278 Historical 



100 : 4.52 : : 367.55 : x = 16.62 liters of carbonic acid per hour. 



At sea level, 1.85 liters of carbonic acid contain 1 gram of carbon, 



which gives us 9 grams very approximately consumed in one hour. . . . 



This figure is quite different from the 12.30 grams of the first 

 work. And yet how was it obtained? First by taking the quan- 

 tity of air expired from 6 liters to 6.125 liters; then by declaring 

 that in the calculations the air was reduced to 0° and 76 cm.; but 

 Coindet forgets that he said exactly the opposite before: 



I have proved that the volume 3.90% of air at 14° and 58 cm. fur- 

 nished me by the weight (let us not forget that now it is the vol- 

 ume) 4.51 of air also at 14° and 58 cm 



In another passage, he is no less explicit 



Since the quantity of air expired per minute, as admitted by 

 M. Dumas, is 5.3 liters at sea level, in Mexico City . . . we have about 

 6 liters. This was logical, for since the air at high altitudes contains 

 less oxygen in a given volume, a greater quantity of this air had to 

 be absorbed to make up the difference. 



It is not therefore, in our opinion, 9 grams, but 6.40 grams of 

 carbon consumed in an hour that are given by the figures of 

 Coindet himself. But even with 9 grams, we must realize that 

 we are far below the average figure of 12.2 grams found by 

 Andral and Gavarret. Coindet cannot conceal it, but he does not 

 seem at all disturbed by it: 



Our average of 9 grams (he says calmly), lower than that found 

 by some authors, does not cause us, for reasons given above, to con- 

 sider the respiratory combustions of carbon as perceptibly lower on 

 the lofty plateaux than they are at lower levels. 



What are these reasons then? First, we see, is that 



Our Creoles were students in the School of Mines, on the day 

 before their final examination for the year, sitting studying all day 

 long, and under these circumstances the expired air has undergone 

 little change; 



And second, that 



The Indians had an insufficient diet and used alcohol habitually; 

 And third, that 



There were losses through the nostrils! 



I think it would be useless to continue. I can only repeat what 

 I said above: from the chemical point of view, there is nothing, 

 absolutely nothing, left of the work of Coindet; and as the experi- 

 ments which we have just shown to be so unsatisfactory are the 



