Death in Closed Vessels 



563 



Experiment CXIX. February 22. Bell-jar of 2.5 liters. 



Pressure lowered 30 cm., 50 cm., 50 cm., then to 38 cm. Closed 

 at 1:05. Dead at 7 o'clock. Slight suffusion on the cranium; venous 

 blood red. 



Actual pressure, 34 cm. 



Lethal air: CO 60; O 27.4. 



CO x P = 26.8. 



All these results are summarized and grouped, following the 

 descending order of barometric pressures, in the following table; 

 I have added to it the experiments reported on page 537. 



Table VI 



In this table a glance at Columns 5 and 8 are enough to prove 

 that our expectations are realized and that, at these pressures less 

 than one atmosphere, poisoning by carbonic acid comes when the 

 tension of this gas can be expressed by numbers varying from 

 24 to 27. That is the result obtained earlier for pressures greater 

 than IV2 atmospheres. 



This is deduced, as Column 5 shows, from the proportions of 

 carbonic acid which may rise to 72 per cent. At very low pressures, 

 below 20 centimeters, for example, the law below no longer holds; 

 but that is easily understood. Let us take, for example, the pressure 



