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The hæmatology of carbon‐monoxide poisoning
Author(s) -
Nasmith G. G.,
Graham D. A. L.
Publication year - 1906
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.1906.sp001179
Subject(s) - carbon monoxide poisoning , citation , library science , co poisoning , information retrieval , medicine , computer science , chemistry , medical emergency , poison control , biochemistry , catalysis
THAT the poisonous nature of coal or illuminating gas(') is due to the carbon monoxide which it contains has long been known. Haldane(2) has shown that the hawmoglobin of the blood has an affinity for carbon monoxide about 140 times as great as that which it has for oxygen. He has also placed beyond doubt the fact that carbon monoxide is not used up or oxidized in the body but is excreted by the lungs unchanged, and concludes that carbon monoxide acts as a poison purely in a negative way by uniting with the haemoglobin of the blood, thus throwing it out of commission as an oxygen carrier and thereby preventing normal oxidation in the tissues. It was with the object of ascertaining what the ultimate action of carbon monoxide was upon the body and whether it played any great part in producing anaemia, which has so often been associated with leaking gas pipes and sometimes found in persons breathing gas contaminated atmosphere, that this investigation was undertaken. Moreover, it was hoped that we might arrive at some conclusion as to why some individuals subjected to acute coal-gas poisoning recover rapidly and suffer little after-effects, while others linger for three or four days and finally succumb. Our experinments have been made throughout on guinea-pigs.