Overview

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: ... of oxygen. I refer to altitudes between four and eight thousand feet, which are those we are considering; or rather, to be more particular, elevations from four to six thousand feet, for latitudes at and north of the fortieth parallel. The extreme and injurious effect of elevation, even upon healthy persons, is not here intended to be gainsaid. Therefore, the possibility of misconceiving Dr. Jourdanet's views, based as they probably are on these extreme influences, is frankly admitted. And that these views were founded on extreme results is justly inferred from the following remarkable experiments,1 in which Jourdanet has been personally interested, to substantiate his own conclusions. We are enabled by these important developments to study the possibilities of existence--in the case of birds--in confined atmospheres, variously rarefied, and so deprived of oxygen, the vital constituent. Through these experiments, the remarkable truth is revealed to us, that there is uniformly a certain portion of oxygen, equivalent to three and one half to four per cent. of the air at sea level, which is irrespirable. The credit for the discovery of this important fact is due to M. Paul Bert, of Paris, whose zeal and many experiments in reference to this question won for him the highest prize given every two years by the French government, namely, 20,000 francs. He put birds (sparrows) into' different sized jars, and exhausted the contained air to represent various degrees of pressure, and then noted the duration of their lives. Afterwards he analyzed the contained air to determine the amount of oxygen and carbonic acid remaining. The results were as follows: The birds died in limes nearly proportionate to the amount of air in the jars, and its richness in oxygen. The prop...

Full Product Details

9781236007889

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available