SOME EFFECTS OF ALTERED ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

The aerospace medical literature contains a surprising number of investigations which interest the pediatrician. The investigators of space problems, in their concern over altered environments, ask about the effects of immersion in fluid on the distribution of the circulation, and the function of the fluid-filled lung. They ask about the role of nitrogen in the gaseous environment if man and animal can live in pure oxygen at reduced pressure without significant toxicity for thirty days or longer. Consideration of the adaptation to altered day-night cycles is of concern to the aerospace investigators; yet such an adaptation has been demonstrated by the human species from the time the first infant was born. The problems are not new. The space age has perhaps given us a new perspective on old problems, and since these views are of outer space, it is hoped their value may be in proportion to the perspective from which they are perceived.