A HUMAN SODA-WATER BOTTLE
We know now a great deal more than we used to know about the effect of compressed air on the human system, and because of this knowledge divers have recently descended to depths undreamed of a few years ago. When a diver breathes compressed air, the oxygen is largely consumed and exhaled from the lungs in the form of carbon-dioxide, but much of the nitrogen is dissolved in the blood and does not escape. However, like a bottle of soda-water, the blood shows no sign of the presence of the gas as long as the pressure is maintained. But on a sudden removal of the pressure, the blood turns into a froth of nitrogen bubbles, just as the soda-water froths when the stopper of the bottle is removed. This froth interrupts the circulation. The release of pressure is felt first in the arteries and large veins. It takes some time to reach all the tiny veins, and serious differences of pressure are apt to occur that often result in the rupture of blood-vessels. The griping pains that accompany the "Caisson Disease" are excruciating. The only cure is to restore the blood to its original pressure by placing the patient in a hospital lock, or boiler-like affair, where compressed air may be admitted; and then to decompress the air very slowly.
It is possible to relieve the pressure in a bottle of soda-water so gradually that the gas will pass off without the formation of visible bubbles, and that is what is sought in decompressing a diver. After careful research it has been found that the pressure may be cut down very quickly to half or even less of the original amount, but then the diver must wait for the decompression to extend to the innermost recesses of his being and to all the tiny capillaries of his venous system.
In the salvage of the F-4 a diver went down 306 feet, and remained on the bottom half an hour. The pressure upon him was 135 pounds per square inch, or about 145 tons on the surface of his entire body. Some idea of what this means may be gained if we consider that the tallest office building in the world does not bear on its foundations with a greater weight than 215 pounds to the square inch or only about 50 per cent more than the crushing pressure this diver had to endure.
It took the diver a very short time to go down. On coming up he proceeded comparatively rapidly until he reached a depth of 100 feet. There he found the bottom rung of a rope ladder. On it he was obliged to rest for several minutes before proceeding to the next rung. The rungs of this ladder were 10 feet apart, and on each rung the diver had to rest a certain length of time, according to a schedule that had been carefully worked out. At the top rung, for instance, only 10 feet from the surface, he was obliged to wait forty minutes. In all, it took him an hour and forty-five minutes to come up to the surface. The decompression was complete and he suffered no symptoms of the "Caisson Disease." But he was so exhausted from his efforts that he was unfit for work for several days. Yet the operations that he performed at the depth of 300 feet would not have taken more than a few minutes on the surface.