The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-05-30

fare. Many of the relatives OF this Snltaness
left the island of Martinique, and settled at Con
stantinople, where their descendants still re-
side; and enjoy the favor Of the Sultan.
The Sultaness died in 1911, the Empress
Josephine in 1914, and their grandsons now
rule over two wide and powerful empires
and are entering, as friends and allies, upon
one of the most momentous and sanguInary
struggles in which Europe was ever involved
The Atmosphere and its Effects upon
Animal Life.
A very interesting lecture was delivered by
DR.. Griscom at the New York Mechanics In
stitnte, on the Influence of Air in connection
with Animal Life" Some of them would be
surprised to hear that they live at the bottom
of an immense ocean of air fifty miles deep
vet it was So, and the color Of this ocean
which is called the atmosphere, is deep ceru
lean blue. To perceive this, it was necessary
to be able to see at once the whole volume
and also on q calm and clear day, for no color
could be perceived if seen in small quantities.
or when there was either wind or haziness. In
like manner, the color of water could not be
seen in small quantities, and was only percep'
tible where there was vast expanse OF ocean.
The air was also substance capable of con-
densation and expansion. Its expansion was
seen in the winds. by which ships were made
to traverse the ocean, and also in wlndmlls.-
The tornado was another phase of its expan'
sion. bv which trees were uprooted and houses
overturned, and was almost equal to the pow
er of steam. The greatest weight of the at,
moSphere was fifteen pounds to the square inch,
and this weight presses on every way, both
upward and downward. To explain the pres
sure upwards, the lecturer exhausted the air
out of large vase, which then remained fast
to the plate on which it stood, but on the air
being let in it was easily removed. remem-
Der, said he, being asked the question, if there
is pressure of fifteen pounds to the square
inch, the reason why we were not at once
she'd by the weight; but this is, as before
explained, because the air presses in all dlrec'
tons with the same equal force, and hence
there is an equilibrium. This is most i'm
portant element and one that requires to be
known, and also that the air never presses more
than fifteen pounds to the square inch.
The next quality Of the air is elasticity
Press it to make it occupy smaller space than
it otherwise would, and then take away the
weight, and it comes back and occupies its
original saace The lecturer then explained
that in the air there were two gases; one
oxygen, which is that part of the atmosphere
by which chiefly we live, and which is the one
| fifth part: and the other nitrogen, which Is
four fifths of the atmosphere. Oxygen supports
| life and combustion, and nitrogen restrains its
effects and dulls it, operations. The quantity
of air which person consumes, depends IN
measure on ones self, and by trinng can be
made more or less. The tai1r and the shoe
maker take little in comparison with the labor
er, and the public speaker or singer, or those
who cry commodities for sale through the
streets. A man in good health makes eighteen
respirations in a minute, and in twenty-fou'
hours consumes ffty.one hogsheads of air
As the oxygen which supports life is so small
we ought to be very particular how we permit
other gases to mix with it and vitiate it. Ihe
blood when it enters the lungs is black, but
when the oxygen is on it, it becomes red, and
sends it through the veins to impart life and
animation. This black blood is produced by
carbon, and imparts the blackness which we
see in the face of persons who lose their lives
by suffocaton, because the air was not allowed
to reach the lungs to purifyit. When we send
out the air from the lungs, we do not send 1t IN
the same manner as we inhaled it, for when ex
hailed it is as deadly poison as arsenic or cor
rosivc subimate. The lecturer showed this by
experiments, and filled vase, with his OWL
breath, in which lighted candle would no
live 1t was such air as killed persons who
went down into wells in the country, or who
died when a pan Of charcoal was placed in {
room. The danger of taking impure matter
into the stomach, was not so great as into the
lungs, for the stomach had power to eject i'm
purities which the lungs had not. Besides the
impure air which we exhale, there are 2,SO(
pores on every square inch of the body, and tc
body of large size there are $3.50 square
inches; and these multiplied make 7,0OO,OO(
of pores There is q sort of drainage pipe
in the body, which sends out matter as we'll az
gas, and this pipe is calculated at twenty eight
miles long. The particles Of matter which are
sent ont, and which do not dissolve, are so nu
merous that, in China, where the houses arr
low, and great many persons are in the habI
of assembling III one room, it has been discov
cred that, after fifteen or twenty years, thes'
particles adhere to the ceiling of the rooms
and the farmer will contract to put up new
ceiling if they are allowed to take down tn
old one, so valuable has it been found for ma
nurc.-Scientifc american.
\ IT