Dr. Paul Herzog

GENIUS IN THE SERVICE OF SCIENCE

Dr. Paul Herzog, son of a Swiss diplomat and an Austrian mother, was born on 26th June 1911 in Bucharest, Rumania. He had the privilege to receive a broad and very good education, while at the same time his parents put a lot of emphasis on introducing their son to the wonderful world of music.

When he wanted to commence with his studies though, he had to find a way to earn money in order to be able to finish his endeavours in the field of medicine. Blessed with the absolute pitch, he knew that he only had one option, music. He founded and became the lead singer of a band named Billy Stones. Never though had he imagined that his band would travel the world and that he would be able to compose pieces for the philharmonic orchestra of Vienna.

Despite this success in the music business Paul Herzog never forgot about his studies in medicine and the love he had for the sciences. Hence, he sacrificed his career as a musician so that he could pursue his dream to become a doctor and scientist.

After having finished his studies with honors, Paul Herzog started as a doctor in a Stockholm hospital, where he worked fiercly to counter the outbreak of the poliomyelitis epidemic ( a virus that attacks the lungs, causing asphyxiation) in 1948. At the beginning of his career he had witnessed the tragic consequences of the virus, when patients suffocated right in front of him due to failure of the respiratory system. In that time means of treatment were limited, this is why Paul Herzog decided to dedicate his life to finding new ways of treatment. He started researching and helped Clarence Crafoord to pioneer mechanical positive-pressure ventilation procedures. This new treatment allowed open heart and artery surgery and gave hope to those patients who were infected.

For Paul Herzog this was just the beginning, hence, his high commitment to find new ways of determining, analysing and treating diseases. Especially the area of anaesthesia was to become his main area of research. Paul Herzog invented an apparatus, which was able to precisely determine the composition of in- and exhaled air of patients during surgeries, so that the operators were able to adequately adjust the doses for anaesthesia. All his contributions to science and his inventions were the reason why the committee of the Nobel Institute honoured him with the doctor honoris causa.

Dr. Paul Herzog and others before him were well aware of the fact that nascent oxygen was and still is one of the best disinfectants. Unfortunately though, oxygen, if obtained in gas form, is a volatile element that cannot be preserved in a cream or any other equivalent substance.

When Dr. Paul Herzog began to study the problem, physicians had already been trying to fix oxygen for more than half a century. But no one ever was able to bind the oxygen with a lotion or fluid. This is why Paul Herzog focused on inventing a method to fix fluid oxygen with other fluids. He succeeded and his wife, a beautician, who helped him throughout his research and consequently knew about the positive effects of oxygen for the human skin, exclaimed:’That is exactly what I need!’

It was in fact a dual discovery. Firstly, Dr. Paul Herzog succeeded in stabilizing oxygen, in fixing it inside a cream. Secondly, this oxygen, contained in the emulsion in liquid form, was released in gas form when contacting with skin, consequently causing a microscopic explosions that released oxygen (gas form). The pressure, i.e. a mechanical effect, literally injected oxygen beneath the skin and therefore revitalises and helps to strengthen the skin.

For Paul Herzog, the advantage of this formula was obvious: Firstly due to the fact that no chemic solvents were/are used, the emulsion was/is suitable for every type of skin and secondly the oxygen enormously helps to normalize the functions of the epidermis. Once these functions of the upper skin are restored, it became clear that it is simply a question of giving the skin the vitamins and substances that are indispensable for its proper balance and heal.