April 15, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



633 



Upou reaching Soda Butte Creek, however, 

 I found the waters too high to permit safe 

 fording with a wagon, and had to be content 

 with a horsebacli ride to the gulch without 

 my apparatus. The only fresh animal re- 

 mains I then found were those of a small bear 

 which I supposed was the bear Corporal Wil- 

 son, of Soda Butte Station, had discovered the 

 preceding year. The smell of sulphureted 

 hydrogen was very strong, and later I no- 

 ticed the silver coins I had in my trousers 

 pocket while in the gulch were m.uch tar- 

 nished. 



In August we were successful in getting the 

 apparatus over to the gulch. The wind was 

 blowing at a fair rate during all the time we 

 were in the gulch, and occasional sharp 

 showers of rain occurred. 



Notwithstanding the extremely favorable 

 conditions for the rapid diffusion of gases, 

 the air near the bottom of the gulch showed 

 the presence of more than ten per cent, of 

 carbon dioxide, and strong traces of sulphu- 

 reted hydrogen. A search for the outlets 

 of the gas showed fissures on the sides of the 

 gulch from which the gas literally poured. 



One crevice in particular, an opening about 

 fourteen inches long by foxir inches high, fur- 

 nished so much gas we decided to analyze it, 

 and found a little over one per cent, of sulphu- 

 reted hydrogen, and more than fifty per cent, 

 of carbon dioxide, and we have reason to be- 

 lieve the percentage of these gases was even 

 higher than these figures, for there were sev- 

 eral ways in which the air, constituting the 

 remainder of the sample, may have entered 

 the bottle. But these results show how, upon 

 still days when gaseous diffusion is not very 

 active, a sufficient percentage of gases to 

 cause death might remain mixed with the air 

 along the bottom of the gulch. 



The question of sulphureted hydrogen 

 poisoning has not been very carefully studied, 

 and it is difficult to obtain any reliable data 

 concerning it. 



The following translation, however, gives 

 some information on this point:* 



Lehman states that when the proportion of 

 sulphureted hydrogen in the atmosphere reaches 



* ' Toxikologie f iir Thierartze,' Eugene Frohner, 

 2d ed., pp. 146, 147. 



one to three parts per thousand, animals die in 

 it in ten minutes, with apopleetio symptoms and 

 great dilliculty in breathing. 



An atmosphere containing one half part per 

 thousand sulphureted hydrogen produces death 

 with cramps and osdemie inflammation of the 

 lungs. 



It further produces rhinitis, conjunctivitis and 

 laryngitis. 



It may be characterized as a blood poison 

 wliieh decomposes the oxyhsemoglobin in the body 

 to sulphmetahsemoglobin. 



It may be concluded, then, that about one 

 tenth per cent, in air is a sufficient amount 

 to produce fatal results. This percentage 

 would be reached by the dilution of the gas 

 issuing from the fissure to ten volumes, which, 

 considering the lai-ge quantity coming from 

 this and similar fissures, would require a very 

 large volume of fresh air. This dilution 

 would reduce the carbon dioxide to five per 

 cent., which would be considered generally a 

 dangerous quantity. 



Another interesting point in connection 

 with the question of the poisonous effects of 

 sulphureted hydrogen gas is that concerning 

 its effect when associated with large amounts 

 of carbon dioxide. 



Would it not, for several reasons, be more 

 dangerous, when associated with five per cent, 

 of carbon dioxide? This phase of the ques- 

 tion deserves careful investigation. 



At the time of my last visit we found the 

 remains of one small bear, the one I had 

 noted in June, another bear, elk hides, three 

 birds, including a mountain blue jay and a 

 great horned owl, numerous old skeletons not 

 identifed, beetles, moths, butterflies, flies and 

 maggots. 



It is interesting to note, in respect to the 

 dead maggots, the intermittent action of the 

 gas. After the death of the bear on which 

 they were found the atmosphere permitted the 

 presence of flies which laid their eggs on the 

 carcass. Maggots developed, lived for a time, 

 until the gas became sufficiently strong to kill 

 them. 



Flies were flying about the gulch while we 

 were carrying on our work. Some of these 

 we caught and held in the escaping gas from 

 the crevices. In each case death occurred on 

 six seconds' exposure to the gas. 



