Year: 1870




Professor TyndalI, of London, who
has climbed the Alps for the sake Of
the glaciers, set gas-jets singing to the
tune of "GOd Save the Queen" and
burnt into the popular mind a eOnvie-
ton that heat is nothing but a mode
of motion, has Just been leeturing
upon dust. dust thou art, to dust
returnest," in his opinion, is as true
in our lifetime as il is after we are
buried Everybody has noticed the
particles that float about in sunbeams
as they enter dark room, and we all
know that the air is constantly full Of
such notes. But nobody, before Pro-
fessOr Tyndall, has undertaken to ex-
pertinent upon them. He was led to
study their nature by the necessity Of
getting them out of his way for the
purpose of an experiment. He was in
quiring into the decomposition of va
por, with the help of beam of light,
and it was an essential that this dust,
which scattered the light, should be
got rid of. Thinking that it was Of
mineral origin, he forced the air con-
tanning it through several media,
which he though would retain the
particles, but without success, they
still fiOated about as lively as ever.
At last he tried his spirit lamp, and
they were instantly burned up.


This shows that these invisible
companions are of animal vegetable
substanee-that is, Organie-and the
inference is that a good part of it
comes from the decomposition of our
own bodies as the process of life goes
on. At any rate, we are breathing in
this organic matter pretty much all
/ the time, or, as the Professor elegant
/ ly remarks: although we do not
see the nastiness, we are churning it


with our lungs every day and minuteof
| Of our lives" A very small portion
of it may be fatal to man. Among
/ this dust the germs of disease often


float, until they meet their proper


food in some human body, whereupOn
they enter and set up a growth, just


as the acorn does when it is cast into
the soil. Cholera, scarlet fever and
small pOx are believed by some to be


so propagated. If this is so, Professor


Tyndall shows how, by a very


simple expedient, the risk of conta-


gion may be greatly diminished; for


by q respiratOr of cotton wool, these


minute particles of organic matter


may be caught and prevented from


entering the system.


If the poison of disease is a gas, this


eOntrivance would have no effect; but


Professor Tyndall thinks it is not,
and that such respiratOr will give


the air breathed by patient in sick.


room a state of purity equal to that OF
the highest Alps. At all events, he
says he should not be afraid to test its
efficacy in his own person, and would
, feel reasonably secure, in that case,
from the danger of infection.


All this speculation grows out of the
!, scOrching of few notes in beam of
| light; and though .be positive infoF-
! nation contributed to science by this
: lecture of Professor Tyndall, in which


he described his experiment and in
2 ference is but small, it will set every
! body thinking about the matter, and
5 another argument to those already
! current in fovor of fresh air and thor.
[ Ough ventilation. We wish it might
4 also give our city authorities a hint
: about getting rid of smallpox; but il
e not, it ought to show them, and al
: other functionaries, that of all the dis
r eases that threaten the public health,
the worst are those that spring from
E foul air and overcrOweded lodging.
e house, in which the floating dust be-
: comes s blood poison as fatal as the
{ famous powder of succession" OF
: French and italian renOwn.-l Spring
] field Republican.