Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-03-05

rhs pre.sh OF LIFE.

The commouest Of all things Is com
mou air. Most persons are familiar with
some general facts of its existance, but
have given little thought to its wonder
>fui properties, its universal presence, and
iu varied agencies AS q garment of
ppsisildc white, a hundred miles thick,
tt Is thrown around the entire earth,
!, pressing ON every part with q weightof
flfteen pounds, to q moving body in 1t
the utmost freednm of motion. Not only
isit perfect 1T, conforming to all the
elevations and depressions of the globe,
but IL diffuses itself through the vast
waters, mingles with the porous earth,
and penetrates the solid rocks. -.
It Is also the medium OF communi-
cation between ocean, hilltop and plain,
: liftingup the vapors of waters, silently
: floating them overall lands, TO fall in
soft dews, diffused mists, gentle rains or
pouring foods. In it's bosom the clouds
nestle, the lightnings play, and voices
are given to the reverberating thunders.
Itself invisible, it scatters and mellows
the suns rays.into q glorious flood Of
light so adapted to the eye as to give
color, form and beauty to all earthly
things. Silent and odorless, it brings to
our ears all the sweet harmonies ofsound,
and opens to the portals of sense the
sweet fragrance of plant and flower
But what are the wonders ofits vastness
and diffUsiveness-what its storms,
lightnings and thundef--what this me-
dium of sight and sound cumpared
with the deeper mysteries of its silent
work and power in living forms? The
whole vegetable kingdom owes its very
existence to air. .
Plants are made up of the constant
elements of embodied, solidified and
organized air. The oxygen and nitro
gen of the air, with their usual ntten-
dants- carbonic acid, nitric acid and
ammonia constitute the 'invlsfbIe
which are woven, by the ''nying shuttles
of light, F" all the tissues of the tintiest
flowers and the sturdy oak.
But more startling still is the fact that
the materials of all animal structures
are identical with those of vegetables,
and have tho same atmospheric origin.
The air which man incessantly breathes,
from birth to death, Is the great source
of living activities, the bond of vital
union between soul and body, and the
source of all the powers and suscepti-
bilitles of his being. In those never
ceasing rythmic movements of inspira-
ton and expiration, i'm that ebbing and
flowing OF the great gaseous ocean
through the human mechanism alene is
life. And how wonderful theapparatus
for supplying the human organism with
the vitalizing element! Within mans
chest are 1,74i,000,000 air chambers,
presenting | 800 square feet of surface,
covered with delicate membrane be-
meath which lies a vast network of
capillary blood-vcsscls. Into these cham
bers 220 cubic inches of air rush at,each
Inspiration. The active agent In the
vital process, oxygen, is thus impaired
freely to the lungs and circulation! BY
this wonderful arrangements, the lungs
f,,s, a, HI,
How streams of oxygen through the
arterlal chanels to every living tissue,
aud the great outlet to poisons flowing
back by the ecounter-venous currents.
This stream of oxygen, with its wide
range of chemical atlinities and intense
combining energy, kindles and main
tains all bodily vitalities. Not a muscle
ear. act, nor thought spring from tho
brain, without Its decOmposing and en-
erg zing power. Cut off the arterial
stream of oxygen from muscle, and it
Is paralyZcd. Stop the flow to the brain,
and there Is nought of mind but blank
inconsistencies. In fact the whole tone
of mind and body Is intense or feeble,
Just as the supply of oxygen Is ample or
deficient. Ia,
"Thoughts that breathe and words
that burn " owe their glow TO full sup
:. ply or good afr. P'or he who breatIes
most of the life-giving principle will
think most or act most, while a defci-
ency of vital breath wealSens all the
springs of thought and action.
Bread rs but broken 'staff of life +"
without full free breathing. Some live
to eat, aud some eat to live. Premature
death is sure to both, without normal
respiration. 1t is vain to supply ma
terial to be worked up into bone and
muscle, If the air-the motive power
is deficient In quantity or quality. Full
expansion OF the lungs in pure air, or
air rich In oxygen, then, should be re-
garded more than meat and drink.
For want OF normal lung action or
capacity, come Group, bronchitis, catarrh,
Influenza, consumption, congestion,
asthma, and other ailments OF the breath
ing apparatus, as well asa thousand ills
peculiar to other organs. The most po-
tent agent for the. promotion Of health
or the cure of disease Is found In the OK
ygen of the air, or the breath of life,
which breathed into man renovates the
blood, restores the equilibrium Of cir
eulation, perfects the secretions. 1t is
indeed the great dgcster and assimlla-
tor Of food, and the master-builder of
tho human body. III