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The breathing pool - Article from ufologist magazi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an article that originally appeared
in the April/June 1994 issue of _Ufologist_
magazine, published by North Bridge Corp,
Palatka, Florida. It is uploaded with the
permission of the author and the publisher.
Copyright 1994 North Bridge Corporation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PERFLUOROCARBONS AND THE BREATHING POOL
By Ron Holtz
In _Secret Life_, author and abduction
researcher David Jacobs describes an experience of
some abductees being invited or coerced into a
pool filled with an unusual liquid. The abductees
report being fully immersed for perhaps several
minutes in this clear, green-colored liquid which
they find they can breath normally, without distress.
Jacobs describes this "breathing pool" experience as
"common", but does not mention how common it is,
and gives only one example.
In fact, breathable liquids have been a part of
human technology since the mid-1960s. These liquids,
known as perfluorocarbons, or PFCs for short, are
basically hydrocarbons with some of the hydrogen
replaced by fluorine. They have the property that
large amounts of oxygen and other gases can be
dissolved in the liquid. Some PFCs can hold as
much as 65% oxygen, three times the concentration
of oxygen in air. In addition, the oxygen-carrying
capability also makes PFCs attractive as blood
substitutes.
The work on breathable liquids was pioneered in
1965 by Dr. Leland Clark at the Medical College
of Alabama and later at the Children's Hospital
Medical Center at the University of Cincinnati. The
concept gained public attention in the late 1960s
through a televised demonstration showing a rat
being placed into a jar of clear liquid. After
thrashing around initially in an instinctive
response against drowning, the rat calmed down and
started breathing the liquid, seeming quite content
to do so.
These early liquid breathing experiments used liquid
known as FX-80, or perfluorobutyltetrahydrofuran.
The problem encountered in these early animal
experiments was that the rats would die after an
average immersion of four hours. The longest survival
was 20 hours. Even after breathing the FX-80 for
only one hour then being removed, the rats would
die within a few weeks.
On a possibly more sinister note, some experiments
done in 1967 at the University of Pennsylvania showed
that if rat brain tissue, as opposed to the whole
rat, was immersed in FX-80, the electrical activity
of the brain tissue persisted for several hours. In
other words, immersion of brain matter in liquid
perfluorocarbons could keep the isolated brain
tissue alive, at least temporarily.
The first known human tests of PFCs occurred in May
of 1989, in an radical procedure on a premature
infant with damaged lungs at the Saint Christopher's
Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. A baby girl,
born 28 weeks prematurely, was dying as a result of
a combination of underdeveloped lungs, a common
disability with premature infants, and damage to
the lungs from the conventional high-pressure
oxygen treatment. When the doctors estimated that
the infant was only moments away from death, they
filled the infant's lungs with oxygenated
perfluorocarbon. Remarkably, the infant's
condition improved and she lived another 19 hours.
Perfluorocarbons continue to be the subject of
much active research, both as breathing liquids
and as blood substitutes, along with other
applications. Medical uses of PFCs may include
treatments for smoke inhalation or other lung
damage or disease, in certain eye surgeries, and
as contrast-enhancing media for magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) of the lungs. Some of the common
PFCs are known as FC-75, Vitreon, Fluorsol-43, and
others.
There has been speculation about possible use
of PFCs by the military to assist in deep sea
diving. At great depths, the pressure of the sea
will collapse the lungs. In addition, there's
considerable danger of gas bubbles forming in the
blood as one surfaces, the disorder known to divers
as the "bends". By filling the lungs with a
breathable fluid, the internal and external
pressures can be equalized, preventing lung
collapse, reducing the risk of the bends, and
allowing for much deeper diving. In the 1989
movie, _The Abyss_, Bud Brigman, the character
portrayed by actor Ed Harris, uses a special diving
suit filled with breathable liquid.
The same concept could be used, in principal,
to allow people to withstand very high-g
accelerations, for example for space travel.
Immersion in a vessel of breathable liquid would
enable a space traveler to breath under very high-
g accelerations that would otherwise crush them.
This concept was used in the novel _The Forever
War_, by Joe Haldeman, first published in 1974.
A number of other science fiction authors have
employed the liquid breathing theme, as well.
Liquid breathing also was featured in a short-
lived television series titled _UFO_, originally
produced in Britain, but which aired in the USA
during the 1972-73 season. In this case, however,
it was invading aliens, not humans, who were
wearing space suits filled with liquid.
In the case of the "breathing pool" experiences
described by David Jacobs, the abductees are
immersed, naked, in an open pool of the breathable
liquid. The aliens remain outside the pool, and
the immersion is only for a moment. It is unlikely,
therefore, that if these experiences are real,
that they are associated with high-acceleration
space travel. The absence of medical apparatus
and the short duration of immersion does not seem
to indicate that the immersion is a medical
treatment, either.
Another property of perfluorocarbons that is
of great technological significance but that is
not as generally known is their property of low
surface tension. That is, the PFCs wet surfaces
readily, unlike water which tends to form droplets.
PFCs tend to spread out and form a layer that does
not drip off. This property is what allows the
breathing liquids to fill the lungs completely.
The wetting property is also consistent with the
"breathing pool" experiences of abductees discussed
by Jacobs. One experiencer reported that, after
leaving the pool, the liquid formed a film on the
body which had to be wiped off.
Because of the breathability of the "breathing
pool" liquid, and it's wetting property, it seems
inescapable that this liquid is, in fact, a
perfluorocarbon. The purpose of the "breathing
pool" exercise is not clear, however. As argued
previously, it does not seem likely that this
immersion is being performed for high-g space
travel, or for a medical treatment procedure.
There is another possible explanation, assuming
the experience as described is real. The wetting
property of PFCs makes the particularly suitable
as an immersion media for high-precision volume
measurements. When an object (or a person) is
immersed in a fluid, that object displaces an
amount of that fluid equal to the volume of the
object. For example, drop a rock into a glass of
water and the level of the water rises. The level
of the fluid in a container, such as a pool, can
be measured, and the change of the level when
something is immersed can be used to determine the
volume of the immersed object. A crude form of this
experiment is used in some health spas to estimate
body tissue volume which can then be compared to an
"ideal" body volume for a person of that weight, and
an estimate of the percentage of a person's weight
due to fat can be determined.
If a person is immersed in water with the intention
of determining the volume of body tissue, there is an
error in the measurement caused by the fact that lungs
are still full of air. Even if one exhales as much as
possible, there is still some residual volume of air
present in the lungs. The only way eliminate this
source of error would be to totally collapse the lungs,
which of course would kill the subject, or to replace
the air with a breathable liquid.
The "breathing pool" experience as described in
_Secret Life_ is entirely consistent with a high-
precision body tissue volume measurement of the type
just discussed. This explanation fits the facts very
well, and could be interpreted as supporting the reality
of the experience.
On the other hand, breathable fluids have been featured
in advertising, movies, science fiction stories, and
even a television series about UFOs, in addition to a
number of published articles about real perfluorocarbon
experiments. Consequently, it may be possible that the
"breathing pool" experience, which was apparently
recalled under hypnosis, could be the result of
confabulation. This aspect of the abduction experience
must therefore be regarded as inconclusive unless other
supporting evidence is forthcoming.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
David M. Jacobs, _Secret Life_, (Simon & Shuster, 1992).
"The (Liquid) Breath of Life", Science, 8 Sep 1989,
p.1043.
"Revival of Mammals Breathing Organic Liquids
Equilibrated with Oxygen at Atmospheric Pressure",
L.E. Clark and F. Gollan, Science, 24 Jun 1966, p. 1755.
"Erythrocyte Substitute for Perfusion of Brain",
H.A. Sloviter and T. Kamimoto, Nature, Nov 4 1967, p.458.
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