Cerebro-retinal degeneration due to carbon dioxide poisoning.

GEOLOGISTS have long known that carbon dioxide may collect in underground workings and in sufficient concentration may cause loss of consciousness and death (Geological Survey and Museum, 1951). It is known that the gas is likely to be expelled when the barometric pressure falls abruptly to low levels. Asphyxiation by carbon dioxide produced in the process of fermentation in breweries and during wine-making has also been recorded. This paper presents the clinical features and the pathological findings in the retina and the brain of a man who was asphyxiated by carbon dioxide. The incident under consideration occurred on December 28, 1960, while an artesian well, 603 feet deep, in central London was being dismantled. The barometric pressure fell sharply to 992 6 millibars (which is a low level for the British Isles) during a week-end when work was suspended, and an asphyxiating gas collected in the well-head chamber. A record of the barometric pressure over this period is shown in Fig. 1.