Evening star., 1923-12-16
TAKING BLOOD SAMPLES " DETERMINE Fss GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST WHO ENGAGED

urated with this obnoxious material.
Above this concentra alton. such per-
! ceptible effects as dizziness weak
ness. headache and nausea develop.
| In this unusual research with
smoking tobacco. as the blood of
none Of the subjects showed a
| greater saturation than one-twen-
| tteth for one and one-half hours
exposure in an atmosphere contain
| ing by far more tobacco smoke than
would ever be tolerated under or
dinary conditions, the results indi
| cate that although tobacco smoke
can be present in rooms in which
people may be assembled I'm guam
titles greater than can be tolerated
with comfort, yet the amount of car
bon monoxide present is not sufficient
to cause appreciable hazards.
In the cigarette-smoking tests, the
percentage OF carbon -monoxide sat
uration was no greater in the case
Of the man that inhaled than in that
of the smoker who did not inhaIe.
while tfAe third man, who did not
smoke, showed as much OF the
poison in his system at the end OF
smoking.
These results brought up the ques-
tion whether the smoker who inhales
really draws concentrated smoke
down into the alveoli of tho lungs.
In order to obtain moro irrefutable
data on this point. tests were made
by having subjects inhale cigarette
smoke in the normal manner, and
then take samples of the first. middle
and last part Of the exhaled breath,
in order to analyze them for carbon
monoxide content.
These samples were taken by hav-
ing the subjects exhale into coll
lapsible rubber bags. Each portion
Of the exhalation was then carefully
analyzed by chemical methods to as
certain the presence and amount OF
carbon monoxide.
The results indicated that the last
portion of the air, that which mainly
gets into contact with the blood
contains but small amount Of car
bon monoxide when tobacco smoke
is inhaled. Samples of expired air
taken while a subject was smoking a
cigar without inhaling did not in any
case show the presence of anyScarbon
monoxide for the middle or last por-
tion OF the expired breath.
Additional tests were conducted to
determine approximately how much
smoke is drawn into the mouth and
lungs during each inhalation. A
special glass tube was constructed
so that a cigarette or cigar could
be inserted in it and the end Of the
tube, containing the burning end of
the tobacco, was then connected to
a wet meter. Thereupon, the SUBJ
ject smoked normally on the free
end of the cigarette. and the guam
tity of air that passed through the
meter was recorded for twenty-five
draws The results Of this investi-
CATION showed that the smoker
eighty cubic centimeters Of smoke
per draw.
OBSERVATION were next made
to ascertain the number OF in
halations q smoker usually makes
while at work under conditions
where he was not aware that he was
being observed. These curious data
demonstrate that the general run Of
smokers inhale from one to one and
one-half times a minute, during
which interval they, respectively.
draw into their lungs from sixty to
ninety cubic centimentery OF tobacco
smoke. On the assumption that the
average tobacco user breathes at the
normal rate Of about six liters Of air
per minute, that the undiluted Gig.
arctic smoke contains per cent
carbon monoxide and that the to-
bacco smoke is thoroughly diffused
throughout the air, tho average con-
centration of carbon monoxIde In the
lungs under these circumstances
would amount to but .0125 per cent.
However, under actual conditions,
the portion Of the air that really
reaches the alveoli of the lungs con-
tains but relatively little Of the pois-
onous gas, so that the everage value
for the carbon monoxids which
reaches the smokers lungs only rare
ly exceeds .0i per cent.
Looking at Il from another stand !