Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in the Absence of Hæmoglobin

Abstract

MR. J. B. S. HALDANE'S interesting letter on the above (NATURE, Mar. 5) reminds me that in 18861 made experiments on the influence of carbon monoxide, as well as of other gases (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide), on the vitality of three specific micro-organisms, namely, Bacillus pyocyaneus, Finkler's spirillum, and Koch's spirillum of Asiatic cholera. The results were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (vol. 45, pp. 292–301), but a brief reference to them may not be out of place now, inasmuch as they bear on this matter of the toxicity of gases.