Diving Bells and Suits 387 



Some maintained that a slower return to normal pressure would have 

 been less dangerous; others blamed too rapid compression for all the 

 trouble. The fact that the workmen employed to operate the doors 

 were never affected, although during the two hours of their work they 

 were very frequently in extreme and alternating conditions of pres- 

 sure — one moment at normal pressure, and 5 minutes afterwards 

 sustaining a weight of 50 pounds per square inch of the surface of 

 their bodies — would seem to prove that these two theories are wrong, 

 and makes us believe that the real cause of danger lies in the long 

 duration of the stay in this air where the body endures so great a 

 pressure, and not in the rapid changes to which it is exposed 



The transitions lasted from 3 to 4 minutes 



Considering that thousands of persons, even delicate ladies, had 

 visited the air chambers for a short time without harm, after the 

 caisson had reached bed rock too, and that no serious symptom 

 attacked the workmen after the reduction of the working time to 1 

 hour, M. Eads concluded that the real cause lay in the prolonged 

 labor .... Too long a stay was invariably followed by paralysis. Dr. 

 Jaminet, physician at the job, after staying one day for 2% hours 

 when the depth was 90 feet, was severely affected after returning 

 home. 



Dr. Bauer," 1 surgeon at the City Hospital, to which were taken 

 the 25 workmen affected during the laying of the foundation of 

 the Saint Louis bridge, presenting what he calls "Bridge cases," 

 gave some interesting information about the symptoms observed in 

 these patients: 



Respiration becomes more laborious, and the pulse more rapid at 

 the beginning of the compression, which passes off rather quickly in 

 persons who are in good health. The voice takes on a nasal tone 

 which it retains even after leaving the compressed air. 



When they leave, all the workmen are very pale and extremely 

 weary, even to the point of stretching out on the ground. In others, 

 one sees involuntary, choreic muscular contractions with bleeding from 

 the nose and lungs. 



In serious cases, there is paralysis in different degrees, from slight 

 paresis to a complete loss of movement and sensation. 



Very often, urination is rendered difficult or wholly impossible, 

 so that the urine must be drawn with a catheter: it is often bloody. 

 Respiration is not affected; fever rarely appears and then it brings 

 on a fatal ending. Death occurs in a state of coma, with delirium, 

 hiccuping, stertorous respiration, and muscular cramps; the pupils are 

 dilated towards the end 



Among the patients observed, only a few were cured in the course 

 of the first week; others remained under treatment for a month; four 

 died. In the paralytics, there are found congestions of the cerebral 

 and medullary meninges, edema of the arachnoid, softenings of the 

 brain and the spinal cord without definite localization. In one case, 

 the softening covered the anterior horns and lateral column the whole 



