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X1 . jh h g m S 9 H H 3 3 mmnm @kb REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES &rf5( UNITED STATES OFFICE OF M E D ICA L O FFICER IN CHARGE U . S. Quarantine station PUBLIC HEALTH 8ERVICE VO ROSEBANK S taten Island, N. Y . November 1 3 , 1^S2 n ^ . p / KT f ,%_> > , v vD Surgeon G en eral, U .S .P u b lic H ealth S e rv ice , W ashington, D .C . FRfi-U S ir s (Through C h ie f M edical O ff ic e r , E l l i s Is la n d , H .Y .) I have the honor to report th at I have accom plished the purpose o f the fo llo w in g Bureau telegram / to the C h ie f M edical O fficer: i DIRECT SURGEON NORMAN ROBERTS ATTEND MEETING AMERICAN CHEM ICAL SOC IST Y .RUMFORD HALL FIFT Y TWO BAST FORTY FIR ST STREET NEW YORK CITY NOVEMBER TEN BIGHT PM REPORT ON ADDRESS BY THOMAS MIDGLEY GASEOUS DETONATION AND IT S CONTROL PERIOD SERVICES IN TEREST I S IN POSSIBLE POISONOUS EFFECTS OF LEAD COMPOUND IN GASOLENE M idgley has sought to increase the e ffic ie n c y o f gasolene as a f u e l fo r in te rn a l-c o m b u s tio n e n g in e s. To t h is end he has sought to compress the a ir-e a p o r m ixture(before the combustion s ta g e in the c y c le ) beyond the p re se n t p r a c t ic a b le l i m i t s . To t h is end he has s o ig h t a chem ical substance w h ich , when added in sm all amounts to th e g a s o le n e , would prevent th e com bustion o f the highly-com pressed e x p lo siv e m ixture from assum ing a v io le n t or detonating c h a ra c te r, th is tending to destroy the m otor. In c h a u ffe u r ' s la n g u a g e , he has t r ie d to in cre a se the m ileage o f gasolene by adding to i t an "an ti-knock" substance. .M id g le y found th a t the b e st and indeed p r a c t i c a l l y the on ly w o rth -w h ile a n ti-k n o c k su bstan ce was t e t r a - e t h y l - l e a d , P b iC g H g )^ a h ith erto little-k n o w n m etallo-organic liq u id fr e e ly soluble in and v o la t ile w ith g a so le n e . T e tr a -c th y l-le a d in con cen trated form i s described as a heavy, m obile liq u id , sm e llin g lik e w itch h a z e l . As a v a p o r , i t i r r i t a t e s the ey es and n o se . As a l i q u i d , i t ir r it a t e s the 3kin of the hands. I f im properly m anipulated, i t can produce le a d p o iso n in g ! But as an a n tik n o c k , i t i s r e quired in the p rop ortion of only 3 cubic cen tim eters to the g a llo n o f g a so le n e ; and sucn a m ixture can be handled in any rea so n ab le way w ith o u t t o x ic e f f e c t s . When t n i s le a d - c o n t a in in g g a so le n e i s burned in a m o t o r - c y l in d e r, the lead i s converted in to a s o lid in o rg a n ic form . I t K BSk . A Si f :V iREPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES . .... HR -SO I9Z2/ll/X$ #2 w ould n a t u r a ll y toe supposed t h a t th e e x h a u st w ould c o n ta in f i n e l y d iv id e d p a d t i o le s o f some le a d compound; and t h i s f r e e e v a c u a tio n o f the lead is a n e ce ssity fo r the p r a c tic a l continuous use o f the fu e l in a m otor. But M idgley sta te s th at thus fa r in h is exper im e n ts no le a d h a s b een d em on strab le i n h i s e x h a u s t g a s . On the c o n tr a r y , i t a l l seems to c lin g to the w a lls o f th e com bustion cham ber, im parting to the "cartoon" a g ra y ish appearance, a tta c k in g th e n ic k e l o f th e s p a rk -p lu g p o in t s , and n e c e s s it a t in g u n d uly f r e quent c le a n in g s and replacem ents in s id e the c y lin d e r s . M id gley i s exp erim en tin g w ith oth er compounds w hich, added to the gasolenp w i ll o b v iate t h is drawback, and w ill cause th e le a d to scavenge out w ith the other waste p ro d u cts. The p resen ce o f le a d in th e exh au st w i l l (when th e p ro ce ss has advanced to t h is stage o f development) add another poisonous c o n s titu e n t to th e cartoon monoxid alread y p re se n t in the exhaust g a s e s . M oreover, le a d as a p oison is cu m u lativ e. Hence the p u b lic -h e a lth question a ris e s : W ill the use o f lead fo r th is pur pose cause le a d poisoning in those breath in g the exhaust gases? The p r o b a b le an sw er, a c c o r d i n g to M i d g l e y , i s No; and f o r the f o l low ing re a so n :- Owing to the carbon monoxii p resent in a l l au to m obile and s im ila r exhaust g a s e s , there must be fr e e v e n t i la t i o n in a l l spaces in to wnicri these gases escap e, i f the a ir o f these spaces i 8 to be b re a th ed . Experim ents p r e lim in a r y to the con stru c tio n of the Low er-M anhattan-Jersey-City v eh icu lar tunnel show t h a t the h i g h e s t r e a s o n a b ly -3 3 fe c o n c e n t r t io n of carbon monoxii is about 0.01 of 1 p ercen t, th is proportion being breath a b l e , w i t h o u t d e m o n s t r a b l e h a r m , f o r a s muc.n a3 f o u r h o u r s e v e r y day i n d e f i n i t e l y . E v e n i f a l l a u t o m o b i l e s ufcgg t h e v e h i c u l a r tu n n el used th is le a d -c o n ta in in g g aso len e , and even i f a l l the le a d in the gasolene were d isch arg e d in to tne a i r o f the tu n n e l, the con cen tration of lead in the a ir of the tunnel would s t i l l be too low to produce any t o x i c e f f e c t In otner words, the more t o x i c s u b s ta n c e , carbon monoxi d , would p r o b a b ly p rev en t the absorption of the le s s to x ic substance, le a d , even under the most u n f a v o r a b l e c o n d i t i o n s known to e x i s t , i n s p i t e o f the mere cum ulative character of the le a d . T h is, however, ^nly; anI M id g le y says th a t he would welcome c o - o p e r a t io n and extend fa c ilit ie s for toxicologie investigation if desired. COUME 'T7'S BY ROBERTS. T h e r e a re a v a i l a b l e , h e r e and now, no f i g u r e s sho w in g t h e a c tu a l t o t a l amount o f accumulated lead necessary to cause ch.ron i< human pium bi sm, f V>m >unt l s c l wr i 2Vi ;er being ingested i n s m a l l q u a n t i t i e s , th e human body i s a b l e t o g e t r i d o f day a f t e d a y , w ith o u t c a u s i n g undue s t r a i n on the o r g a n s o f e l i m i n a t i o n . As an e s t i m a t e , tne human body would p r o b a b l y r e q u i r e a l a t h e r l a r g e amount o f l e a d , o v e r one gramme a t t h e l e a s t , t o s a t u r a t e i t t o a h a r m fu l d e g r e e ; and i t c o u l d g e t r i d o f o n l y a s m a ll amoun not over about 5 m illigram m es, each day. A f a i r - s i z e d c a r, work i n g p r o p e r l y on K i d g e l e y ' s l e a d - c o n t a i n i n g g a s o l e n e would consume s a y o o r 4 g a l l o n s d a i l y and d i s c h a r g e i n t o t h e a i r a b o u t 7 gramme * o f l e a d . I f as much a s o n e -o n e -th o u sa n d th o f the t o t a l e x h a u st were absorbed by any one man, day a f t e r d a y , he would p ro b a b ly accu m u late le a d and u lt im a t e ly t e p o is o n e d . But a s no su ch p r o p o rtio n of the to ta l exhaust is ever breathed by onyone day a fte r d ay, the p o s s ib ilit y o f lead poisoning from th is source is to be regarded as remote. I t would n e v e r th e le s s seem a d v iz a b ie i f p r a c t ic a b le to de t a il^ a competent Serv ice rep resen tative to study the e ffe c t s o f t h is le a d -c o n ta in in g e x h a u st, s u it a b ly d ilu t e d w ith a i r , on a n i m a ls. I f M id g ie y ' a work i s com m ercially s u c c e s s f u l, as seems l i k e l y co n sid erin g i t s nature and the f in a n c ia l sta n d in g o f the p a rtie s in te re ste d , large q u a n titie s o f le a d -co n ta in in g gasolene w i l l soon b e g in to be used as motor f u e l ; and even i f such tu r n s ou t not to *be the c a s e , the t o x i c o l o g i c f a c t s o b ta in a b le would be o f permanent v a lu e . I deg^re to acknow ledge M r .M id g le y ' s c o u r te s y to me p e rs o n a l l y and/a S e rv ic e r e p r e s e n ta tiv e , in e x p la in in g and a m p lify in g the p o in ts or b is address in which the S e rv ice i s most in t e r e s t ed. R espectfully, R e sp e ctfu lly forwarded: Surgeon. Surgeon, Chief Medical O fficer