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Collapsed lungs were a routine hazard. Perforated eardrums were quite common, but, as Haldane reassuringly noted in one of his essays, "the drum generally heals up; and if a hole remains in it, although one is somewhat deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke out of the ear in question, which is a social accomplishment."
肺部坍縮是常有的危險，鼓膜穿孔也是家常便飯，但霍爾丹在一篇論文中安慰別人說：“鼓膜一般來說會愈合。要是留一個小孔，盡管你會有點兒耳背，但要是你抽煙，煙霧會從相關的耳朵里冒出來。這對社會是個貢獻。”
What was extraordinary about this was not that Haldane was willing to subject himself to such risk and discomfort in the pursuit of science, but that he had no trouble talking colleagues and loved ones into climbing into the chamber, too. Sent on a simulated descent, his wife once had a fit that lasted thirteen minutes. When at last she stopped bouncing across the floor, she was helped to her feet and sent home to cook dinner. Haldane happily employed whoever happened to be around, including on one memorable occasion a former prime minister of Spain, Juan Negrin. Dr. Negrin complained afterward of minor tingling and "a curious velvety sensation on the lips" but otherwise seems to have escaped unharmed. He may have considered himself very lucky. A similar experiment with oxygen deprivation left Haldane without feeling in his buttocks and lower spine for six years.
這件事的不平常之處，不在于霍爾丹本人為了從事科學研究愿意經受這樣的風險或難受的感覺，而在于他能毫不費事地說服他的同事和親人爬進減壓室。他的妻子有一次在進行模擬下降試驗的過程中，痙攣了13分鐘。等她終于停止在地板上蹦來跳去，她被扶了起來，打發回家去做晚飯，霍爾丹樂意利用任何恰好在場的人，包括有一次令人難忘地利用了西班牙的前首相胡安·內格林。內格林博士事后抱怨有點刺痛，“嘴皮上有點滑溜的感覺”，但除此以外安然無恙。他也許會為自己感到慶幸。在類似的一次減氧試驗中，霍爾丹的臀部和脊梁下部失去感覺達6年之久。
Among Haldane's many specific preoccupations was nitrogen intoxication. For reasons that are still poorly understood, beneath depths of about a hundred feet nitrogen becomes a powerful intoxicant.
霍爾丹潛心研究許多問題，其中之一是氮中毒。由于至今仍不大清楚的原因，氮在30米以下的深處成了一種毒性很強的氣體。
