Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-30

entific test, the progress Of underground trav-
el is checked
The various egnineers concerned with the
building Of these tunnels have appealed to
the bureau of mines for help; the bureau is
asking congress for hundred thousand dol
lars with which to carry on tests; and mean
time it is arranging with Yale university to
begin the tests at once in a gas chamber
which the university will erect and the bu-
reau will rent
The bureau Of mines is the one agency in
the country qualified to make these tests
because it has devoted much attention to the
question Of poison gases in mines. 1t also
did a large part of the work in connection
with the use of and defense against poison
gases during the war One of it's chemists,
A. c. Fieldnder had charge of gas mask in
vestigations during the war and is the man
chiefly responsible for the development Of
an efficient gas mask. This man will have
charge for the bureau of the experiments with
regard to tunnel gases.
The bureau lacks a chamber in which to
make the tests and a physiological to study
the effect of the gases on the human system.
Both OF these things will be furnished by Yale
university. DR.. Yandell Henderson. a noted
Psychologist, will try to solve the problem Of
how much carbon monoXide human being
can stand.
The procedure as outlined is very simple.
The gas chamber is to be thirty feet square
and about twelve feet high ana will be air
tight when closed. Cars of all sorts will be
driven into this chamber and run under all
sorts of conditions, and tests will then be
made to determine to what extent the air
has been polluted by carbon monoXide and by
other poisonous gases.
Students will then be called upon as vol
unteers to enter the poison gas chamber in
order to determine the effects of the various
mixtures of air and poison gas on the human
system. 1t may occur to you that there will
probably be no rush of volunteers for this
duty. The suspicion may even arise that the
experiments will come to an end for lack of
um2n m21GTial. But the eXperimenters seem
to have no doubts on this point. Of course,
they will very carefully safeguard the stu
dents from serious injury And it does seem
to have been proved that volunteers for ex-
perlments, even when quite dangerous, can al
ways be found.
In addition to tests upon undergraduates,
there will also be experiments with horses,
and especially with wind-broken horses DIR.
Henderson says that the so-called wind-broken
horse usually suffers from heart disease and
is liable to be overcome by carbon monoxide.
When the scientists have determined what
percentage of carbon monoxide in the air can
safely be breathed by an elderly and wind
broken horse, they can recommend that mix
ture safe for anyone.
The engineers who have charge of the ven
tilation of the tunnels can compute with ex-
actitude how much air will flow through
them. The experiments will inform them
how much carbon monoxide gas may be safely
mixed with that air, and how much of the
deadly gas is produced by the average ma
chine under average conditions. When this
iata is in their hands, they will begin to build
their tunnels. Mans travels underground
"i}l 20 forward again