River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-06-18
oEEICEs oE OXYGEN.
xtr7ct from a Lecture by Dr. j. III. Kel-
loRg. of Rattle Creek sanlfarinun.

--xtr7ct from a Lecture by Dr. j. III. Kei-
logg. of Battle Creek sapItarium.
We exhale to get rid of poisons of the
most deadly character. We inhale that
we may take in oxygen, the great vital
izer of the body. which is needed for the
health of every tissue. The reason that
a muscle becomes tired from prolonged
exercise is that it has become poisoned
by an accumulation of broken-down
tissue which is in excess of the amou vt
which the immediate blood supply can
carry off, and so serves partially to par
alyze IT. When one rests a few mo-
ments the oxygen comes along lni
burns up these POisons. and the muscle
is able to resume work. Ii is not that
new tissues are built up and the parts
nourisAed, but simply ihat the poisons
are carried off and burned up. The
same is true of the results of activities
of the brain and other vital activities.
We are refreshed by giving the oxygen
in the blood a chance to destroy the &c
emulation of poisons Or 20 change
them into a form in which they may be
carried out of the body 10y means of the
kidneys and liver. There is always a
little extra supply of capital in the way
of oxygen in the body, SO that if we do
not breathe enough or are obliged to
occupy a room which is more or less inn
pure we can get on quite comfortably.
But by and by this store of oxygen be-
comes exhausted and we feel tired.
This accounts for extra fatigue at the
end of weeks toll. Day by day we
have been drawing upon our supply of
oxygen until we need Sabbath for its
renewal
We need oxygen for the purpose of
digestion. We can not convert the va
rious food substances into form fit for
assimilation into bone. brain, muscle,
and ideas without free supply of oxy-
gen, the great force by which this mys-
terious transformation is wrought. The
liver is rendering establishment of the
body where poisons are converted into
something less harmful, and oxygen is
the agent by which they are changed.
II is necessary for the health of every
tissue and every living cell The de-
gree of life and vital activity of an ami
NAL depends upon the amount of oxy-
gen it is able to take in. The difference
between the life of frog and that of
bird is in the amount of oxygen con-
sumed. The frog has only couple of
air bags into which il swallows a small
quantity of air, mouthful by mouthful,
as we drink glass of water. Then it
is able to go down to the bottom of the
pool and stay there fifteen or twenty
minutes before il needs to breath
again. Even if deprived of these bags,
which answer in the place of
lungs, the frog is able to live
for two or three weeks without
great discomfort. This is how frogs
and fishes keep alive in block of ice, for
they can go long time without breath
ing at all. Their temperature is al
ways that of the medium in which they
are submerged. On the other hand,
birds take in a great amount of oxygen
and breathe with wonderful rapidity.
The lungs fill the greater share of their
little bodies, and additionally their
bones are hollow and connect with the
lungs. so with every breath the whole
skeleton is filed with air. The tenn
perature of birds which fly with the
swiftest velocity is from one hundred
and twenty to one hundred and forty
degrees. and this is because they take
in so much oxygen. SO the person with
large breathing capacity is able to
live up in the clouds instead of down in
the mud; that is. the highest type of
physical life is attainable by those with
the greatest breathing capacity.
Respiration has further offices than
furnishing oxygen to the body for vi
talization and for burning up impurities.
It is the great regulator of all the vital
processes.-Reported by Helen l.. Man
ming