The Principles of Meteorology: Read at the Meeting of the Literary and Scientific Society of Pictou, 4th January, 1837 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from The Principles of Meteorology: Read at the Meeting of the Literary and Scientific Society of Pictou, 4th January, 1837

To enter into a minute, and lengthened account, of the 'composition of the atmosphere, would onlybe a useless waste of time; as it would afford us little, or no assistance, in the in vestigations, on which we are about to enter. Its principal in gradients, are Nitrogen Gas, and Oxygen Gas, and these are in common atmospheric air, more properly Speaking mixed, than combined. It is by the quantity of Oxygen existing in the atmosphere, that it supports animal life, and combustion. When the Oxygen is separated from the Nitrogen, the latter if breathed alone would be fatal; and if blown into a fire, it would serve to extinguish it. Such is the structure of the; lungs in animals, that the Oxygen which is drawn into them in breathing, combines with the superabundant carbon of the venous blood, which it has collected in its passage through the system; and is expelled in respiration, in the form of carbonic acid gas. The air which we rcspire, in breathing, is not then precisely the same as that which we inhale; Every time it is breathed, it' is deprived of a given portion of its Oxygen, and becomes less fit to be breathed again; and when a number of people are met, in a close apartment, which is artificially light ed, the oxygen is consumed in two ways. Namely, by being repeatedly breathed, and by supporting the flame, or burning of the lights; and its diminution under such circumstances, is also indicated in two ways namely, by the increased difficulty of breathing, and by the dimness with which the lights burn.

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