PROFESSOR AND CANARY

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 7 September 1917, Page 3

PROFESSOR AND CANARY

Professor J. S. Haldane recently conducted several amazing experiments before the members of the Union of Scientific Societies. The famous scientist volunteered to undergo partial asphyxiation, with a canary as a safety indicator. Poisonous gas was pumped iuto the>. chamber, where was a cage with a tube of oxygen attached. The canary soon n tired from his perch, and then fell unconscious. Professor Haldane immediately turned ou the oxygen, whereupon the bird revived at once, to the satisfaction of all. The members were assured that the bird—which had been under the operation before—had no pain, the experience being similar to that of au anaesthetic.

In an address on 'Abnormal Atmospheres,' he said that mice and canaries were their parts in the fighting in the trenches ol" France. It was customary to use small, warm-blooded iinimals or birds for the purpose of detecting dangerous air or gasesA After making a test of several rescue appli- -, ances, he had come to the conclusion that some were nothing but elaborate deathtraps, though some used at the front were doing much good. Professor Haldane said that during the war some men were rescued from an American submarine. One man was unconscious, his heart and pulse not beating. Ho was put into a compressed air chamber at once, two naval doctors with him. One doctor's ear-drums were ruptured, but the unconscious man sprang to the telephone and reported the events of the day. (Laughter.)