Theories and Experiments 267 



indicate a danger which would justly make one fear sojourn in lofty 

 Anahuac; since, according to these experiments, the carbonated respir- 

 atory combustions would not be half there what they are at sea 

 level. The analyses of the College of Mines therefore leave us in great 

 anxiety. I notified my colleagues of the Society of Medicine of Mexico, 

 who were sufficiently affected by them to vote new surveys. (P. 151.) 



To this undeniable conclusion, Coindet 10:! tried to reply in his 

 turn. Let us set aside the mere assertions and the digressions of 

 acrimonious polemics, although they are numerous, and come to 

 the root of the matter, the contradiction which we revealed above: 



M. Michel Levy (he says) and the members of the Society of 

 Medicine of Mexico know the reply which I made to the statements 

 of M. Jourdanet. I proved that the volume 3.90 per 100 of air at a 

 temperature of 14 degrees and a pressure of 58, which was given me 

 by the weight 4.51 per 100 of air also at a temperature of 14 degrees and 

 a pressure of 58, furnished, because of the greater quantity of air 

 expired (6 liters instead of 5.3 Dumas), 295.13 grams of carbon con- 

 sumed in 24 hours, or 12.30 grams in one hour, and we know the 

 averages established at sea level by MM. Dumas, Andral, Gavarret, 

 Valentin, Brunner, Vierordt, etc. It is quite certain, I assert, that my 

 subjects would not have expired more than 3.3 liters of air at sea 

 level. 



I confess for my part that I do not understand this very well, 

 and it would have been desirable that Coindet should copy in his 

 letter the proofs which he had sent to M. Michel Levy. First, let 

 us note that this time the 4.51 are no longer for him a measure 104 of 

 volume, as that resulted evidently from the new paragraph which 

 we mentioned, but a measure of weight; it is, as M. Murn said, 

 the weight of carbonic acid contained in 100 liters of air expired 

 at 14° and 58 cm. But from that point, the reasoning and the calcu- 

 lation of M. Jourdanet are unassailable. If 6 liters of air per min- 

 ute pass through the lungs, that makes 360 liters in an hour, con- 

 taining 360 x 4.51 grams = 16.23 grams of carbonic acid. The re- 

 searches of Andral and Gavarret 105 give an average, between the 

 ages of 20 and 40, of 12.2 grams of carbon consumed, which corre- 

 sponds to 44.07 grams of carbonic acid. The difference is enor- 

 mous, so enormous that, for my part, I think that there is a funda- 

 mental error in the analyses which are the basis of his reasoning. 



Let us see now what Coindet's reasoning is. And first, let us 

 note that he takes a strange cross-road: "I have proved", he says, 

 "that the volume 3.90 per 100 of air at a temperature of 14 degrees 

 and a pressure of 58, which was given me by the weight 4.51 per 

 100 of air also at a temperature of 14 degrees and a pressure of 

 58 . . ." 



