202 OF ABSORPTION AND SANGUIFICATION. 



that a man, who had lost nearly 3 Ibs. by perspiration, during an hour and 

 a quarter's labor, in a very hot atmosphere, regained 8 oz. by immersion in 

 a warm bath at 95 for half an hour. 1 The experiments of Dr. Madden 2 on 

 his own person show that a positive increase usually takes place in the weight 

 of the body, during immersion in a warm bath, even though there is at the 

 same time a continual loss of weight by pulmonary exhalation, and by trans- 

 udation from the skin. 3 This increase was, in some instances, as much as 5 

 drachms in half an hour; whilst the loss of weight during the previous half 

 hour had been 6J drachms : so that if the same rate of loss were continued 

 in the bath, the real gain by absorption must have been nearly an ounce and 

 a half. Why this gain was much less than in the cases just alluded to, is at 

 once accounted for by the fact that there was no deficiency, in the latter 

 case, of the fluids naturally present in the body. 



146. There are certain phenomena, which, if accurately recorded, cannot 

 be accounted for in any other way, than by admitting that, under particular 

 circumstances, a considerable amount of water may be absorbed from the 

 vapor of the atmosphere. The following are among the most satisfactory 

 and circumstantial observations, that have been adduced in support of this 

 position. Lining observed that his body on one occasion increased in weight, 

 during two hours, to the amount of 8-5- oz. ; allowance being made for the 

 amount of fluid ingested during that time, and for the quantity passed off 

 by the urine and by cutaneous transpiration. 4 Dr. Jurin affirms that he 

 ascertained an increase of 18 oz. to have taken place during a night passed 

 in a cool room, after a day's exercise and abstinence. 5 It is stated by Dr. 

 Watson, 6 that a lad at Newmarket, having been almost starved, in order 

 that he might be reduced to a proper weight for riding a match, was weighed 

 at 9 A.M., and again at 10 A.M.; and he was found to have gained nearly 

 30 oz. in weight in the course of this hour, though he had only drunk half a 

 glass of wine in the interim. A parallel instance was related to the Author 

 by the late Sir G. Hill, then Governor of St. Vincent : a jockey had been 

 for some time in training for a race, in which that gentleman was much in- 

 terested, and had been reduced to the proper weight; on the morning of the 

 trial, being much oppressed with thirst, he took one cup of tea ; and shortly 

 afterwards his weight was found to have increased 6 Ibs., so that he was in- 

 capacitated for riding. Nearly the whole of the increase in the former case, 

 and at least three-fourths of it in the latter, must be attributed to absorption 

 from the vapor of the atmosphere ; probably, however, rather through the 

 lungs than through the skin. If the possibility of such absorption be admitted, 

 we are probably to attribute to it the chief part of the excess of watery fluid 

 which cannot be otherwise accounted for, in the following instances. Dr. 



gelatin among substances capable of being absorbed when injected into the large in- 

 testine. On the other hand, amongst the substances not so absorbed he mentions pure 

 egg-albumen, coagulated fibrin, and preparations of syntonin and myosin. Bauer 

 (Sitz. d. k. Bayer Akad., 18G8, Band ii, p. 511) states that whilst little or no albu- 

 men is absorbed even when it has been well whipped, by the large intestine, a con- 

 siderable quantity is taken up if a solution of common salt be added to it. See note, 

 p. 180. 

 1 Philosophy of Health, vol. ii, p. 396. 2 Op. cit., pp. 50-63. 



3 That part of the function of Cutaneous Transpiration which consists in simple 

 Exhalation, is of course completely checked by such immersion; but that which is the 

 result of an actual Secreting process in the cutaneous glandulre (chap, xiv, sect. 4) is 

 increased by heat, even though this be accompanied with moisture. 



4 Philosophical Transactions, 1743, p. 496. 



6 Klapp, Inaug. Dissert., p. 30, cited by Dr. Madden. 

 6 Chemical Essays, vol. iii, p. 100. 



