ELECTRIC LIGHT POISONOUS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2072, 6 May 1907, Page 1

ELECTRIC LIGHT POISONOUS.

We have all hitherto been, comfortable in the conviction that electric light was not harmful to tho health. But no; scientists are doing their best to dispel this notion. We read that electric lights and electric wires of all sorts poison the air, hurt your lungs, and even eat out tlie lining of your stomach. The Revuo Scientific, in summarising _thc results of research on this matter, says that the workmen in the central power stations at Niagara suffer from peculiar forms of indisposition, such as serious troubles of the digestive organs, loss of appetite, and heaviness of the stomach after eating, and that the attending physician, Dr. Millener, believes that these should bo attributed to the electric radiations emitted by the apparatus and conductors. The writer goes on ir-rr

“Apropos of this, a German medical journal explains that the troubles in question are due to poisoning of the staff by ozone. In fact, ozone, which is developed in quite large quantities, by the numerous pieces of apparatus traversed by high tension currents, forms with the atmospheric nitrogen, in the presence of water, nitric acid, which penetrates into the

j stomach with tho saliva. Whoever ; has made experiments with high tension currents remembers the acid taste that is perceived in the mouth whenever there is a considerable lorjnntion of ozone. “Furthermore, ozone breathed in

large quantities is very injurious to the organs of respiration, it excites tho mucous secretions and provokes 'coughing; it destroys the tissues and causes pain in the throat and the bronchial tubes. The most effective remedy for this is to ventilate freely tho places in which high tension apparatus and conductors are located, and to separate these places completely from tho machinery room containing the workmen entrusted with its operation.”