The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-01-31

buretted water gas was distributed, as
/ IN Boston, the deaths would be 60 Per-
haps I had better give the accidental
deaths, that is the total The accidental
deaths would be 4ea- Nobody committed
suicide in England by gas that year ap-
I parently, because the total deaths and the
accidental deaths were the same The
total deaths on the Boston rate would
have been 159. IN New York they would
have been 49, In Brooklyn 215. in Chicago.
OF rather on the Chicago rate. they would
have ben 30S and on the Philadelphia rate
I Il Now IL seems TO me that that table
shows conclusively that the conditions
are not the same, and that any sssump-
ton built upon the idea that the condi-
tons are the same IS very erroneous, be-
cause here In Boston with 20 per cent
water gas showing deaths at the rate Of
/ 80 per year. and Chicago with loo per
cent water gas showing deaths al the rate
Of only SO per year, and Brooklyn with
81 per cent Of water gas showing deaths
at the rate Of only 2l5. II IL was the
water gas that was doing It entirely. the
rate should have shown a much closer
| agreement than that Doctor Haidane
gives in his own report the reason why
! the conditions are not the same. and why
you cannot reason from English cOndi-
lions 10 American conditions. or from
J American conditions 10 English cOndi-
/ tons, whichever way you choose 10 put it
I He says in speaking OF another table,
he abore table IS calculated not Tor a-erzse but
Ter uufaEorable conditions Of ventilation IL rooms
With open fireplace the average vsutilztiea would.
70 judge from tie data given above - nearly d7ube
that existing under unfayOEable conditions This.
however would not apply 70 the mzny SEAL rooms
Nrrrf 81 ri-h md Z /
these roo-1s that q precsutia IN connec-
ton with ths distribution Of water gas should m0-e
/ specially Be directed
/ Then he goes on to recommend that
+ rooms without fiTeplaees shovl6 not have
any gas lights in them That shows what
/ the conditions are in England. The num-
/ Der Of rooms without firepiaces must be
very incOnslderabIe or he could not make
/ that recommendation. Think what that
would lead 70 in this country II every
room without a fireplace was left with
out 3 gas light. With q FIRE place he
himself says It Is practically impossible
( in any case TO get conditions that would
/ lead to dangerous exposure.
ar Sims-You mean. by a fireplace
what
8ir ForstsIl-A fiue going up. In Eng
I land the temperature IS not low, and the
( houses are heated with lrepIaces- There
/ is 10 central heating plant II is the
same way in New Orleans. IN New or
: leans every room has a fireplace. prac-
tically. II is the only way We have %
I keeping warm. practically.
/ The difference in conditions seems 70
4 me 20 be such that any reasoning from
+ English conditions 70 American condi-
tons by which It is attempted 20 prove
that It Is simply the carbon mOnox.ds
I IN the gas distributed in America that
causes a larger proportion Of deaths in
America as contrasted with the proper
+ ton Of deaths in England. Is entirely er-
/ roneous-
Mr. Siras-Have you any comparisons
OF cities IN the United States that use
only coal gas and cities that use the
other7
/ NJ Forstall-No. I have not IN that
shape: but I have comparisons OF cities
! that used 40 per cent water gas and
then TO . per cent water gas.
Mr.. Sims-You mean 100 per cent, and
I then dropped.
Mr. Forstall-Yes. and then dropped TO
F % per cent Take Baltimore. for IN
stance; the Maryland Steel Company built
a coke oven plant outside OF Baltimore
and had no use for the gas and sold II al
price that made IT attractive 70 the
company. and the company bought II and
stopped making that amount OF water
gas Tor the time being
I MI Sims-You have no comparisons.
then. between pure coal gas and water
gas?
ar. Forstall-No: that is the point
am coming 20 now. IN the days be-
I fore carbuTetted water gas was intro
duced into the country nobody paid anv
particular attention 10 accidents from
) gas. In the first place. the medical rec
F ords were not kept in very good shape.
+ They have been constantly improving.
constantly subdiviGing their elassifca-
tons The early records left deaths from
q whole lot Of causes under one classified
{ sion. and IN reference TO that I want Just
70 read little statement here made by
I Mr. Barker q good many years ago I
thought he might get 1t On this morning
/ but ne did not Il IS IN this same report
/ that I referred TO before. on page ia.
I Il IS in a letter from Mr. F. 2. Barker
I 10 DR.. 4. c. Humphreys.
/ Upon the su5iecs of colurarisons MKT ss5 2
WoTe more. You May not Be- aware thar soraa sir
II eight years ago. while tryinE To study THIS yer.
I problem. visited nearly everv citv ard town in
TIE cc1utTy where water ezs vas Distributed. and
vas IuTTeSssd with The apparent lack Of precision
WIN Vhlcl The vital statistics bearinS upon the
question had heretofore h-sa kerr s1d not the m
frequent ambiguity in stating the causs n desfh
an slsd 70 say thar 7 have reasuu - believe tke-r
has been substantial improvement IN this -rsu---
/ N rnors recent yezrS-
I That describes. think. very accurately
+ the state Of the records before the adj
vent II earburetted water gas. In the
agitation against carburetted water gas
/ or by the agitation made by the coal gas
companies against Il, the attention 81
the cities was directed To the state
ments made against it. and they began
7 70 keep accurate records. 50 that row
you get al Of the cases. whereas in the
old days you did not I suppose a man
could make I'D a very plausible arg1-
ment that the disease Of appendicitis did
not exist twenty eysrs ago because no.
7 body was ever operated upon for appen-
dicitis in those DAYS. and nowadays an
/ parently. Il is very prevalent tt Is sim
ply that they called It something else.
/ Coming down to the statistics. the fry;
thing | did when I got to work on this
/ case was TO get the actual number Of
deaths from gas poisoning shsvn by the
T health records in the District Of Column
bia- The information that have covers
from 1891 70 1907. inclusive. with the years
1895 10 1901 missing. The department did
not have them in shape They had
changed their method OF reporting. and
did not have those years in shape to give
them 20 me. They stated they would
send them to me. but have not received
them as yet In 1891. to take the two
/ extreme years. the accidental deaths from
gas. due 20 the inhaItion Of illuminating
gas. were fourteen.
Mr.. Taylor-What gas was used then
coal gas or a mixture7
Mr.. Forstsll-T have not taken II BIZ
years. Mr. Taylor. I can give you j
statement OF what il was for the five
! years beginning with 1891: that is. the
/ average. II varies 50 much from year n