J.S. Haldane and some of his contributions to physiology

Although the Oxford Conferences began in 1978 as a result of the inspiration of Dan Cunningham and others at the University Laboratory of Physiology in Oxford, the roots of the meetings can be traced to John Scott Haldane (1860-1936) and his colleagues at the turn of the century. Indeed, the Laboratory (or its predecessor) has had an exemplary persistence (some might say an obsession) with the role of oxygen and, particularly, carbon dioxide in the control of breathing for over 100 years. An early key paper was that by Haldane and J.G. Priestley in 1905, "The regulation of the lung ventilation," where careful measurements of the Pco2 in alveolar gas under a variety of conditions showed its critical role in control. But, Haldane was a man of very wide interests and enormous energy, and he made many other contributions, some of which are discussed here. On the one hand, he had an intense interest in very practical issues, for example, the dangers of mine gases and, on the other, he had a distinctly philosophical, vitalist bent which colored his views of physiology.