Calcium, An Overview—1989

¹ Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

An overview of calcium is presented including introduction, pre-history, chronology of the research recorded in the literature, discussion, summary, recent references, literature cited, acknowledgments, and appendix.

Elemental calcium began with the Earth's formation. Calcium was used for utilitarian purposes in B.C. times. In the 12th and 13th centuries A.D., calcium oxide was formed by roasting limestone to form calcium carbonate. A test for calcium was found in the 17th century, and "stones" were observed in humans (see appendix). In the 19th century, calcium was isolated and chemically identified by electrolysis, and later in that century calcium was found to be needed in a physiological solution similar to the ionic content of blood. In the 20th century it was found that, in the absence of calcium, living cells pulled away from one another. Anesthesia was produced by massive injection of magnesium salts into a mammal—conciousness could be restored by the addition of calcium, which neutralized the magnesium. Finally, calcium out of control in necrosis has an invasive action. Calcium antagonists and their mode of action were described in 1986.