Asphyxia 931 



6:05. Respirations 136; pulse 120; temperature 36.5°. 



6:30. Respirations 50; pulse 106; temperature 35.8°; took air from 

 the bag .... a 



6:31. Drew 20 cc. of dark blood . . . . B 



The animal struggles; respirations deep and irregular; eyes and 

 feet sensitive. 



6:45. Respirations 52; pulse 76; temperature 34.2°; took air . . . . b 



6:58. Respirations 9; pulse 14; temperature 33.8°; eye lacks sensi- 

 tivity; took air . . . . c 



And very dark blood . . . . C 



7:06. Respiration has stopped; we count 60 more heartbeats, very 

 weak; the intestines move in the abdomen; the heart stops beating 

 at 7:09. 



Took air from the bag . . . . d 



Blood A (respiration in the open air) contained 2 14.6; CO: 46.7 



Blood B (air a: O, 7.4; CO. 9.1) contained 2 9.1; CO, 52.3 



Blood C (air c: O. 2.6; C0 2 13.3) contained 2 0.8; CO. 51.8 



The lethal air d contains: O. 2.4; CO. 12.9. 



[Analysis of air b not given. Translator] 



I shall not dwell upon the symptoms shown by the animals the 

 history of which I have just reported: slowing down of the respira- 

 tion and of the circulation, final insensibility, dilation of the pupil, 

 progressive fall of temperature, these are well-known phenomena. 

 Besides, I have spoken of these symptoms in the chapter in which 

 I discussed asphyxia in closed vessels, the carbonic acid being 

 eliminated. 



I shall merely state that the final phenomena, that is, the in- 

 sensibility of the eye and the dilation of the pupil, occur at the 

 time when there are only about 1 to 2 volumes per 100 of oxygen 

 in the arterial blood (Exp. DCXXXIX and DCXL) . The animal, 

 therefore, is then in great danger of death, since the quantity of 

 oxygen found in this same blood after death varied from 0.5 to 1.2. 



Let us now give our attention to the progressive changes in the 

 confined air in which my animals were breathing. The graphs of 

 Figure 79 express the results of Experiment DCLX, the most com- 

 plete of those which we reported. 



On the axis of the x's are measured the periods elapsed since 

 the beginning of the experiment; on the axis of the y's, the existing 

 proportions of oxygen, and C0 2 , and the sum 2 + CO„ of these 

 two values, the variations of which sum present here, as we shall 

 see, a true interest. 



We see that the oxygen consumption kept decreasing in pro- 

 portion as the asphyxia progressed; in the first hour, it was 13.3%; 

 m the second and last, only 5.7%. Similarly, in the first hour, 

 9.8% of carbonic acid was produced, and only 4.9% in the second. 



