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Tlie Solubility of Air in Fats, and its Relation to Caisson Disease. 

 By H. M. Vernon, M.D., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. 



(Communicated by Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.E.S. Eeceived April 1, — Eead 



May 30, 1907.) 



(From the Physiological Laboratory, Oxford.) 



As is now well known, the very varied symptoms produced by rapid 

 decompression from high atmospheric pressures, and popularly known as 

 " caisson disease " or " diver's palsy," are due to liberation of bubbles of 

 gas — chiefly nitrogen — in the blood and tissues. In the course of a recently 

 published investigation, I found that air is much more soluble in certain oils 

 than in water. Dr. J. S. Haldane pointed out to me the interest of this fact 

 in connection with the causation of caisson disease, and at his suggestion I 

 have repeated and extended my observations. 



The fats experimented with were olive oil, cod liver oil and lard. In the 



case of the first two, the solubility was measured at 15° arid at 37° C, 



whilst for lard it was f determined at 45° C. In the observations made at 



room temperature, the oil was shaken violently with air in a bottle for several 



minutes, and was allowed to stand for 1 to 1J hours till all the air bubbles 



had risen to the surface. It was then weighed, and about 40 to 50 grammes 



of it were sucked up into the vacuous flask of a Geissler's mercury pump. 



This flask contained 70 to 100 c.c, of 0*5 per cent, sulphuric acid which had 



previously been well boiled for an hour so as to get rid of all traces of air. 



The mixture of oil and water was now boiled for half an hour, the oil breaking 



up into a very fine emulsion and giving up practically all of its gas in the first 



few minutes. This gas was pumped off and analysed with Haldane's* gas 



analysis apparatus. The oil was boiled with dilute acid instead of water, so 



as to obtain the whole of the carbon dioxide present, both combined and in 



solution. In determining the solubility at 37°, the oil, previously saturated 



at room temperature, was warmed to about 38° to 39°, and was shaken 



vigorously with air for about two minutes. At the end of this time its 



temperature had fallen to about 36°*5. It was warmed up a second time and 



the shaking repeated, and was then kept in a water bath at 37° for about 



half an hour in the case of the cod liver oil, and an hour in the case of the 



olive oil, these being the times required for all the bubbles of air to rise to 



the surface. The gaseous content of a weighed amount of the oil was then 



determined as before. The results obtained are given in the tables. They 



* Haldane, ' Journ. Physiol.,' vol. 22, p. 465, 1898. 



