Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-13
AIR IS NECESSARY
TO ASSURE SAFETY
Adequate Ventilation in Ga
rage Only Means to Escape
Fatal Poisoning.
SEVERAL CASES RECENTLY
FROM AUTOMOBILE GASES
Physicians Define Ailment as "Pe.
tromortis' -Comment by
DR.. C. D. Enfield.

| Within the past month several cases
| have been reported of asphyXiation
| from automobile gas fumes, which Chi
! cago physicians have defined s ''petro-
mortis.'' In these cases the victims
were found seated in or standing
| alongside of their automobiles in a
| garage, apparently suddenly overcome
| while making adjustments to or test
| ing the motor preparatory to taking
| the car on the road.
In commenting on this new danger of
working on motor car in a closed
garage. DR.. C. D. Enfield in an article
appearing in the current issue of the
Horseless Age, an automobile trade
| magazine, says that the owner or pri-
waite chauffeur should never take the
risk of combining himself in the small
private garage with motor exhaust
! ing into the air he has to breathe, but
If work must be done with the motor
running the doors and windows should
be open to provide a free current of air.
Adequate ventilation is the only means
of escaping this fatal poisoning.
In cases recently reported" says DR..
Enfield. death, resulted from being
connned In room with an idling mo-
toI eAHduStiuS INTO the air OF the room.
AS 1t would seem that death in these
cases came too soon and after too short
period of combustion to be the result |
OF mere oxygen exhaustion of the air
in the room. a toxic agent has been
sought as cause of death and appar-
emily discovered in the carbon monox-
ide gas which is one of the products OF
! incomplete combustion in gasoline
I motor Just as it is in coal stove.
In the ordinary burning process. in
either the motor or the stove, the oxy-
gen of the air unites with the carbon
of the fuel in the proportion of two
atoms of oxygen to one of carbon, pro-
ducing the comparatively harmless gas
carbon dioxide.
Gas Common in Volume.
This gas is the most common and in
volume the most important product of
combustion. 1t is not poisonous except
1t be In sufficient concentration to cut
down the oxygen percentage of the air
materially. Experiments in ventilation
have shown that it has little to do even
with the headache and drowsiness that
come so often as a result of stay in
an ill-ventilated room. If the same air
with the same carbon dioxide concen-
tration. which causes these unpleasant
Phenomena, be freshened only by agi-
tation with a fan. without the addition
of any fresh air at all. these symptoms
OF bad ventilation disappear.
However, in the carbon monoxide
gas which results from incomplete
burning of the charge of gasoline va
por there is a real and insidious dan
ger. This gas is composed of one
atom of oxygen only combined with
one atom of carbon, and obviously the
com binati tends to replace the other
whenever the available oxygen supply
! is little low. In the case of the gaso-
line engine this condition might obtain
as the result of poor carburetor adjust
ment. weak explosions, oversupply of
gasoline; in other words, exactly those
conditions which are very likely to be
found in a motor which is being run in
shop.
Carbon monoxide is a very active
poison. 1t is the most poisonous con-
stituent of ordinary lighting or fuel
gas, 1T is the poison which kills in the
traditional Latin Quarter method of
suicide with a brazier of charcoal, the
same which accomplishes its work SO
quietly in coal gas poisoning. 1t does
not cause a feeling of suffocation at
! first. SO that the victims rarely try to
reach the open in time to save them
easily into a state OF unconsciousness,
from which, if it lasts long, they do
not return.
Another Real Danger.
There is another very real danger,
which. while it has not to do with sud
den death, is almost as serious, for it
entails a considerable loss of efficiency
spread over a large number of wage
earners. and affects their general
health and well being to an extent
which the scientist is not yet prepared
to estimate accurately. Carbon mon
oxide is poison, acts on the blood and
through the blood on the other tissues,
particularly the nervous system. 1t
can, and does. cause paralysis, deafness,
lconvulsions and a large group of othe
symptoms. Often If the poisoning is not
fatal 1t leads to chronic invalidism and
mental weakness, which in varying de-
grees may last throughout life. These
are the severer non-fatal cases.
Just how much effect the constant
daily breathing of a small quantity of
| this poison. too small quantity to
have any immediate noticeable results,
Will have on health, mental and ply
sical, the physicians do not know ex-
actly. That it must have some effect is
| fairly certain. and as we are'coming
to look with less tolerance on waste of
every kind these days. little less work
done every day. little slower thought
| processes. little impairment Of ply
| sique in hundreds and perhaps thou
sands of men is not to be regarded
| lightly.
"a little Of this poison every day in the
air you breathe may never cause you
to lose the use of your legs. nor your
ears. but it will certainly make you
| think u little slower. it will cut down
the amount of really first rate work
you can do in a day. it may interfere
a little with your digestion. 1T will
make you grow old little faster, 1t
will be one of the reasons why you feel
SO much better in summer than in win
/ ter
The remedy for the small garage il
simple enough. merely the lessening of