White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-12-30
CAUTION BEST FOE
OF MONOXlDE GAS
Motorists Warned of Cold
Weather PeriIs.

Washington.-With the return of
cold weather the spectel of carbon
monoxide poisoning again haLnts au.
tomobile drivers. Unless humanity
has had a sudden access of caution,
we may expect occasional news items
about unlucky persons, warming up
their motors in closed garages, being
overcome and killed by this insidious,
odorless, invisible gas
Carbon monoxide is product of
imperfect combustion. When a fuel
Is burned under ideal conditions 1t is
not produced. The only products of
perfect combustion are carbon dioXide
and water. But ideal combustion con-
ditions are almost never realized, GER
tainly not in even the best of automo-
bile engines The average of analyses
of exhaust gases from 101 different
makes of cars by the United States
bureau of mines showed per cent of
carbon monoxide.
In one experiment dog was left
in the drivers seat of a car in
tightly closed garage, with the en-
CINE running slowly. In 20 minutes
the dog was found unconscious. The
air in the garage was analysed and
found to contain ~ per cent of car
bon monoxide. Had a man been in
the dogs place the results would prob.
ably have been the same.
Gives No Warming.
Because 1t has neither color nor
odor, carbon monoxide frequently
overcomes it's victims with no warn
ing whatever. The first symptom is u
severe pain in the back of the head;
but if the concentration of the gas is
too high, the victim may lose con-
seriousness before he can act on this
warning. Small doses may have no
other effect than to cause severe head
ache, but heavy "gassing" is an ex-
ceedingly serious matter, and con-
valescents from carbon monoxide poi
soning should be kept in bed even when
they protest that they are "all right"
The best cure for carbon monoxide
is not to have it happen at all. 1t
needs no more than good ventilation
| In the garage, even at the expense of
cold motor, to make the place per-
fectly safe. Carbon monoxide is
slightly lighter than air and vanishes
almost Immediately through an open
door or window.
Persons overcome by the gas should
be given first aid by artificial respira-
ton and doctor called Immediately
In places where such accidents are at
all likely to happen the standard ap-
paratus for administering oxygen,
with the addition of 5 per cent of car
bon dioxide, should be kept in con.
| slant readiness.
Part of Ordinary Gas.
Automobile engines are by no means
the only sources of carboL monoxide
poisoning. The fuel gas of most of
our cities consists of q mixture of
"water gas" which Is made of hydro
gen and carbon monoxide, with either
natural gas or gas from evaporated
oil. The carbon monoxide content OF
such fuel gas may run as high as 30
per CeuC-OVeT TOUR LlIuoS CQe COQCen-
tration Of the average automobile ex-
haust. Faulty gas connections, broken
rubber tubing and other difficulties
with the domestic gas supply have
been blamed for ten times as many
carbon monoxide casualties as auto
| mobiles cause.
| Carbon monoxide would be a prime
factor in modern warfare If 1t were
not SO easily dispelled in the open air.
The high explosives with which shells
are loaded generate great quantities
of it.; the gas from a INT explosion
contains as much as 60 per cent of
carbon monoxide.
If shell happens to explode in a
dugout or other confined space the
soldiers who escape injury from the
fragments and the conclusion are
very likely to fall victims to the gas.
1t is the more deadly since even the
most modern types of gas masks af-
ford far less protection against 1t than
they do against the heavier varieties
of military poison gas.