386 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 63. 



20% acetylene a dog breathed without in- 

 convenience for 35 minutes. His blood 

 contained 10% acetylene, less than ^ the 

 rate of absorption of carbonic oxide and not 

 a larger percentage of acetylene than would 

 have been absorbed by water. The mix- 

 ture contained much more acetylene than 

 could ever get into the air of a room, and 

 in fact in a dwelling house a much smaller 

 quantity would produce an explosion. 



A dog was killed by breathing 40% 

 acetylene and 20% oxygen in 51 minutes ; 

 another in about 30 minutes by 80% 

 acetylene and 20% oxygen. A guinea pig 

 was not killed in 39 minutes by the same 

 mixture. 



L. Bi'ociner (Comptes Rendus 1895, II., 

 773) had made similar experiments in 

 1887, and concluded that acetylene was not 

 poisonous. It is not more absorbed by 

 blood than by water. It has no specific 

 action on blood. Sulphide of ammonium 

 reduces such blood normally. It has no 

 special absorption band. 



Berthelot and Claude Bernard 30 years 

 ago found acetylene not poisonous. 



Moissan (Comptes Eendus, 1895, II, 

 566) says pure acetylene only has an 

 setheric agreeable odor. 



BistrowandLiebreichinlS68(Ber.I.,220) 

 pronounced acetylene poisonous, but this 

 opinion is contrary to that of Berthelot and 

 of Claude Bernard, and Berthelot has re- 

 cently stated anew that pure acetylene is 

 not poisonous, and has pointed out that the 

 old method of preparation of acetylene by 

 means of the acetylide of copper may con- 

 taminate the gas with prussic acid (Comp- 

 tes Eendus, 1895, II., 566). It may be con- 

 cluded then on the best authority that pure 

 acetylene is not poisonous. 



The smell of freshly prepared acetylene 

 made with commercial carbide of calcium 

 would lead one to suspect that the gas con- 

 tained phosphoretted hydrogen and Well- 

 gerodt (Ber. 1895, 2107, 2115) detected its 



presence in acetylene by passing the gas 

 through nitrate of silver solution. I also 

 got by another method a good molybdate 

 test for phosphoric acid, before I knew of 

 the above publication. 



The phosphorus is probably derived from 

 phosphates in the quicklime and in the ash 

 of the coke used for making the carbide of 

 calcium. Moissan used a pure carbon ob- 

 tained by charring sugar, and his carbide 

 gave pure acetylene free from disagreeable 

 odor. The previous statements that acety- 

 lene is innocuous may only apply to pure 

 acetylene, and it is important then to make 

 a special examination of commercial acety- 

 lene to see if it contains dangerous constitu- 

 ents. I have only fou^nd one statement on 

 this subject contained in the Electrical Engi- 

 neer, New York, November 13, 1895, p. 

 469. 



Dr. W. H. Birchmore says that 1 cu. ft. 

 of acetylene in 10,000 cu. ft. of air produces 

 headache in twenty minutes, and that so 

 small a quantity of acetylene is not percep- 

 tible to smell. 



I have frequently breathed air containing 

 enough acetylene to be very plainly notice- 

 able from its smell, and have not suffered 

 the slightest inconvenience. It seems prob- 

 able that individuals differ greatly in their 

 susceptibility to poisons of the class to 

 which phosphoretted hydrogen belongs. It 

 is also quite possible that other poisonous 

 gases in very small quantity may constitute 

 impurities of acetylene. Dr. Birchmore per- 

 formed a single experiment upon an animal 

 and states that one part of acetylene in 

 10,000 parts of air killed a guinea pig in 

 six hours ; sickness came on in ten miutes. 

 The blood lost its power of absorbing oxy- 

 gen, as in a case of poisoning by cyanhydric 

 acid. He did not examine the blood for 

 acetylene . Experiments of this kind should 

 be repeated by competent physiologists, and 

 the blood should be carefully tested. It is 

 quite certain that in this case the death was 



