AIR PRESSURE

Normal Air Pressure

Ordinary air pressure on the surface of the earth at sea level is, in round numbers, fifteen pounds to the square inch. It has been found that the average sized man is exposed to about 34,000 pounds of pressure. This pressure may be increased or decreased, and if the change takes place gradually so that Innate Intelligence will have time to adapt the body to the change, no harm will result. There is a limit, however, either in a decrease or in an increase of pressure to which the body may be adapted.

This intellectual adaptation obtains in every tissue cell of the body as well as in all of its secretions and chemicals so it can be seen that any sudden change in the atmospheric pressure will disturb the equilibrium of the entire body.

Reduced Air Pressure

When the atmospheric pressure is decreased it has the same effect on the individual that the breathing of rarefied or diluted air has. In this event the adaptation consists in an increased rate of breathing. It is also asserted that the number of red blood corpuscles is increased, which in turn increases the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen. In the diminished air pressure there is a marked decrease in the amount of oxygen absorption and this accounts for the increase in the respiration and quickened pulse rate.

As previously stated, if the change from a normal air pressure to a greatly decreased pressure takes place gradually, thus giving Innate sufficient time to bring about an adaptation, man will be enabled to live in a healthy state in a rarefied air. As the altitude is increased the air pressure is decreased. This is because there is less air above to exert pressure. Naturally the air near the earth has the greatest weight above it to exert compression. The air pressure decreases gradually until, it is assumed, it is gradually thinned into a perfect vacuum. If oxygen is added to the air it is possible to maintain life at a remarkably reduced air pressure. A bird was kept alive by P. Bert in oxygenated air at a pressure of 0.1 of an atmosphere.

The symptoms produced in diminished air pressure will vary with the general conditions of the individual. People suffering from cardiac disturbances will be affected most by high altitudes. This is possibly the first symptom to be manifested in rarefied air. If there is any inclination toward heart weakness it will be observed when the air pressure is decreased.

The effects of reduced air pressure will vary with circumstances. There will be increased and deep breathing, with an increase in the pulse rate. There is likely to be dizziness and ringing in the ears. The sense of hearing, of sight and possibly of sensations, become impaired. There may be drowsiness and the patient may have a strong desire to sleep. The intellectual faculties become dull. Where the change has taken place very suddenly to the decreased air pressure there will be syncope, dyspnea, dizziness, nausea and weakness. These symptoms are commonly known as mountain sickness.

Increased Air Pressure

The greatest air pressure in nature is at sea level. Even the increased pressure in the deepest mines is so slight that it has no physiological significance; hence man is exposed to increased air pressure only under artificial conditions. This subject will be referred to again under the head of Industrial Hygiene.

Some of the conditions under which man is exposed to increased air pressure are, for example, divers in diving bells and diving suits, and caisson workers. At a depth of ten meters of water the air in a diving bell is compressed to one-half its original bulk, and as a result the pressure of air is doubled. At thirty meters, or about 100 feet, the pressure is quadrupled, exposing the diver to four atmospheres or about sixty pounds per square inch.

The danger in increased air pressure is not in going from a normal pressure to a high pressure, nor does the danger come from the high pressure. The danger is not from the compression, but rather from the decompression. The individual must be brought from the increased air pressure to the normal air pressure very gradually, allowing Innate sufficient time to adapt the body to the normal pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch. If this is done no great amount of harm will result, although there are some men who are not able to withstand these changes. This shows a lack of intellectual adaptation through the body on the part of its Innate. In an experiment P. Bert exposed dogs to an air pressure of ten atmospheres, or about 150 pounds to the square inch, and then released them very gradually, producing no ill effects.

When the air pressure is increased it results in an increase in the absorption of the gases of the atmosphere. There is an increased amount of oxygen taken up by the blood and the tissues absorb large amounts of nitrogen. When the pressure is released slowly these gases gradually escape from the lungs and no bubbles will be formed.

During compression the symptoms are not so severe as those during and after decompression. During compression the symptoms are a deepening but slowing of the respiration, a slowing of the pulse rate, and an interference in evaporation in the water vapor. The increased pressure on the ear drums will cause pain in the ears and sometimes the ear drums rupture. There may be an alteration in the voice, headache and dizziness. However, in a short time, intellectual adaptation takes place and equilibrium is established by the internal change and there is at least temporary relief from these symptoms.

Caisson Dis-ease

The greatest risk to health and life occurs during the time the individual is coming from the high to normal pressure after the decompression has entirely taken place. This may produce a condition known as caisson dis-ease. It may be several hours after the workman has been taken from the decompressing chambers before the symptoms appear. Gradual decompression is the only thing that will prevent the manifestation of these symptoms. When the workman shows any symptoms of caisson dis-ease he should be rushed back into the compression chambers and kept there a short time until Innate has a chance to establish equilibrium in the pressure of the body, and he should then be taken very gradually through the decompression chambers.

The symptoms that appear after decompression are vertigo, nose bleeding, nausea and vomiting. The most common symptom is the severe pains in the muscles and joints which is known by the layman as bends. There may also be temporary or permanent paralysis called diver’s palsy. In the more severe cases there will be unconsciousness, and even death.

When the workman is taken too quickly from the high pressure there is formed gas and air emboli. These may form in the labyrinth of the ear, in the spinal cord, in the brain, in the heart, or in any other vital part of the body and not only be distressing but may even prove fatal.

It must be remembered that the conditions produced by changes in the air pressure may be classed as traumatic, immunity from which is not entirely a question of uninterrupted transmission. If there are subluxations in the spine at the time the workman goes into the caisson, or if subluxations are produced at the time of decompression, the interference thus produced will interrupt the process of intellectual adaptation. Such subluxations should be adjusted, but it must be remembered that if emboli are formed or if bends occur the result or the relief is a question of the natural processes of Innate in the body, and the results will depend entirely upon the ability of Innate to cope with the traumatic condition. Innate Intelligence operates through the body according to law, and it is possible for the body to become so affected and deteriorated that it becomes a physical impossibility for her then to repair it and restore it to normal.

We have seen that the normal air pressure at sea level is fifteen pounds to the square inch. In order that the body will not be crushed by this weight it is necessary to have an internal resistance to equal this weight. This internal resistance is maintained in the body by the tone of all of its parts; it is maintained by the expression of mental impulses in the tissue cells.

We have also observed that the combining of chemicals is influenced by the pressure exerted; therefore, in order that the chemical combinations of the body be constant there must be equilibrium established between the external pressure and the internal resistance. This is maintained through the adaptability of the expression of Innate in the body. As the change takes place externally there is a corresponding adaptative change taking place internally and this all requires time. Therefore, in passing the body from one air pressure to that of another degree, there must be a sufficient amount of time intervening to allow Innate Intelligence to bring about the necessary adaptation.

The changes that take place under differing degrees of air pressure are not purely the result of chemical changes in the body as is maintained by some, but in all these processes we see the evidence of intelligent action which we believe is the result of the reasoning of the intelligence in the body. One evidence of this is that when the workman is brought gradually from an increased air pressure to the normal air pressure the gases that have been absorbed by the tissues under the abnormal condition will be given off through the normal channels, and less injury will be done. It is interesting to note that in Nature, man is not exposed to a greater air pressure than that at sea level; it is only under artificial, man-invented environments that the body is called upon to withstand a greater pressure than the normal. It may also be noted that without the inventions of man it requires quite a little time for man to be transported from the air pressure at sea level to that of the higher altitudes as on the mountain tops. This gives Innate Intelligence an opportunity to bring about an adaptation to this change, since the change in the pressure takes place so gradually. But with man-made inventions, such as the automobile and aeroplane, one may transfer himself from sea level to great heights where the pressure is less in a very short time. This does not allow sufficient time for adaptation to take place and is much different from the slow process of climbing the mountains.

So we see that, after all, most of the necessity for immediate adaptation of the body to changed environmental conditions is the result of the work of the educated mind of man, and not the result of the laws of Nature. In Nature we seldom see the necessity for sudden or extreme adaptation. But under our present artificial means of living there are such cases, and these necessitate a study of the artificial conditions as well as a study of the Innate laws of adaptation that there may be as far as possible an educated adaptation to the environment.