ANTI-GAS EQUIPMENT

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4281, 22 September 1936, Page 6

ANTI-GAS EQUIPMENT

MINERS’ WELFARE

PROFESSOR HALDANE’S WORK

“ When the use of poisonous gas was introduced by the Germans during the Great War, Professor J. S. Haldane, whose death at Oxford was recently announced, was called in by the Secretary of State for War in an advisory capacity, and at once went out to the front, where he was able to certify the type of gas used and the nature of the effects produced by it,” states the London ‘Times.’ “He did much work on the pathology and treatment of cases of gas poisoning in both the acute and the convalescent stages, and in the course of this he designed a portable form of oxygen administration apparatus which not only proved of value during the war, but is well adapted for use in civil medical practice. Under his direction a great number of investigations were made on matter connected with the safety and hygiene of coal mines. In a series of experiments on animals and on himself he succeeded in elucidating the true physiological action of carbon monoxide, the poisonous constituent of after-damp. He also introduced several simple tests by which small though dangerous quantities of this gas could be detected in the air, laying emphasis in particular on the fact that small animals, such as birds or mice, were affected far more quickly than man by carbon monoxide, and could therefore be used to give warning of danger. “It was due to his work as a member qf a committee appointed by the Admiralty to investigate the problem of deep diving that the risks of caisson disease have now been practically abolished. He worked out what is now known as stage decompression. This method, by w T hich the diver may be brought safely to the surface, has now been adopted practically universally, and has made it possible to conduct salvage operations successfully at great depths; it was used, for instance, in the salvage operations on the Laurentic, which was sunk in the war, gold ingots to the value of some £5,000,000 being recovered between the years 1917 and 1924 from a depth of about 130 ft without any untoward incident.”

Professor and Mrs Haldane were %vell known at Oxford for their hospitality to overseas students, and there are numbers of ex-Oxford students in New Zealand who have pleasant recollections of the entertainment extended to them at the home of the late Professor Haldane.