A Cautionary Tale About Supplemental Oxygen: The Albatross of Neonatal Medicine

Special Articles| February 01 2004 A Cautionary Tale About Supplemental Oxygen: The Albatross of Neonatal Medicine William A. Silverman, MD William A. Silverman, MD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Address correspondence to William A. Silverman, MD, 501 Via Casitas, Apt 421, Greenbrae, CA 94904-1947. E-mail: Pediatrics (2004) 113 (2): 394–396. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.113.2.394 Article history Received: September 26 2003 Accepted: September 26 2003 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation William A. Silverman; A Cautionary Tale About Supplemental Oxygen: The Albatross of Neonatal Medicine. Pediatrics February 2004; 113 (2): 394–396. 10.1542/peds.113.2.394 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All PublicationsAll JournalsPediatricsHospital PediatricsPediatrics In ReviewNeoReviewsAAP Grand RoundsAAP NewsAll AAP Sites Search Advanced Search Subjects: Agency ABCs Topics: blindness, newborn, oxygen, oxygen supplementation "The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just and patient. But we also know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance." (T.H. Huxley1 ) In 1774, an English clergyman and amateur chemist, Joseph Priestly, heated mercurius calcinatus (mercuric oxide) with a burning glass and liberated a remarkable life-giving gas.2 He demonstrated that, when compared with the ordinary atmosphere, mice live longer in a jar of this "eminently breathable ['dephlogisticated'] air." However, Priestley warned, "the new air might not be proper for use in the healthy state of the body… the air which nature has provided us may be as good as we... You do not currently have access to this content.