West John B
University of California, San Diego, Department of Medicine, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;605:9-15. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-73693-8_2.
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.
尽管牛津会议始于1978年，是受牛津大学生理实验室的丹·坎宁安及其他人的启发，但会议的根源可追溯到世纪之交的约翰·斯科特·霍尔丹（1860 - 1936）及其同事。事实上，该实验室（或其前身）在100多年来一直对氧气，尤其是二氧化碳在呼吸控制中的作用有着堪称典范的执着（有人可能会说是痴迷）。早期的一篇关键论文是霍尔丹和J.G.普里斯特利在1905年发表的《肺通气的调节》，文中在各种条件下对肺泡气中Pco2的仔细测量显示了其在控制中的关键作用。但是，霍尔丹是一个兴趣广泛、精力充沛的人，他还做出了许多其他贡献，本文将讨论其中一些。一方面，他对非常实际的问题有着浓厚的兴趣，例如矿井气体的危险，另一方面，他有着明显的哲学、活力论倾向，这影响了他对生理学的看法。
