Evening star., 1923-12-16

of carbon monoxide produced was
considerably less, ranging from 0.06
to Ia per cent
In the first test twelve good grade
cigars were smoked in the closed
chamber by the three investigators.
In fifteen minutes the atmosphere
was distinctly hazy and caused eye
irritation, while at the end Of forty
five minutes the experimenters had to
put on goggles to protect their eyes
from extreme irritation. At the end
of ninety minutes the atmosphere
OF the room contained .01 per cent
of carbon monoxide, and .5 per cent
carbon dioxide. The carbon monox-
ide saturation OF each smoker at the
end of this test when the blood sam
pie was taken, amounted TO 8 per
cent.
The test was then repeated, pipe
tobacco being used, 27.1 grams Of
this material being burned during
the experiment. In this case the
smoke was not so dense. The SUBJ
jects had to wear goggles to prevent
eye irritation after sixty minutes
exposure. At the termination OF one
and one-quarter hours one of the
men became nauseated and had to
leave the chamber. but this was due
to the fact that he was not accus-
toned to smoking a pipe.
Chemical analysis Of the air sam
Piles from the room showed no pres
ence Of poisonous carbon monoxide
gas. while no saturation of this ma
terial was found in the blood tests
of the smokers. The maximum
amount of carbon dioxide present At
any one time was SO per cent These
results are decidedly fattering and
complimentary to the pipe tobacco as
a less iniquitous material compared
with ciSars and cigarettes.
During the repetition of this test,
when each of two investigators
smoked thirty cigarettes. apiece--a
total of 41.6 grams of tobacco was
consumed in this way-the third OBJ
server did not smoke, but merely re-
mained in the room. One of the men
inhaled the smoke during the test.
The blood saturation test showed
that in this experiment each man
who remained in the scientific cell,
irrespective of whether he smoked,
inhaled or used no tobacco. absorbed
from 3 to per cent of carbon mon
oxide into his, system. Eye irritation
developed at the end Of ten minutes
and in thirty minutes the smoke was
very dense. The eXperimenters had
to don goggles at the termination of
forty-five minutes. At the end of
one and one-half hours the atmos-
phere in the room contained .01s per
cent of carbon monoxide.
Sixteen good grade stogies, aggre-
eating 49.4 ounces of tobacco, were
smoked by the national scientists
during another session in the tenn
porary nicotine laboratory. In fif-
teen minutes the smoke irritated the
eyes of the experimenters and at the
end Of forty-five minutes they had
to put their goggles on. At the end
of thirty minutes the room atmos-
phere contained .005 per cent of car
bon monoxide, while at the end of
one hour it had increased to .015 per
cent and to .o2 per cent at the end
of one and one-half hours. The blood
saturation tests showed a 5 per cent
content of carbon monoxide in the
blood of each subject at the con-
clusion of the test.
X X
THE percentage of carbon monox-
ide that had accumulated in the
room at the end Of the tests was
never greater than .02 per cent--it
occurred in the test made with the
stogies-while for all the other in
vestigations it did not exceed .01 per
cent. These are remarkably low fig-
ures,. considering that in all cases
enough smoke was presentsin fifteen
minutes after the beginning Of each
test to be decidedly uncomfortable.
while conditions later on became so
unbea rable from an eye irritation
standpoint as to necessitate the
wearing OF goggles. In other words.
each of these extraordinary investi-
cations was continued until the
smoke was four to six times more
concentrated than would be tolerated
under ventilated room conditions.
Symptoms Of carbon monoxide
poisoning rarely develop until the
blood becomes about one-fifth sat-