168 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



Jo sometbiug, but what NdLure does iiol do sliuuld be done by arfcitice. 

 Explctt-ation of the conditioii of the arterial blood is only in its infancy, 

 yet many cases have been recorded in which in illness the arterial blood 

 has lacked oxygen as much as or more than my own did in the respira- 

 tion chamber when I was lying on the last day, with occasional vomit- 

 ing, racked with headache, and at times able to see clearly only as an 

 effort of concentration. A sick man, if Ms blood is as anoxic as mine 

 was, cannot be expected to fare better as the result, and so he may 

 be expected to have all my troubles in addition to the graver ones 

 which are, perhaps, attributable to some toxic cause. Can he be spared 

 the anoxaemia ? The result of our calculations, so far, points to the fact 

 that the efficient way of combating the anoxic condition is tO' give 

 oxygen. During the war it was given with success in the field in cases 

 of gas-poisoning, and also special wards were formed on a small scale 

 in this country in which the level of oxygen in the atmosphere was 

 kept up to about 40 per cent., with great benefit to a large percentage 

 of the cases. The practice then inaugurated is being tested at Guy's 

 Hospital by Dr. Himt, who administered the treatment during the war. 

 Nor are the advantages of oxygen respiration confined to patho- 

 logical cases. One of the most direct victims of anoxic anoxaemia is 

 the airman who flies at great heights. Everything in this paper tends 

 to show that to counteract the loss of oxygen which he sustains at high 

 altitudes there is but one policy, namely, to provide him with an 

 oxygen equipment which is at once as light and as efficient as possible — 

 a consummation for which Haldane has striven unremittingly. And 

 here I come to the personal note on which I should like to conclude. 

 In the pages which I have read views have been expressed which differ 

 from those which he holds in matters of detail — perhaps in matters 

 of important detail. But Haldane 's teaching transcends mere detail. 

 He has always taught that the physiology of to-day is the medicine 

 of to-morrow. The more gladly, therefore, do I take this opportunity 

 of saying how mucli I owe, and how much I think medicine owes 

 and will owe, to the inspiration of Haldane's teaching. 



References. 



1. Haldane. 



2. Haldane, Kellas, and Kennaway. Journal of Phy.siology , liii. 



.3. Foster ami Haldane. The Investigation of Mine Air. Griffin & Co. 

 1905. 



4. Keogh and Lindhard. qnoted by Bainbridge. 



5. Barcroft, Cooke, Hartridge, Par.sons and Parsons. Journal of 

 Physiology, liii. p. 451, 1920. 



6. Stadie. Joui-nal of Experimental Medicine, xxx. p. 215. 1919. 



7. Haldane, Meakins, and Priestley. Journal of Phvsiology, lii. p. 420. 

 1918-19. 



8. L. J. Henderson. The Journal of Biological Chemistrv, vol. xli. p. 401. 

 1920. 



9. Donegan and Parsons. Journal of Physiologv, lii. p. 315. 1919. 



10. Dale and Eichards. Journal of Physiology", lii. p. 110. 1919. Dale 

 and Laidlaw. Ibid. p. 3.55. 



