The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-18
The Air We Breathe.


earthly atmosphere is mixture. are
nitrogen, oxygei. and carbonic acid gas.
Very different, however, is the pro-
portion in which they are found and
very different are the Offices which
they serve.
Suppose that we have for examina-
tion a large mass of air, detached
from the rest, and that we can sepa-'
rate the different gases. The result
would be that nearly four-ffths of the
mass would be nitrogen; that almost
one-hfth would be oxygen, and that
the tiny remnant would be carbonic
acid.
Yet, though the nitrogen appears in
such great quantity, oxygen is by far
the most important. Oxygen is the
very life Of living creatures upon
earth. Without oxygen in the air, no
animal, no human being, could exist
one quarter Of an hour. When we
talk of breathing the air." we might
almost as we'll say breathing tho oxy-
gen that is in the air.
Not that oxygen would do for US
alone. 1t is too powerful, too vivid,
too stimulating. It has to be largely
diluted with the duller nitrogen just
as strong medicine often has to be
diluted with water to be fit for the
patient. But the dull nitrogen gas
has its positive as well as it's negative
uses. 1t goes to the making of mus
Gle and of blood, and we could not get
along without it. But upon oxygen
our very life depends, from minute to
minute, through all the years of our
existence upon earth.
When air is good, and when our
lungs are in healthy condition, we
dc not think much about tho work of
breathing. 1t is not necessary that
we should. Breathing is performed
mechanically, without thought on our
part. 1t is only when air is bad, or
when our breathing organs fail to full
fill smoothly their appointed task,
that we pay attention to the matter.
Yet how necessarily the work is car
ried on! Day and night, in sleep or in
wakefullness, whether we toll or play,
read or walk, rest or exert ourselves,
the operation of breathing never
ceases. Regularly we draw in air and
pour fourth air. If we try to stop, to
hold our BREATH as it is called, we
soon find how difficult, nay, except
for very brief space, how impossible
it is.
Each time that man breathes and
in good health he does it about eigh-
teen times q minutc-he draws in
about three-quarters of pint of air,
and he pours out about the same quan-
tity.
But the air which comes out is not
like the air which went in. That
which was taken in may have been
very cold and very dry. That which
is sent out Immediately is sure to be
warm and damp. That which was
taken in contained plenty of oxygen,
and very little carbonic acid. That
which is sent out Immediately after
contains very much less oxygen, and
large supply Of carbonic acid.
Each breath Of air that q man draws
in has work to do. It docs not
come out again directly. It passes
into the lungs, and there it comes into
touch with streams Of blood, which
are pouring through tiny vessels.
The walls Of these vessels are 80 thin
and fragile as to be no bar at all to
the contact Of the blood and the air.
The air steals away from the blood
its lead Of dangerous carbonio acid
gas, which it has gathered up in its
journeys through the body and gives
it, in exchange, good fresh supplies
of pure oxygen. When the air has
done this, it is breathed out again into
the atmosphere, heavily laden with
carbonic acid, while new streams Of
pure air from outside come to take its
place in the lungs.
Sometimes the air which is breathed
in holds too little oxygen, too much
earbonic acid. Then the man grows
pale and puny, and suffers from head.
ache and weakness. These are tho
earliest effects ofwhat We call ''breath-
ing bad air. ."-A9nes Giberne in The
Home Messenger.