17世纪，英国矿井工人发现，金丝雀对瓦斯这种气体十分敏感。空气中哪怕有极其微量的瓦斯，金丝雀也会停止歌唱；
而当瓦斯含量超过一定限度时，虽然鲁钝的人类毫无察觉，金丝雀却早已毒发身亡。
当时在采矿设备相对简陋的条件下，
工人们每次下井都会带上一只金丝雀作为“瓦斯检测指标”，以便在危险状况下紧急撤离。
In the 17th century, British mine workers discovered that canaries are very sensitive to gas .Even if there is a very small amount of gas in the air, canaries will stop singing.
When the gas content exceeds a certain limit, eventhough the blunt human beings are unaware, the canary has already poisoned and died.
At that time,under the relatively simple conditions of mining equipment,
workers would bring a canary as a “gas detection indicator” every time they went down, in order to evacuate in a dangerous situation.