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To the Editor:
—In Medical News (The Journal, February 28, p. 683) you have noted under the news from Ohio, "Asphyxiation in Caissons," the statement that an investigation of the death of four men "showed that the cause was carbon monoxid asphyxia." There was no evidence of carbon monoxid about the premises, nor suspected from the nature of the deaths which occurred. The cause was "black damp," a condition in which there is not enough oxygen to support respiration.The only item which we have published on the matter occurred in Ohio Health News (1:3 [Feb. 15] 1925). In this the statement is given correctly. In further discussion of the confusion, I would point out that about mines carbon monoxid gas is called "white damp," owing to the usual association of smoke or powder fumes. In the case under question, gas analyses showed, for example, carbon dioxid, 6.3 per