PROFESSOR’S HEROISM

Hokitika Guardian, 22 February 1926, Page 1

PROFESSOR’S HEROISM

PRUSSIC GAS EXPERTAI ENTS

With the recent appointment of Professor Joseph Barcrol't. one of Ihe most eminent of British physiologists, as Professor of Physiology at Cambridge University, there was revealed a story of quiet heroism. The London “l,veiling News ” relates liow Professor Barcroft risked death by conducting prus-

sic acid experiments on himself; lost his left " pulse” after living in a glass case for six day-.; proved in war-time that men are immune from prussic acid uas, and thus saved the country a waste of over £1.000,000.

Once he lived for six days in a hermetically sealed glass box. to settle a thirty years’ physiological discussion as to whether it is possible .to calculate the amount of oxygen in a man s Mood from a knowledge of the amount ~f oxygen in his breath. The question had become one of great importance in connection with people who are exposed to rare atmospheres —airmen particularly. In a specially constructed glass room of two chambers—a bedroom and a sitting-room—Air Barcroft shut himself up for a week, til this period the air gradually became rarer in oxygen until it approximated in composition to that found at altitudes of Ri.ooo feet, or higher than any mountains in Europe. During the experiment nitrogen was let into the case from time to time from a large gas cylinder, displacing the oxygen in the air. The carbolic acid and water were removed bv chemical means. A fixed

bicycle was part of the internal furnishings ol the case, and on this the professor took periodic spells ol pedalling. While the professor was inside (he case. 19 Cambridge undergraduates working in relays, kept a ceaseless vigil outside, while Al.rs Bn remit a daughter ol Sir Robert Ball, the astronomer — and three ol the “patient s” friends came to see him daily. Food was supplied through a patent trapdoor. The professor had three novels tn read. "Three .Men in a Boat’ being line ol 1 hem. An analysis of the air and observation- upon bis own condition also kept the sell'-nppoiuied prisoner employed, lie suffered a little from sleeplessness, and on the last day. when the atmosphere eoni aim'd least oxygen, he endured much from headache and ‘'mountain sickness,” and had distaste lor lend. At the end of the period his wrist was opened while he was doing a measured quantity of work on the bicycle, and blood was extracted from the artery. Oxygen was then pumped from it and measured. It was found to agree very closely with the calculated amount which would he predicted bv a complete knowledge of the breath of the patient. The wound in the professor’- arm did not heal quite satisfactorily. and in consequence the radial avierv no longer reaches to the wrist, where in the ordinary way the pulseheat is felt. When lie emerged from the case it was round that his skin had turned a bluish shade; and it is a curious fact that when he went to Peru with an expedition a few years ago he found thai the skin of the sil-ver-miners living at a height of 16.000 feet was of practically the same col-

our. In tin? war. Professor Bnreroft was one of the “hip: brains” behind England's "as tactics. He was appointed director of the Porton Experimental Station. “ Burins' the war.” said an intimate friend of Mr Bnreroft, ’'there was a dispute amongst scientists as to ihe efficiency of prussic acid gas in warfare. Mi' lhircroft contended that it, was of no use. Dogs and eats subjected to it were instantly killed, but. as the professor proved, it had little or no effeet on human beings. The Ereneh had been bombarding the Carmans with shells filled with prussic aeid. hut the results were not those expected. They had erected a great factory for the manufacture of these -hells, and we were on the point of building a. similar centre in this country, to cost over a million pounds. A chamber at the Porton station was tilled with prussic acid gas, and the professor and a dog entered the room together. The animal was dead within one minute and 35 seconds, but Mr Bnreroft came out unscathed. Before lie went into the chamber the professor's respiration and heart had been tested. ’When he came out he immediately mounted on a bicycle and rode up a hid and back again. When re-exam-ined. there was no appreciable difference in his condition. As a result the idea of the factory was abandoned. He received a letter from Mr Lloyd George, then Prime Minister, thanking him for his action on thcnationa! service.”