384 Historical 



showed numerous patches of interlobar and vesicular emphysema on 

 the lungs of the two victims. There were besides numerous ecchy- 

 moses in spots under the pleura and the pericardium .... I seem to 

 remember that the blood .... contained a few bubbles of gas .... The 

 notes of the autopsy were lost by the physician of Angers to whom I 

 had dictated them. 



Should we attribute the death to the decompression? It is hard 

 to decide, in view of an unsatisfactory autopsy and especially the 

 fact which we reported above in discussing the bridge of Bayonne. 



M. Triger was disturbed by the accidents caused by the appli- 

 cation of his method, and sent to the Minister of Public Works a 

 Memoir on this subject, which was submitted to the examination 

 of MM. Combes, Hennezel, and Feline-Romany. 



The report 2S of these engineers, after briefly reviewing the 

 works carried out by the Compagnie du Midi over the Tech, at 

 Bordeaux and Bayonne; by the Compagnie de l'Ouest at Argen- 

 teuil, at Elbeuf and at Orival over the Seine, at Briollay over the 

 Loire; by the Compagnie d'Orleans over the Scorff at Lorient, over 

 the Louet at Chalonnes, and over the Loire at Nantes, states that: 



The accidents to which laborers working in compressed air are 

 exposed rarely endanger their lives, cause only rather short inter- 

 ruptions of work, and, especially, are very few, compared to the 

 number of men passing through the lock-chambers in each job. 



The diseases caused by these accidents can be prevented by the 

 use of the means specified in the course of this report. 



These means are the use of woolen garments in the lock- 

 chamber and a decompression for which no uniform rule could be 

 given: 



There is no rule to be observed other than the one which common 

 sense indicates, namely, not to open the cock too quickly, for com- 

 pression as well as for decompression, so as to give the organism time 

 to place itself in equilibrium with the medium in which it is immersed. 

 M. Triger requires that the decompression last 7 minutes, and 

 states that then the symptoms disappear completely. It seems to us 

 that this time should vary with the constitution of the workman. 

 (P. 125.) 



The excavation of the shaft of a coal mine at Trazegnies, in 

 Belgium, at about this same time, was the subject of a very inter- 

 esting work by M. Barella. 29 



The total maximum pressure was 3V2 atmospheres. The decom- 

 pression was made in about 20 minutes. 



According to M. Barella, in addition to pains in the ears one 

 experiences: 



