The Detroit times., 1910-01-13
Sensation
| IN SEALED BOILERS
Newspaper Man Tries the Effects
of High Air Pressure on
Humans.

LONDON, jan ia CORRESPONDS
ent of the Mali the other day spent
some time inside the famous COM
pressed air BOILER Tor air loek) In
(which DR. Leonard Hin and h,s as
Instant at the London hospital have
beer experimenting with the Gciects
OF high air pressure on the human sys-
tenn.
Il rest on n narrow. but comfort
fble mattress, inside an iron construc-
ton which reminds me OF u section or
a 'tuDe' railway tunnel" ne writes.
Outside a gas engine IL chugging
away, while the oval manhole through
which | have just wriggied. is being
cialnped and screwed up With Il dun
geon-like clangor of iron Above my
head Is small electric lamp aid OH
my right telephone. Ii has been ar
ranged that the air pressure shall be
raised TO about two and one-thi.d at
mosphere. or 10 pounds pressure to
the square inch Including the 10
pounds which We endure every mo-
mert OF our lives).
Ears Begin to Ring.
hole Is sealed the ears begin To sing
nnpleasantly. Telephoned instructions
aIte given 10 hold my nose anu blow
hard. and the trouble van.shes.
though. as the pressure increases this
has 10 be repeated occasionally.
"Denser and denscr grows the air
without any apparent results mtil |
answer q, telephone cali from the out.
PR world. NV voice has changeo be
vond recognition. 1t has a nasal phon
bgraph-like quality which Is positive
startling. for with It's increased den
Eity the rcsonating properties Of the
Rir cavities in the head have been al.
tered. Attempts To whistle high
note are failure and whispering Is
m impossibility. In this pressure
champagne or seller Is as fiat as pond
water. the gas being unable to release
tself from the liquid.
Danger Of the "8ubbies."
II am now in the course of being
reduced Air is escaping through
small outlet near the head OF tho boil
pr. nut were IL allowed to escape in.
stantaneously the nitrogen which has
fntered my system I'm minute bulk un-
Her compression would expand into
bubbles i'm my arteries or veins. which
bn reaching the heart would cause
ienth.'
These bubbles have evidently loom.
fd largely In the thoughts Of some OF
he humal occupants OF the boiler. for
bmid algebraic problems and tireeh
hnd Latin quotations written on the
walls around he stands the Shakes
perean phrase Like hell broth.
poll and bubble" Shall bubble"
Eeens 10 have been The IRE prcssipie
hought of some of the experimenters.
Dr. Fill and his assistants are not
tonr,uctIng fnese experiments from
die curiosity Thcv have established
most valuable and definite fact with
he London hospital apparatus. Nhs,h
was provided by Messrs. Siebe. Cor
aan & Co. limited. the well known
hrmtof submarine engineers. Divers
Ind caisson workers have hitherto
,een reduced from high To normal
kir pressurcs In consecutive stages,
With q long wait between each.
What Experiments Prove.
DR.. nllls 8 work has now established
lie fact that pressure may be reduced
uddenly 10 about 20 pounds 10 the
auare iuch (thv point at which the
,stcm yields its absorbed nitrogen
n Dubbles), and long pause here
flows the lungs TO throw off the pois.
bn without the fatal "bubbling."
A second and equally valuable point
Dr. lIlll claims tn have proved As that
arbonic acid gas Is not the cause OF
asson disease Much money was
Wasted, he thinks. when the Rother.
lite tannel was being built. I'm erecting
costly ventilating plant to get rid
f carbonic acid gas. and In arranging
or special medical attendance. II Is
nitrogen absorbed under pressure
which causes the trouble, and al the
pressure the Rotherhite workers were
sing Us pounds to the square inchJ
,,hhles of Nitrogen do not form