The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-11-02
WARNING ODOR TO
DETECT GAS LEAK
Yale Scientists Experiment to
Find Mixture That Will Give
Notice of Escaping Fumes.
SEEK ANTIDOTE FOR ASPHYxIA
Artificial Atmosphere 95 Per Cent
Oxygen Called Best Method Yet
known-Doctors Breathe Gas
to Test Cure.

New Ycrk.-Scientists of Yale uni
yersity who have been asked by the
American Gas association to discover
some means Of reducing accidental
deaths by asphyxiation, have devel-
oped new technique for rescuing
PERSONS overcome by gas and are also
experimenting with warning doors to
mix with gas in order to make escap-
ing fumes detected far more quickly
than at present.
The most efficient warning odor so
far developed is a substance called
mercaptan. DR.. Yandell Henderson or
Yale who, with Prof. Howard w. Hag-
gard, has been in charge OF these In
yestigations, said that mercaptan had
an odor closely resembling that of the
skunk, and that objections had been
made against its use, In spite OF Its
admitted high efficiency. One DROP OF
| the substance, which can be made
alphabetically from coal tar, is said to
be sufficient to diffuse powerful
warning odor throughout the Grand
| Central terminal. Because of the
enormous volume of gas used in this
| city any substance suited for the pur-
pose Of giving far and wide the alarm
of leaking gas must be capable Of COM
| municating a sharp odor to an enor-
nous volume of air or gas. When he
was reminded that slight odor OF
gas often hung about a gas jet or
stove, Doctor Henderson said:
"In good modern apparatus, there
should be no trouble of that kind. If
any substance is to be mixed with the
gas to give 1t an odor, it must be some
thing strong enough to be noticed at
once"
Call Most Gas Deaths Suicide.
So far no gas company has carried
the experiment to the extent Of fur
nishing mercaptan mixed with gas to
their customers In spite of the ad-
mitted excellence of such signal as
a life-saver, the scientists held that
the best practical method for cutting
down accidental deaths In cities
through the use Of gas was the re-
uuirement of a high standard of gas |
apparatus. The report of Doctors
Haggard end Henderson to the Amerf- |
can Gas association said:
tflors during the investigation indicate
that considerable number of the
cases of fatal asphyXia recorded as
accidental in the Borough Of Manhat
tan, New York city, are really suicide
The published figures for 1920 report |
124 suicides by gas out of total of
36O suicides; they report also 1870 fatal
accidental gassings out of total Of
2215 violent deaths, this total includ-
ing 46l highway fatalities and 367
falls from windows, elevators, etc. In
the 313 deaths thus assigned to gas,
suicides certainly contributed In real
ity much larger proportion and the
accidental gassings We're correspond
ingly fewer than these figures show.
The average citizen of New York runs
a much greater risk of losing his life
in a street accident or by a fall from !!
q window or elevator than from as
phyxia and he may reduce the latter
risk practically to zero by the exer- +
else Of little care.
BIames Defective Apparatus.
"In fact, large proportion of acct
1ental fatalities are due to obviously
icI CCtINC ia IOl CD, ClilCIy ShCdp, DdQlJ m
made, old, worn, cracked, loose tubing 8
between the gas Jet and stoves or
burners OF various sorts. This is not
matter over which gas companies +
an exercise any control" E
The experiments of the Yale scien- I
lists were reported as establishing the q
'alue Of the administration to suffer f
RS from gas poisoning Of an artificial E
composed Of per cent Z
arbon dioxide and 95 per cent exy- 4
EN-. The carbon dioxide in the hui m
nan system, 1t is alleged automatical- Il
Y regulates the action of the lungs.
'arrfed by the blood to brain centers, q
the breathing apparatus, Id
he carbon dioxide stimulates breath Il
1g. Gas poisoning upsets this auto =
latic control, because the carbon
ioxide which Is breathed by the vic HI
I'm has a chemical effect, destroying Il
luch of the carbon dioxide normally rs
the bloodstream.. The sufferer, "
lerefore, quits breathing and, as his n
ystem is deprived Of oxygen, he be- n
omes asphyxiated.
Doctors Henderson and Haggard "
nd others voluntarily allowed them 1
lives to be rendered unconscious by III
rs in order to prove the value Of 81
eir carbon diOxide and oxygen mix vi
re Breathing these substances from u!
nks, in which they were compressed |6]I
ey were speedily restored, without ~
e ordinary after-effects of asphyxia- S.5ii
IN, according to their reports. rs
After discussing the other methods l5i
Id explaining the carbOn-diOxide and III
vgen treatment, the reTort con- ST
lues: 9f
"The point cannot be too strongly fQt
lpnasized that for treatment to be III
ective II must be applied at the sd
rliest possible moment after the vic i91FF
Il is discovered and must remove the flE
rbon monOxide from his blood as III
on as possible" lSn
GII