The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-07-17
CBy Mrs. C. II. McKenneyJ

tial that it should be pure-inas-
much as any deterioration OF it new
er fails TO render the blood impure.
and thus ultimately to affect both
mind and body
Air covers the entire globe, press
ing alike upon land and water hav-
ing a depth of about forty five
miles.
This vast ocean Of air We call an
atmosphere. from two Greek words,
signifying vapor and space-it be-
ing an immense fluid sphere or globe.
This atmosphere presses upon man
and upon every object on the surface
of the earth, with a force equal to
fifteen poun5s to every square inch.
4 man of average size has sur
face OF two thousand five hundred
riches; accordingly the air in which
he lives presses upon him with
weight of eighteen tons.
This would Of course crush every
bone in his body. but for the fluids
within him, which establish an equi-
librium, and leave him unoppress-
ed
Pure air contains seyenty-nine
parts of nitrogen and twenty one
parts Of oxygen. If We add a single
mart npra of oxy,yo,, ., ~. 81. =.
would no longer be atmospheric air.
but aqua fortis an element capable
of destroying everything coming be.
meath its terrible power
The quantity of air Coz sumed by
man of average size at each in
spiration. is from fifteen to focly
cubic inches according to the ca.
pacity OF the lungs. Thus. in about
an hour, a person consumes about
six thousand and sixty-six pints. or
two hogsheads of air.
This air meets in the lungs in
one hour, about one-half of that
amount of blood. or twenty four in
twenty-four hours. In other words.
the quantity of blood which circu-
lates through the system. is esti-
mated to be about one-eighth of the
weight of the body.
So that a man weighing one hun
dred and fifty pounds will have in
his circulation about eighteen and
three-quarter ponds of blood. The
whole of this large quautity of
blood has been proved, by careful
experiment, to circulate through the
| blood vessels in the almost ncredi.
! BILE brief period of sixty-five one
! hundredths seconds of time. am
! that is very little over one minute.
This indeed seems wonderful when
| we consider the vast extent of yes
sells it has to travel through; the
| arteries. the veins, and the minute
capllaries through which it must
be urged with 70 little force.
The physiology of the respiratory
functions explains the relation of
[ an abundant supply of air to the
maintenance of health and the at
| tainment of longevity. Fresh air
in the lungs is so Immediately es-
sentia to life, that most animals,
| In less than one minute, when de-
priyed of it, suffocate. become un-
/ {, nscious. and appear to be dead
real death occurring in few min
utes, if air is not supplied
/ There is at least three objects to
be accomplished by breathing,
namely the renewal of the blood and
/ the taking of impurities out of it;
/ the warming of the body and the
| finishing up of the process of di-
| gestion, and the charge of chyle
into nutritive blood. That carbonic
/ acid and water are borne ont of the
lungs with every breath, may be
easily proved. If We breath into
lime-water. il will become white
This is owing to the carbonic acid
in this breath uniting with the lime,
and producing carbonate of lime
Then if We breathe upon a piece of
glass, il becomes Wet, showing that
there is watery vapor in the breath.
That the blood receives oxygen from
the air We breathe, is proved by the
fact that the in-going breath has one
fourth more oxygen IN it than the
out going
The lungs then take out of all the
air we breathe onefourth of it's
oxygen. If We breathe it over a
second. a third. cr a fourth time, it
not only has less Oxygen each time
and is less useful for the purposes
of respiration, but il becomes posi-
lively more hurtful by reason of the
poisonous caIconic acii. which, at
every outgoing breath. il carries