square, a Civil War memorial located in Magnolia Cemetery in Norfolk. According to his obituary published in The Washington Post, he received a mention for the Nobel prize in Scientific Attainment in Chemistry for his work, although he did not win the award. Other inventors would go on to use Poe’s findings as a basis to start developing their own respirators. Thus, Poe’s efforts formed the groundwork for future progress in the field of artificial respiration. His invention was ultimately a precursor to the advanced life-saving devices that are used today in hospitals worldwide—ensuring his place in history as a true pioneer of mechanical ventilation.
Katherine Gourd
Ten Most Wanted • Comparative community burden and severity of seasonal and pandemic influenza: results of the Flu Watch cohort study on behalf of the Flu Watch Group; Hayward AC; Fragaszy EB, Bermingham A, et al • Effect of nicotine patches in pregnancy on infant and maternal outcomes at 2 years: follow-up from the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled SNAP trial; for the Smoking, Nicotine and Pregnancy (SNAP) Trial Team; Cooper S, Taggar J, Lewis S, et al • Atorvastatin as a stable treatment in bronchiectasis: a randomised controlled trial; Mandal P, Chalmers JD, Graham C, et al • Assessment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in Oxfordshire, UK, 2007-12, with whole pathogen genome sequences: an observational study; Walker TM; Lalor MK; Broda A, et al • Continuous positive airway pressure in older people with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (PREDICT): a 12-month, multicentre, randomised trial; on behalf of the PREDICT Investigators; McMillan A, Bratton DJ, Faria R, et al • Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation for the treatment of severe stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective, multicentre, randomised, controlled clinical trial; Kohnlein T, Windisch W, Kohler D, et al • Azithromycin maintenance treatment in patients with frequent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COLUMBUS): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial; Uzun S, Djamin RS, Kluytmans JAJW, et al • Effectiveness of neuraminidase inhibitors in reducing mortality in patients admitted to hospital with influenza A H1N1pdm09 virus infection: a meta-analysis of individual participant data; PRIDE Consortium Investigators; Muthuri SG, Venkatesan S, Myles PR, et al • A CFTR corrector (lumacaftor) and a CFTR potentiator (ivacaftor) for treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis who have a phe508del CFTR mutation: a phase 2 randomised controlled trial; on behalf of the VX09-809-102 study group; Boyle MP, Bell SC, Konstan MW, et al • Effectiveness of ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease in Brazil: a matched case-control study; the Brazilian Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Effectiveness Study Group; Domingues CMAS, Verani JR, Montenegro Renoiner EI, et al This list represents our most downloaded papers for those published online between March and August 2014. To compile the list, the number of downloads for the first 6 months after online publication were used.
www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 3 April 2015
281
