﻿Acetylene. 103 



Poisonous Qualities of Gas and Acetylene. 



Continuing the comparison of common gas and acety- 

 lene, let us see how the case stands from a sanitary, point 

 of view. We see reports in the newspapers of deaths and 

 attacks of illness from gas poisoning, the dropping out 

 during the night of the core of a gas cock or a break in a 

 pipe, would often be an accident fatal for the inmate of a 

 small, close bedchamber. Recently persons have been 

 poisoned by a defect in the gas main outside of their 

 houses. Workmen are frequently made ill by a leak in 

 the gas mains while working in a trench, but the officers 

 of the gas companies state that such accidents are very 

 seldom fatal. 



There is no question then about the poisonous qualities 

 of common gas and particularly of water gas. Is the new 

 illuminant likely to be less dangerous ? 



The poisonous constituent of common gas is carbonic 

 oxide. London gas contains 3.2 to 7% ; Paris gas 7% ; 

 Berlin gas 8^ ; Boston gas 26%. 



Formerly there was a legal limit of 10%, which is now 

 removed, and the introduction of water gas has raised the 

 percentage to this very high and dangerous amount. 



Carbonic oxide is not irritating or corrosive, and it 

 seems strange that a compound so nearly allied to carbonic 

 acid, which is innocuous, should act as a rapid poison. 



The mode of action is this : Carbonic oxide is absorbed 

 and retained by the blood in a way quite different from 

 other gases. It combines with the red corpuscles, and 

 the compound shows under the spectroscope special ab- 

 sorption bands, which make the recognition of its presence 

 easy. 



Blood which has taken up a certain quantity of carbonic 

 oxide no longer is capable of taking up oxygen in the 

 lungs and conveying it through the circulation, and death 

 by suffocation ensues, just as if there were not enough 

 oxygen to breathe. 



