A ‘pneumothorax’ is a medical emergency caused by the collapse of a lung within the chest cavity. In the early nineteenth century, however, patients with phthisis, or tuberculosis of the lung, were observed to improve after a spontaneous pneumothorax. Eventually it became accepted that the collapse of an infected lung could reduce the spread of the disease and also promote local healing. In the 1880s Carlo Forlanini, a Milan physician, developed a machine for treating tuberculosis in this manner. This particular artificial pneumothorax apparatus is small enough to be carried to the patient in the event of an emergency.