The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-03-09
The Atmospheric and its Effects
ua3a life.

y
ed by Dr. Griscom at the New York Me-
chauic3' Institute, on the Influence OF
Air in connection with Animal Life. =
Some Of them would be surprised to hear
that they lived at the bottom of an I'M
mcnse ocean of air fifty miles deer; yet
it was so, and the color of this ocean:
which is called the atmosphere. is a deep
cerulcan blue. To preceiye this it was
necessary to be able to see at once the
whole volume. and also on a calm and |
clear day, for no color could be perceived
If seen in small quantities, or when there
was either wind or hazincss. In like
manner the color of water could not be-
seen in small quantities, and was only
porcoptible where there was a vast ex-
panse Of ocean. The air was also sub
stance capable of condensation and ex
pansion, Its expansion was seen in the
winds, Icy which ships were made to trav-
crse tie ocean, and also in windmi!ls.
The tornado was another phase of its ex
pansion, by which trees were uprooted
and houses overturned, and was almost
equal to the power Of steam. The great
est weight Of the atmosphere was fifteen
pounds TO the square inch, and this weight
presses OF every way, both upwards and
downward. To explain the pressure up
wards, the lecturer exhausted the air out
Of large vase, which then remained fast
10 the plate on which it stood, but on the
air being let IN, it was easily removed
I remember, said he, being asked the
question, if there is a pressure of fifteen
pounds to the square inch, the reason
wins We were not at once crushed by the
wei4lt; but this Is, as | before explained,
because the air presses in all direction
with tie same equal force, and hence
there Is an equilibrium. This is a most
important element, and one that requires
10 be known, and also that the air never
presses more than fifteen pounds to the
square inch.
The next quality Of the air is clactici-
". Press il TO make it occupy a similar
space than it otherwise would. and then
Ike arav the weight, and il comes back
ana occupies its original space. The lee
tur.r 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-ffth part;
au3 tie other nitrogen, which is fourfiths
Of the atmosphere. Oxygen supports life
al3 combustion, and nitrogen restrains
IL, effects aud dQlls its operations. The
quantity Of air q person consumes de-
plua- ia a measure on ones self, and by
training can be more or less. The tailor
md the shoemaker take little IN compar-
isou With the l2borer, aud the public
speaker or singer, or those who cry com
mo3ities for sale through the streets. 4
man in good health makes eighteen res
pilati5us IN minute, and in twenty-fou7
hours consumes fifty one hogsheads Of
the air IS the oxygen which supports
life Is so small, We ought TO be very par
t.cular how We permit orther gases 10 mix
with it and yitiate it. The blood when it
enters the lungs Is black, but when the OK
yZca acts on ii, It becomes red. and sends
it tArou- the veins TO impart life ard
animation This black blood Is produced
ny carbon, aud imparts the blackness
which vo see in the face Of persons who
lose their lives By suaocation, becaase the
air vas Lot allowed to reach the iungs to
purify it. When We send out the air
from the lungs, we do not send it in the
same manner as we inhaled it, for when
,zla'sd Is as deadly poison as arsenic
OF corrosive subimate. The lecturer
showed this by experiments, and filed
vase with bis own breath in which light
q candle would not live. 1t was such
air as killed persons who went down in
% wells u the country, or who died when
pan 0f charcoal was placed in a 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
m,urities which the lungs had not.
Besides the Impure air which We ex-
hale there are :, $500 pores on every inch
OF tle surface Of the body, and to a body
ol large size there are :, $50 square inch
es; and these multiplied make 7,000,0 600
OF pores. There is a sort of drainage
pipe in the body, which sends out matter
q, well as gas, and this pipe Is calcula-
TED at twenty-eight miles long. The par
ticles cf matter which are sent out and
which DO not dissolve, are SO numerous,
that in china, where the houses are low,
and q great many persons are in the bab-.
it Of assembling in one room, ii has been
discovered that, after fifteen or twenty
years, these particles adhere to tie ceiling
Of the rooms, and the farmer viii CON
tract to pat up new ceiling If they are
allowed 10 take down tie old one, so valu-
able has it been found for manure.-Scj-
e57ifc AmcjcaH.