Lithium was first used in Western medicine as a treatment for gout in 1859. However, it proved ineffective. It was not until 1949 that the Australian psychiatrist John Cade (1912–1980) described a possible application for lithium salts. He injected guinea pigs with various chemical compounds, including lithium salts, which resulted in them reacting less strongly to external stimuli and becoming calmer but not drowsy. It was later determined that the effect observed in the test animals was due to intoxication. Following a self-experiment by Cade, the use of lithium carbonate as a drug for the treatment of manic-depressive patients was investigated in a double-blind study at the Psychiatric Hospital in Aarhus-Risskov (Denmark) from 1952 to 1954. This laid the foundation for lithium therapy.