Ionization is not a new procedure in rhinologic practice. Leduc1 in 1908 suggested its use for intumescent rhinitis, and later Friel2 advocated the treatment for certain conditions of the nose and the sinus. It is probable that other European and American workers early employed nasal ionization, without placing their results on record. In 1926 Cottle and one of us3 published a report on the efficacy of zinc ionization in relieving the milder forms of hypertrophic rhinitis. Although the method had been tried in cases of vasomotor rhinitis, a lack of uniform results made it undesirable to present this phase of the problem to the medical profession. Since then there have been periods during which ionization has been enthusiastically recommended not only for nasal allergy but for a large variety of diseases in other parts of the body.4
Credit for the popularization of ionization in its application to nasal allergy belongs