The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1882-03-18
cARBoNIc ACID GAS.

This gas or choke damp a. it is vul-
garly called. is the source oi infinite
mischief. No other single agency in
lures the health of men so widely and
seriously. This gas Games principally
from the lungs of men and animals, and
from combustion A load of wood,
weighing a ton is drawn to the door
/, takes 4 span of horses TO do il. Il is
burned in the stove, and all that is left
Of il is in the form of ashes, and NAV
be carried away in 4 barrel on 4 man s
shoulder. Perhaps the weight is about
fifty pounds, the nineteen hundred and
fifty pounds which have disappeared,
have all gone up the chimney and out
into the atmosphere in the form OF car
bonic acid gas.
4 candle weighs four ounces, but
when II is burned, there is almost nothing
left. /, has disappeared in the form OF
carbonic acidgaS. pu, man in pork
barrel, head him up tight, and drive in
the bung. Wait I few minutes. Now
loosen the bung. take il out. and peep
in. II you happen TO look in the mans
face you will find it nearly black. The
man is dead. He was sunocated. You
see the way it happened was this: The
man at first could breathe well enough,
and unless he knew about such things,
he said to himself "Well, this is 4 lit
tie crampcd but it is not so bad. after
all" But pretty soon he began TO feel
dizzy, and then came terrible pressure
in his head then 4 few struggles and
gasps, and all was over. lust take 4
good look in his face, il you have the
stomach for it, and you will see how
terrible was his agony during the last
moments. What killed that man? The
carbonic acid gas which he produced in
his own lungs. II when you first OPEN
cd the bung hole you had put your
mouth to it and tried to breathe the air,
YOU would have found out at once what
killed him. We take pure air into our
lungs, and when we breathe it out it
contains three or four per cent. of this
poisonous gas. Now, il we take this
same air back into the lungs and breathe
il over again, when il comes out of our
lungs the second time, il is so poison
Gus that it can't be taken back the third
time without mischief.
In 4 room, twelve feet square, il three
persons are sitting, and they have one
gas-burner, which will consume the oxy-
gen and create carbonic acid gas about
as fast as the three pairs of lungs, the
air will become poisonous in few min.
utes, unless there is an opening to lei
the poisoned air out, and the pure all
in. The air in most churches and the
atres is simply abomifnble. Babies in
the bottoms of cradles, ladies under
thick wells, passengers in sleeping rooms
nine e-tenths Of our people in their bed
rooms, are poisoned with this carboniC
acid gas. Now, does not the statement
with which began, namely, that Gear
bonic acid gas is the source OF infinite
mischief seem reasonable?
narI was in Kentucky lately and wa
introduced to an old Bourbon who had
the title Of Colonel before his name
After becoming little acquainted
finally ventured innocently to ask:
"On what side did you fight, Colonel
and gain your military rank ?"
"I'm no id soldier. wasn't il
the wah at all, sah."
"You must excuse me, but l noticeC
your title Of colonel, and concluded
you were in the war"
"No, sab. I'm colonel by the code
sab III a man wings one man he is