1732 THE CAUSES OF DEATH IN COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS.

command, but only, of course, within the limits of their

functions. We are extremely sorry that this line was not

followed years ago, as it would, we believe, have preventedall that has subsequently taken place. It is quite clear thatthe rank and position of every medical officer must be anassured and fully recognised one in the service, even apartaltogether from the question of titles. There are, moreover,

several very real grievances of which medical officers com-plain. Their life is one of comparative expatriation owing tothe shortness of their service at home; and the frequentchanges of station and duty to which they are subjectedsurely cannot be for the good of the service generally or ofthe patients committed to their charge. The rates of pay in

India require to be readjusted; a medical officer should be

paid wherever he is serving according to his rank. It would

be a very good plan, in our opinion, to institute for the

medical service something like that which the Staff Collegeis for the general service, so that an incentive and impetusmight be given to the more scientific and highly trainedmedical officers to make manifest their qualifications and

attainments, and for this purpose, too, there should be

greater opportunities afforded to them than exist at presentfor the bonâ-fide study of their profession. A service, again,organised on the dead level system of strict seniority doesnot, we confess, commend itself to us. Seniority is an

important factor in weighing the claims of a medical

officer for selection for the higher appointments, but

seniority should not be the sole and dominating factor insuch cases. There may be, and no doubt are, other pointsthat could have been advantageously touched upon, but wetrust that something has been done here to formulate therequirements of the service, and we can only hope that theWar Office will give the whole subject full, fair, and

impartial consideration.

Annotations.

THE CAUSES OF DEATH IN COLLIERYEXPLOSIONS.

" Ne quid nimis."

AN exceedingly important and interesting contribution tothis subject has recently been published by Dr. Haldane ina Blue-book prepared for the Secretary of State for the HomeDepartment. The report is based in the main upon theterrible explosions that happened in the Tylorstown, Brance-peth, and Micklefield explosions. We could wish we were

able to publish this report in extenso, but its length pre-cludes this course in spite of the excessive import-ance of the subject. Without entering into the specificdetails of each explosion, we may be content with

simply recording the general results. Dr. Haldane dividesthe bodies of the unfortunate victims into two classes :

first, those of men who had been killed by after-

damp ; and, secondly, those killed instantaneously byviolence. It is the former class-which comprises 91 percent. of the whole in the explosions referred to-with whichwe are more concerned in connexion with the considerationof affording some means of preventing this loss of life.There is little doubt that the cause of death by inhalingafter-damp is due to carbon monoxide. This is clear fromthe investigation in some cases of the blood of the Ivictims and from the characteristic, almost life-like,appearance of the corpses. The blood taken from both

men and horses was shown by means of the well-knownspectroscopic appearance afforded by carboxy-hsemoglobinto be highly charged with carbon monoxide. These facts

make it evident that in most fire-damp explosions there mustbe in parts of the field of explosion not sufficient oxygenfor complete combustion, and instead of carbon dioxide andaqueous vapour a variable mixture of carbon dioxide, carbonmonoxide, watery vapour, and probably hydrogen will beformed, and these, when mixed with about 80 per cent. ofnitrogen and any undecomposed fire-damp will constitutethe after-damp. There are reasons for believing, however,that this proportion is by no means high, and it is pro-bable on theoretical grounds that in an explosion with anexcess of fire-damp and without dust not more than about3 or 4 per cent. of carbon monoxide will be formed in anypart of the track of the explosion. The evidence is clear,however, that whatever poisonous gases exist the gaspresent in the most poisonous proportions is carbon

monoxide, and this gas undoubtedly occurs in the after-

damp of all great colliery explosions. A priori, in theseexplosions there must have been an insufficiency of oxygenfor complete combustion. Everything indicates in fact thatthe exceeding danger of after-damp is referable to the con-stant presence of carbon monoxide. Apart from the resultsof the experiments made with the blood, the pinkness ofthe lips and the general life-like appearance of the bodiesrecovered after explosions point to the same poison. From

experiments tried upon himself, Dr. Haldane calculated thatabout six hours are required for the carbon monoxide todisappear entirely from the blood in severe cases of poison-ing. Although this is so, the distressing after-effects con-tinue, which may end fatally. In regard to treatment, Dr.Haldane considers the administration of oxygen wouldbe of service in rapidly clearing the blood of carbon

monoxide, but the first effect of cool fresh air would

appear to be dangerous. This is suggested as being dueto the cold diminishing the blood-supply to the brain or tothe temperature of the body being reduced owing to impair-ment of the heat-producing or heat-regulating functions. At

any rate the application of hot water bottles and blanketsappear to be of great service. In regard to preventivemeasures, in addition to increased facilities for ventilatingthe mines in times of emergency, Dr. Haldane suggests thatthe work of rescue would be much more safe if a few simpleprecautions were observed. Thus the presence of a dangerousproportion of carbon monoxide may be detected easily andsufficiently quickly by observing the symptoms exhibitedby a mouse. A few white mice might easily be kept for thispurpose in the engine-room at the top of the down cast-shaftand be taken down in small cages by the rescuers. Withthe help of the indications afforded by the mice it would bepossible for the rescuers to keep within the limits of safetyand yet go forward with rapidity and confidence as far asthey could. He also lays down some sensible directions as tothe position the men should take after the occurrence of theexplosion, and some reasonable measures which should beobserved by the rescuing party. He suggests also that

cylinders of compressed oxygen should be at all timesavailable in the mine. As will be seen from thisbrief digest, the report is an admirable piece of work

dealing exhaustively with the scientific aspects of collieryexplosions, their probable nature, and the effects theyproduce. The community at large will welcome such anearnest and solid endeavour to minimise the sorrow occurringfrom one of the most distressing calamities that can happenin this country.

-

LORD KELVIN.THE congratulations which fell so thickly and so un-

stintedly upon Lord Kelvin on the occasion of the com.

memoration of the jubilee of his professorship of natural

1733

philosophy in Glasgow University represent something more,we are sure, than mere felicitation on so long a tenure of sodistinguished an office. It was a fitting opportunity of re-cognising his brilliant achievements in scientific work andthe splendid results of the application of his discoveriestowards advancing so much of the progress in the publicweal which has been so marked a characteristic of the

closing century. As is well known, Lord Kelvin’skeen perceptive faculty has been chiefly directed to

the study of the laws governing that still mysticalforce-electricity. Yet with characteristic modesty he

admitted the other day that he knew no more of electricand magnetic force, or of the relation between ether, electri-city, and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than heknew and tried to teach his students of natural philosophyfifty years ago in his first session as professor. He forgot toadd, perhaps, in the exceeding good taste which he hasalways evinced, the enormous impetus, as the outcome ofhis work, which he has given to what we may call telegraphicscience or the science of the transmission of words fromdistant lands and across the sea in a space of time

so lightning-like as to excite our deepest wonder and

admiration. His scientific triumphs in this directionwere appropriately enough demonstrated in a veryhappy way on the occasion of the meeting at Glasgowto which we have referred. Thus a congratulatorymessage was sent from the jubilee committee by way ofNewfoundland, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angelos, NewOrleans, Jacksonville, Florida, Washington, New York, New-foundland, and thence to Glasgow University, a distance ofsome 20,000 miles, in about seven minutes. There was usedfor the first time a cable recorder on a cable and land wire ofimmense length. The marvellously quick time of trans-

mission demonstrated the successful working of Lord Kelvin’ssyphon recorder. Despite his confession also as to his

insight in regard to the vagaries of magnetic force hehas so far mastered them as to have ultimately placeda marvellously accurate and delicate instrument at

the service of the navigator, and we venture to saythat there is hardly a ship afloat which does not

carry a Sir William Thomson’s compass, the boon conferred

by the introduction of which will be admitted by all thosewho " go down to the sea in ships." Then there are the

manifold instruments of exact measurement used in physicalscience which are less prominent as directly of public service,but none the less are they of equal importance, and areference to text-books on physics will reveal how intimatelyassociated with Lord Kelvin’s name is almost every section

of electrical and magnetic science. The medical professionupon whose labours Lord Kelvin’s discoveries are not withoutan important bearing will join, we feel sure, in addingcongratulations to those already awarded him and to whichhe is so richly entitled. ____

"A BENEFICENT MEDICAL DISCOVERY."

UNDER this somewhat high-faluting title a contemporarymakes a good deal of copy anent the use of oxygen withchloroform. An interviewer waited upon Mr. T. G. H.

Nicholson, M.R.C.S. Eng., anesthetist to the Hahnemann

Hospital, Liverpool, and naturally found that gentleman"shy." Unfortunately he appears to have overcome his

shyness and to have dropped that laudable reticence which,we are told, cloaked his speech when first approached.Had he at once stated to the representative of the LiverpoolC01wie’J’ that he possessed no right to be regarded as a dis-coverer he might have avoided both undesirable notorietyand newspaper puffing which should be a source of extremeannoyance to any member of the medical profession. Weare told that this gentleman patented an apparatus for

administering oxygen gas with chloroform in 1893, but the

idea had been "simmering" " in his head since 1891. We:10 not suppose for one moment that any wilful misrepresenta-tion of facts has been intended, but it is of interest to tracethe ’’ simmering " of the same idea in other minds through-out the past twenty years or so. The "discovery" is thewell-known method of Neudorfer, which he introduced intopractice in Vienna about twenty years ago. Even as earlyas 1860 Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy investigated the sup-posed antidotal value of oxygen in chloroform toxoamia, andcame to the conclusion that its merits in that respect wereslight. Snow in 1849 was also familiar with it and recordeda case in which forced respiration of oxygen was practisedin what proved to be fatal syncope. Neudorfer, however,suggested that by actually combining oxygen gas with chlo-roform vapour it might be possible to lessen the risk of

asphyxia. Whether this was done by maintaining the

vitality of the tissues or by simply producing a due dilutionof the chloroform does not appear certain. At all events,Idelson, Bertels, Kreutzmann, and others have followedNeudorfer’s method and have regarded it with favour.Mr. George Foy described a simple apparatus for givingoxygen, and this can be combined with a chloroform

apparatus, affording a ready means of combtning the use ofoxygen and chloroform. Kreutzmann 1 also devised an

apparatus of less complexity than that which Neudorferemployed. The mixture has further been successfully triedin America, but experience has taught that while oxygen isof value in asphyxial conditions it really possesses no meritas a physiological antagonist to chloroform. The planreferred to is neither new nor yet so old as to be safelyre-introduced as a novelty, save in the pages of a lay journalwhose zeal for " copy " outruns its discretion. Many lettersof somewhat fulsome adulation of this " discovery haveappeared, but as yet we have not seen any disclaimer

from Mr. Nicholson of this bantling or any attempt torender to Neudörfer whatever credit may be due for his

discovery. -------

TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CREOLIN.

CREOLIN compounds are now so extensively used as dis-infectant washes, more especially as they are believed to benon-poisonous, that the results of an investigation by Pro-fessor Hobday of the Royal Veterinary College calculated todisturb this notion will be read with interest and instruction ;at any rate, they should place the public on their guard inrespect to the application of these compounds to the body.The investigation was set on foot by observing the fataleffect of applying solutions of creolin to a couple of valuableferrets affected with lice and mange. The amount of creolinused was estimated at about two ounces to a quart ofwater, in spite of which dilution both animals were

dead within half an hour of the application. Again, inthe case of a valuable bull terrier severely affectedwith follicular mange " the result was most alarmingand all attempts to save the animal failed," the applica-tion having consisted in rubbing the affected parts with asolution containing four ounces of creolin and four ouncesof water. To set at rest the question whether this alarmingresult was due to any peculiar idiosyncrasy of the animal afox terrier was treated in the same way, but the resultwas equally unfortunate. Several animals (dogs and cats)were then submitted to experiment with more or less toxiceffects, and in the majority of instances those effectswere followed by death. This important report concludeswith the following observations: that creolin is a narcoticand irritant poison to the dog and cat, and that its use inthese animals must be watched with the greatest care ;that it is especially toxic when spread in emulsions ofa certain strength over a large area of the body; that

1 Centralblatt für Chirurgie, No. 35, 1887.