Dear all,
I wonder if anyone can help me (and apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere and I've been too dim to locate it).
I am interested in the canary reference in 'The House Surgeon'. Do we know if Kipling was in communication with John Scott Haldane, known for his work on carbon monoxide poisoning, and considered to be instrumental in the introduction of the canary as a sentinel species? The reference to M'Leod's daughter being 'a perfect canary' who 'doesn't sing now' suggests a particular sensitivity to adverse conditions, like, perhaps, the mice Haldane experimented on (using himself as a control) for his 1895 paper 'The Action of Carbonic Oxide on Man' (carbonic acid being an earlier name for carbon monoxide).
However, multiple sources seem to suggest that canaries weren't being used in coal mines until 1911, postdating the story's publication date by two years. Was Kipling aware of Haldane's experiments, or were canaries being used in this way before the story was written? Carrie Kipling seems to have known Haldane's wife Kathleen through the Victoria League, a mainly female imperialist organisation. Can anyone tell me if the husbands met or corresponded, and when this might have been?
Best wishes
Sarah Oliver
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