The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-10-14
STANDING ADvERTIsEMENrs-
THE AIR WE BREATHE.
How Foul aud Dense Gases Are Reduced
IN Their Poisonous Power.

How Foul aud Dense Gases Are Reduced
IN Their Poisonous Power.
The act of breathing is constantly de-
stroying a portion of the oxygen of the
air, rendering it more or less unfit to be
again breathed, at least, till it has been
renovated in natures mysterious lab
oratory, which fact finely illustrates
the psalmist's statement: 1--WE are
fearfully and wonderfully made" " This
oxygen is appropriated by the actual
combustion of the waste matters of the
system, throwing off four and one-half
per cent. of carbolic acid gas at each
breath-a deadly poison. Therefore,
while breathing purifies the body it VIII
ates the air.
1t would soon, very soon, become ac-
tually unfit for breathing, if the same
were breathed over four times. Indeed,
breathing once considerably vitiatcs it,
to an extent that it can not purify the
blood naturally, aside from wonderful
and gracious arrangements for its con-
stant puriication. Fortunately, the ex-
pired air-lighter than the surrounding
air, . in consequence of its rare
faction-rises, that it may not be
re-breathed, passing into the great
volume of the air-ocean, soon to be
renovated In consequence OF Its
elasticity, it is almost constantly in mo-
ton, borne by currents and winds to all
parts of the earth. The light of the sun
and the leaves are the great purifiers,
the leaves absorbing carbonic acid gas,
Il; ntI
gases, for the nourishment of the trees
all of the solid parts of the wood
being thus made-aside from which
fact animal life could not long be sus-
tanned. Hence, we secure the best air
when it is unconfined, when we are in
the immediate vicinity of trees and
shrubbery, and when there are house
plants and flowers in the room which
we occupy. Vegetation in general abb
serbs the filth in the air; that pro-
duced by breathing, fermentation.
putrefaction, combustion and de-
cay of all kinds. 1t is est mated
that the average male adult produces
from five to seven gallons of this car
bonic gas in an hour-as he breathes
more air than the contracted lungs OF
the female is able to contain which
must be reduced by 5000 times the vol
ume of ordinary air, before it is fit for
the human lungs. By the lowest eSti-
mate, an adult (male) will need $4,000
gallons of fresh air each hour, equal to
5000 cubic feet, or as much as room
15 feet square and 10 feet high will con-
tain. If to this breathing-in the pro-
ducton of this deadly gas-we add that
produced by the burning of gas, one
burner producing more than the indi-
vidual, we shall readily see the vast i'm
portance of proper ventilation. Ii
is fortunate for us, indeed so.
that it is difficult to construct air.
tight rooms since, with our usual
carelessness in this regard, sutlocations
would be of daily occurrence in most
families We are also protected by
gracious interpositon of Divine Provi-
dence as illustrated by the great law OF
diffusion, by which foul and dense gases
are reduced in their poisonous power.
there being constant tendency toward
equilibrium, general sameness in the
constituents of the air. This is well
illustrated by dissolving a quantity of
salt or sugar in water, the whole mass
becoming equally affected On this
principle, opening the doors of the
house, that there may be commun ca
ton with every one, the impurities of
one room will reach every other, more
or less, while the pure of the unoccu-
pied rooms will reach the occupied
DR.. j. II. Hanatord, in Golden Rule.