The Portland daily press., 1881-02-25
FRIDAY MORNING. February rs.
Some Interesting Experiments on
Tobacco-Smoking,

1t was discovered, some years ago, that car
bonic oxide is one of the products of the COM
bustion of tobacco, and this has led to the sug-
gestion that the injurious effects of smoking
may be due to this extremely poisonous gas.
NJ. Gustave lie Bon has thought the question
worthy of careful investigation, and his ex-
periments are of no little interest. He found
that about eighty cubic centimeters of carbon
ic oxide were produced by the combustion of
one gram Of tobacco. One per cent of the gas
in the air will cause death in twenty minutes,
and much smaller proportion will give rise
to violent head-acbe, nausea, and other disa-
greeable symptoms. Former experiments had
killed dogs by making them breathe air which
had passed through burning tobacco; but the
fatal effects might be due to the large amount
OF nicotine or to the diminution of the oxygen
in the air. Similar objections might be made
to other experiments in which the conditions
were wholly unlike those of ordinary tobacco
smoking. M. LIE Bon, on the other hand has
made his examination under these latter con-
ditions.
1t was necessary first to determine the mini
mum proportion of carbonic acid that renders
the air unfit to breathe "a point not definitely
settled by physiologists), and, second, the max
iuum proportion actually present in an atmcs-
p ere laden with tobacco smoke. To decide
the first question, NJ. LIE Bon shuts himself up
in one of tire smallest of French kitchens
with two charcoal stoves. In this room it was
ordinarily necessary for safety, to have the
door open; but he closed the door, and remain
ed until the head ache and nausea became in
tolerable, and he was able to take sample of
fnn ~ Yr.n hta~ hox aud L.
with 1t. Analysis showed that the air con-
tanned only one part of carbonic oxide for 5000
parts of air. I'm order to produce this pro-
portion of carbonic oxide it would be necessary
to burn grams OF tobacco per cubic meter of
air. In small room-say, one of capacity
of 80 cubic meters-it would be necessary to
burn 125 grams of tobacco to produce this
quantity OF carbonic oxide. an amount of to-
bacco which would be represented by 80 pipes,
% cigars. ard $50 average cigarettes" The
entrance of fresh air by the doors and WIN
dows, even II these were closed, would require
the amount of tobacco to be much larger; but
it is evident that even this quantity could not
be burned by the small number of persons who
could be accommodated in such a room Ina
compartment of European railway car. how
ever, or in a closed cab, a number of smokers
might be confined in a much smaller atmos-
phere; though the ventilation through cracks
and crevices would be greater than in the 9th
er case. To test the matter by actual expert
ment NJ. lie Bon and friend entered a single
seated cab, which, deducting their own bulk,
contained about thirty cubic feet of air. The
windows of the cab we're closed, and for three
quarters Of an hour the gentlemen drove about
and smoked during the time seven grams and
half IA quarter of an ounce) of tobacco The
temperature in the cab was IS deg. F., at the
commencement of the experiment, and II deg.
f.. at the end. By this time some discomfort
was experienced; and a sample of the air was
taken for analysis. According to the quantity
of tobacco burned, the air should have con
tanned 500 cubic centimeters of carbonic oxide
in each cuhic meter of air; the quantity was
found, however, to amount to scarcely 100
cubic centimeters-too small quantity to pro-
duce serious Inconvenience. II is thus evident
that in a carriage, in spite of closed windows,
the greater part of the carbonic oxide escapes,
1t is also certain that. if it did not escape,
the effects of the nicotine and other poisons
produced by Understanding, would be felt
long before there could be sufficient of the OK
ide in the air to cause any serious discomfort
or injury If a man kills himself by smoking,
then, he may be sure that it is not carbonic OK
ide which is primarily responsible for the fatal
result.-Boston Jour. of Chemistry.