812 Experiments 



The piece of meat is then placed without precautions in a tube 

 closed with a cork (a). 



In the same way, in another tube, is placed 1 gm. of fresh muscle 

 (b). 



March 19. The piece (a) has produced very little CO2 and con- 

 sumed little oxygen. The piece (b) has consumed all the oxygen of 

 the tube, that is, 7 cc. 



March 27. Another tube, opened in the same way under mercury, 

 contains 11.0% of CO, and 74.2% of oxygen. 



The piece of meat is placed in a graduated tube full of air and 

 well corked (c) ; another piece, fresh, of the same weight, is placed in 

 the same way in a graduated tube of the same capacity (d). 



April 10. Tube c contains 1.6 cc. of CO a and 2.8 cc. of oxygen, 

 that is, 7.3% of CO, and 12.7% of oxygen; tube d contains 6.2 cc. of 

 CO, and 0.2 cc. of oxygen, that is, 28% of CO, and only 0.6% of 

 oxygen. 



These results agree with those of the experiments of M. Pasteur, 

 showing that the consumption of oxygen by organic substances 

 is extremely low, when microscopic living beings are kept from 

 developing there. To the proofs he has furnished I shall add the 

 following experiment, in which the action of antiseptics has given 

 the same result as that of oxygen at high tension. 



Experiment CCCCVIII. June 26. A. 14 grams of muscles with a 

 little water are placed in a corked flask, containing 590 cc. of air, and 

 inverted over water. 



B. 40 grams, in a flask of 750 cc. are moistened with a few drops 

 of phenol and then shaken. The flask is corked and inverted beside A. 



C. 40 grams; flask of 780 cc; I add to it 2 grams of chloral, which, 

 as it dissolves, whitens the meat; well shaken, corked, inverted near 

 the others. 



July 12. A. Is decayed; exhales a foul odor; the air (strong explo- 

 sion when it is uncorked under mercury, so that a part of the gas 

 cannot be collected under the test glass) contains 35% of CO, but no 

 trace of oxygen. 



B. No odor of putrefaction; the air contains 18.6% of oxygen and 

 1.1% of CO,. 



C. No odor; the air contains 18.1% of oxygen and 0.9% of CO,. 



And so, proportioning the figures to 100 grams of muscles, we 

 see that those which have putrefied have exhausted the 880 cc. of 

 oxygen which they had at their disposal, and formed 1512 cc. of 

 CO. (without counting that which escaped when the flask was 

 uncorked) ; on the contrary, 100 grams preserved by phenol have 

 consumed only 35.1 cc. of oxygen and formed 21.9 cc. of CCX; 100 

 grams preserved by chloral have consumed 35.3 cc. of oxygen and 

 formed 15.0 cc. of CCX. 



Let us return now to the action of the oxygen, and let us take 



