The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-07-27
Frogs Aid in Curing
The Bends

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life in the building Of the mid
town Hudson Tunnel, in New
York city, which will be "holed
through" any day now.
AS subjects of experiment,
they helped to check the pro-
portion of free nitrogen under
increasing air pressure, the
deadly effects of a nitrogen
bubble in the bloodstream and
treatment for the dreadful
bends-the sandhogs' occupa-
tional curse.
At record speed and with g.
minimum of death and injury,
the under-river. tube has been
driven through since last De-
cember. The bends is virtually
conquered.
Not only the frogs, but hui
man beings, too, figure in in
tensive scientific research and
experimentation by which, with
proper care and utilization Of
sound technique, men need no
longer suffer the devastating
agonies which so frequently
have wrecked or killed tunnel
workers.
The new tunnel is not only
an engineering triumph, but it
is a victory of organized intelli-
gence over a terrible human at
Fiction. Medical and engineer
ing knowledge, plus enlightened
legalism, working through the
State Department Of Labor, has
made the deepest caissonS rea-
sonably safe for sandhogs.
Never has a great tunnel been
finished with a better record for
safeguarding human life and
health.
PRESSURE STRONG
The m chine age Caliban
comes up from his cave no
longer distorted and in agony.
The bends used to take at least
one life a month, when they
first started to tunnel under the
Hudson. so years ago.
The disease crippled for life
countless other workmen. Ac-
cidents t ook a heavy toll in
killed and injured. In the eight
tunnels driven under the East
River from 1914 to 1921 there
were only two deaths from the
bends, but there were many seiz-
ureS and much ruin Of health
and earning power.
Studies and experiments be-
gun in those years and con-
tinued down to today have not
banished the danger, but they
have made the bends avoidable
by attention to the best engineer
ing and medical technique.
Air pressure as high as so
pounds to the square inch must
counterfeit the terrific outer
pressure on the walls Of the tun-
mel, as the sandhogs go ahead
of the penetrating shield to
clear the way for the metal and
concrete tube.
No man could live under this
pressure unless he were condi.
toned to it by a previous pro-
cesSing through air chambers
in which the pressure was grad;
ually stepped up. About one
minute in the ante-chamber is
required for each foot of depth
at which the sandhog will work
an hour in the air chamber
for work in a tunnel so feet
under the river. Similarly, they
must be gradually Stepped-down
to normal air when they emerge.
It is the highly expert knowl-
edge and control of these pro-
cesses which gradually have
made the bends preventable.
The sandhogs are a hardy and
lusty clan, having a guild OF
their own and not having to
worry much about competition.
There are at work in the Mid
town Tunnel descendants Of
generations of sandhogS. Their
fathers and grandfathers were
brought over from England or
Austria.
With the easing Of their lot,
greater safety. higher wages and
shorter hours, many Of them
like their jobs and start their
boys roofing down under rivers
and mountains.
The working day is usually
two or three hours, but at an
extreme depth Of 100 feet, it is
only one hour, and wages are
$40 a day. While it is loosely
regarded as unskilled labor, they
must, in fact, master some quite
complicated techniques, includ-
ing blasting, and the swift plac.