Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-08-07
Oxygen a. a Curative Agent.

In the proportion OF four parts OF nitro
gen TO one of oxy gen. In respiration
the nitrogen is thrown out Of the lungs,
but the oxygen is absorbed into the
blood, where it forms chemical union
with the carbonaceous matter which il
finds there, and the result is the prOduc-
ton of carbonic acid gas, which is ex-
hailed with the breath.
DIR. Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen
as distinct element and the life-giving
principle of the atmosphere, called it
''vital air." as it was known by this
name for many years. Its chief action
il the body is TO purify and revltalize
the blood, and the process by which
this is done is as follows: One half of
the heart is always engaged in the work
of pumping the blood which has been
collected from all parts of the body.
into the lungs. Here this blood, dark
and impure from being loaded with n
kind of charcoal or carbon, the worn out
tissues of the body, comes so near to
the air inhaled that nothing lies between
the blood and the air but most filmy
membrane, so attenuated that the
oxygen is instantly absorbed through
it into the blood. Here it Immediately
forms a chemical union with the car
bon which it finds in the blood, thus
generating carbonic acid gas; and this
gas passes as readily through the same
membrane to be exhaled with the breath
as the oxygen did in the opposite direc-
ton. The blood is thus relieved of its
impurities, and is left of a bright GRIM
son color. In this state it is returned
to the other half of the heart, to be again
sent on its life and health dispensing
round. Again ii is returned to the
lungs loaded with more impurities,
thus ever completing the circle of life.
Now, it can readily be seen that if
from any cause we gel an insufficient
supply of oxygen, the blood cannot be
entirely relieved of its impurities, and
will be sent to the arteries i'm an unheal-
thy condition. On its return to the
lungs, charged with new supply of
carbon, II does not find enough oxygen
there to dissolve it entirely out and so
returns to the heartwith slight increase
in the measure of its impurity, and
again makes its round through the body.
Unless omething be done to increase
the supply OF oxygen to the lungs, it is
clear our bodies must in time become
overcharged with the carbon of our
wcrn-out tissues, and the blood serious
ly poisoned. The process of deteriora-
ton may be slow. but if it goes steadily
on, disease of one kind or another, ac-
cording to the peculiarity of diathesis
in the individual, must surely come.
That from many causes incident to our
indoor lives and sedentary habits, and to
our repressed modes of breathing, sufii-
cient oxygen to purify the blood Is not
always taken, is fact well knewn to
physicians. This is found to be one of
the most fruitful causes of depressed
vitalityand consequent impaired health,
and unless an occasional larger supply
of oxygen is obtained by persons who
fall into these vicious modes of respira-
ion freedom from some form of disease
is impossible.
Ever since the discovery of oxygen.
and a knowledge of its special use in
the animal economy, physicians and
chemists have, naturally enough, looked
TO it as the means by which vitality
might be restored when lost by disease :;
and for years experiment after expert
ment has been made in the hope of
making it available as curative agent.
But not until within the last ten or
twelve years has such combination of
oxygen and nitrogen been obtained as
to give the right proportion. The dis
covery of this particular combination
of oxygen and nitrogen, after long and
laborious scientific research, has re-
suited in developing it into a practi-
cable, safe and powerful curative agent.
The history of this agent, now so
widely known as Compound Oxygen
is briefly this : An American physician
who had suffered from an attack of
pneumonia which came near proving
fatal, found his resovery so slow and
imperfect as to make it necessary for
him to relinquish his practice and seek
recovery in European climate. Months
of diligent search for lost health ended
in disappointment. Not willing to
abandon the hope of restoration he
thought TO make available his scientific
knowledge, particularly of chemistry.
Like hundreds before him, he seized
upon the idea that Oxygen, that natural
stimulus of the lungs, promised best
for research and investigation. Hav-
ing possessed himself of the best Eng
lish and continental literature upon the
subject, and profiting by the failures as
well as the successes of European
savants, he entered upon his researches.
The crown of all these efforts was the
agent he named compound Oxygen"
and through its use a complete resto-
ration of his own health. In less than
three months, under its use his weight,
remarkable as the statement may be
thought, increased from one hundred
and twenty pounds to one hundred and
at ninety, which it has remained for
many years.
Immediately on reading this result,
the doctor commenced the administra-
ton of this new remedy for pulmonary
disease, and found, to his great surprise
and pleasure, that where other diseases
were present in his patients, relief and
cure followed as surely as in the special
ailments for which they had come for
treatment. Catarrh, dyspepsia, head
ache, neuralgia, rheumatism, and the
various forms of chronic and nervous
diseases which so battle the physicians
skill, yielded to the compound oxygen
as readily as affections Of the lungs and
bronchia. And this, because the action
of the new remedy was general; re-
moving distractions from all parts of
the system, purifying the blood. and
revifa1iziuU the nervous centres.