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APPENDIX C.

46. THE quantity of air required per man for respiration has been variously estimated by the following authorities:

"The volume of air contained in the lungs, accordingly is 109 cubic inches; after respiration, 60 cubic inches remain in the chest; total volume 170 cubic inches. Amount of each inspiration has been differently estimated, it is probably 16 to 20 cubic inches." - MR. GOODWIN.

"Men between five and six feet in height, after a complete inspiration, expel by force, on an average, 225 cubic inches at 60°. This is called 'vital capacity of the lungs.' MR. HUTCHINSON.

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Assuming a man takes twenty breaths per minute, each 40 cubic inches vitiates 28 cubic feet per hour. Besides this, a quantity of vapor is emitted, which, according to Dumas, amounts to 0.0836 of a pound of water per hour, enough to saturate 7.1 pounds of air at 60°. And if we allow, that, to be healthful and pleasant, the air should be only one-half saturated, we require 14.2 pounds of air, or 187 cubic feet, giving us a total of 215 cubic feet per hour, which happens to be the capacity of a 6-foot cube. This is the maximum quantity

necessary for clean, healthy persons. For prisons, etc., it should not be less than 350 cubic feet, and for hospitals 1,000 cubic feet, per hour per head."-MR. Box.

"A minimum of 100 cubic feet per minute for each. man and boy, for sanitary purposes alone." - MR. HERBERT MACKWORTH.

"From 100 to 500 cubic feet per minute for each collier, according to condition of the mine."— MR. HEDLEY.

"The minimum quantity of fresh air for the most harmless of pits ought to be from 10,000 to 15,000 cubic feet per minute."- MR. DUNN.

"In most fiery mines, an average of 600 cubic feet per minute per collier is circulated, and nearly 200 cubic feet per minute for each acre of waste." - PROFESSOR PHILLIPS.

"For all anthracite mines, nearly double the above estimates (which are for bituminous mines) should be allowed, because of the much greater volume of powdersmoke, due to the large amount of blasting done." THOMAS J. FOSTER.

The Mine Ventilation Act for the anthracite region of Pennsylvania provides for 66 cubic feet of pure air per minute for each man working. All authorities. agree in declaring this amount inadequate.

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47. THE miners are exposed to asphyxia when the circulation of the air is not sufficiently active, and when they imprudently penetrate into ancient and abandoned workings, or wherever the air has not sufficient oxygen.

The symptoms of asphyxia are sudden cessation of the respiration, of the pulsations of the heart, and of the action of the senses. The face is swollen and flushed;

the eyes protrude; the features are distorted, and the face often livid, etc.

It is necessary to succor an asphyxiated person with the greatest promptitude, and to continue the remedies as long as there is not a certainty of death. The best and first remedy to employ, and in which the greatest confidence has been and should be placed, is the renewal of the air necessary for respiration. As an instance, let me cite the experience of John Boyle and his son at Yorktown, Penn., who were as near death as men could be, and return to life. The men knew the air was bad in their place (a pitching-breast); but the necessities of life were superior to their discretion, and they continued working until eleven A.M., when the young man concluded he could stand it no longer, and, in making his way from the face to the manway, was overcome, and fell ere he reached it. Mr. Boyle, who was also very weak, took hold of the boy, and, between pulling and lifting him over bowlders, succeeded, very luckily, in reaching the manway; but there he found the air was still too heavy to support life. The exertion and excitement in his endeavor to rescue his boy, and take him down the narrow outlet, together with the deadly gas, proved too much for him, and he, too, fainted away, with the young man in his arms, both becoming tangled fast between the timbers, foot-sills,

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and slabbing. At five o'clock in the afternoon, a company hand thought something was wrong because of the Boyles remaining in the breast so long, without coming down, and started up the manway after them, and found them near the top, fast, and, as he thought, dead. Aid was summoned, and the miners taken down. The young man revived after reaching the gangway. The father was taken home on a stretcher, and, with much care and labor, was brought back to life. This was a peculiar case. Had there been a larger quantity of black-damp in the air, neither men would have survived; but there seems to have been enough oxygen present to keep life in their bodies, while there was not enough to allow of their keeping their senses.

While it is well enough to know the following methods for restoring asphyxiated persons, and to employ them while waiting for the doctor, yet it is imperative that a physician be summoned immediately.

The following short and clear instructions for the recovery of suffocated persons are those issued by Napoleon, 1813, Tit. iii. Art. xv.

1. Remove the patient to pure air.

2. Undress, and bathe his body with cold water, particularly about the neck.

3. Endeavor to make him swallow, if it be possible, cold water acidulated with vinegar.

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