INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERIXG CHEMISTRY
234
Vol. 23, KO. 2
Notes on Hydrogen Sulfide Poisoning’ Lewis B. Allyn WKSTFIELDTKSTING AND
RKSEAKCH LABORATORIES, 103 ELMST.. WESTFIELD,M A S S .
EPTEMBER 26, 1930, was hot and sultry. Shortly after 5 P. x,Walter Swiatek, a boy about fourteen years of age, began to explore a rubbish dump situated about 300 feet north of his home in Chicopee, Mass. This dump occupies a portion of a deep ravine with precipitous sides about 65 feet in height. At the bottom runs a small stream or brook. The location, known as the Lemieux dump, is used exclusively by a large manufacturing firm for rubbish disposal. No regular caretaker is employed at the ravine. Young Swiatek in the course of his exploration came upon a discarded steel cylinder about 46 inches long and 5*/4 inches outside diameter, fitted with a brass valve a t one end. It was doubtless his intention to remove the valve and sell it as junk. Since he could not unscrew it, he apparently broke it off with a large stone. The compressed gas rushed out with a loud hiss and, judging from the relative position of the body to the tank, immediately killed him. A second boy who happened along the bank looked down and saw Swiatek‘s body lying across the tank. He immediately notified the father, Joseph Swiatek, who at once started up the ravine to rescue his son. The elder Swiatek succeeded in reaching the body, picked it up, then he himself dropped dead. The police quickly appeared on the scene and later with great difficulty carried the bodies up the bank. The officers were all more or less nauseated and suffered severely from vertigo. The medical examiner himself was partially overcome by the fumes. The tank was plugged and sent to these laboratories for examination. Since the residual gas in the tank was not under pressure, an L-shaped piece of glass tubing was cemented into the vent left by the broken valve, gentle heat was applied to the opposite end, and sufficient gas collected for a systematic analysis. It proved to be hydrogen sulfide. I n a dilution of 1 to 400 it killed in 40 seconds a normal albino rat weighing 164 grams. The physical setting for the tragedy was ideal; a sultry, still day, a deep ravine about 40 feet across a t the bottom, with steep, wooded sides, well sheltered from air currents. The contours formed a pocket or reservoir from which the gas could only slowly escape. Both bodies were deeply cyanosed and reeked with the offensive smell of the gas. The tank, said to have had a small crack in one side, was a discarded one originally for use in the manufacturing plant previously mentioned. The company has for some time stored in its factory hydrogen sulfide which it purchases in heavy steel cylinders. It is unknown whether the gas is used exclusively in its laboratory or in some manufacturing process. An excerpt from the coroner’s report is of interest:
S
While it is customary to return these tanks to the manufacturer, this tank appeared so badly corroded that i t was felt it would be useless to try to return it, A company officer ordered it t o be loaded onto a truck, and it was taken to the dump and unloaded. Even though some of the officials should a t some time have known that this tank contained a dangerous gas, in view of the fact that the official immediately responsible for its transportation to the dump saw this crack and detected 1 Received
Novemher 4, 1930.
some sort of an odor in the vicinity, I am not convinced that a t this particular time he should have known that there was any danger in sending it to the dump along with other worthless junk. Upon all the evidence, I am of the opinon that there was no criminal act upon the part of any person.
Medical Examiner Samuel E. Fletcher states: On arriving I found the bodies lying face down on the ground with physicians and police applying artificial respiration and friction to the surface of the bodies. Both bodies were cyanotic and cold and showed no signs of life when the stethoscope was applied to the chests. The atmosphere for a distance of at least two hundred yards from the spot where the bodies were found was heavily charged with an offensive odor something like sulfuretted hydrogen.
This tragedy again emphasizes the poisonous qualities
of hydrogen sulfide, especially when the concentration is high enough. Lehmann (2) says that: Hydrogen sulfide kills rabbits and cats within ten minutes in a n atmosphere containing as little as one to three parts of hydrogen sulfide per thousand parts of air. Death follows from a n inflammatory oedema of the lung, preceded by convulsions; there is also a paralysis of the nerve centers.
The following excerpt from “Noxious Gases” by Henderson and Haggard ( 1 ) is of interest: Death in acute hydrogen sulfide poisoning results from failure of respiration and the consequent asphyxia. This respiratory failure is occasioned through two separate processes depending upon the concentration of the gas inhaled. Concentrations higher than 2000 parts per million cause almost immediate cessation of breathing by paralyzing the respiratory center. Concentrations between 600 and 2000 parts per million cause hyperpnea through stimulation of the respiratory center. The excessive breathing lowers the carbon dioxide content of the blood, the apnea vera results. The action of hydrogen sulfide upon the nervous system is exerted only during the time the free hydrogen sulfide is in the blood and to a degree depending upon the concentration present. The symptoms of acute poisoning develop immediately on the inhalation of the gas; but because of its rapid oxidation in the blood they pass off when the inhalation ceases. Death in acute poisoning is as rapid as in poisoning by cyanides; a man inhaling a high concentration drops dead. Hydrogen sulfide is in a high degree a non-cumulative poison; thus if the victim is revived there are no systemic sequelae. I n less severe poisoning, convulsions and dyspnea are marked symptoms. In subacute or chronic poisoning the main symptoms are those of irritation, particularly of the eyes, and to a less degree of action of the respiratory tract. In some cases the depressing action of the gas is also evidenced in a mild degree of malaise. The limit of danger for prolonged exposure is said to be a concentration of 50 parts per million, or possibly lower. The treatment of acute hydrogen sulfide poisoning consists in restoring breathing by means of manual artificial respiration, combined with inhalation of oxygen mixed with 5 per cent of carbon dioxide. Physiological Response to Various Concentrations of Hydrogen Sul6de HYDROGEN SULFIDE
P . 9. m. Slight symptoms after several hours Maximum amount that can be inhaled for 1 hour without serious disturbance Dangerous in 30 minutes to 1 hour Rapidly fatal
100 to
150
200 to 300 500 to 700 1000 to 3000
Literature Cited Henderson and Haggard, “Noxious Gases,” p. 190, Chemical Catalog, 1927. , 135. Lehmann, Arch. X Y ~ .14,
