96 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



When the barometer is gradually rising and the humidity slowly 

 falling and the sky clear or clearing, patients are pleasant, in some 

 cases jovial and inclined to be optimistic as to the future. 



When the barometer is either gradually or rapidly falling and the 

 humidity rising and becoming more oppressive as the hours go by, 

 and the day is foggy with little or no sunshine, the effect on patients is 

 entirely different. They become pessimistic, cross and very irrit- 

 able. During the so-called " northers," when the barometer falls, 

 then rises rapidly with clear weather and a quick drop in the humid- 

 ity as from 75 per cent to 20 per cent in twenty-four hours, there 

 is a marked drying of the mucous membrane, causing great discom- 

 fort in some and comfort in others. 



ARTIFICIALLY COMPRESSED AIR 



Artificially compressed air has been used by Oertel, Simonoff and 

 Charles Theodore Williams in pulmonary tuberculosis. The first 

 two claimed great improvement resulting from its use ; but Williams 

 did not find such favorable effects.' In nine cases submitted to the 

 compressed air bath, hemorrhage was brought on in two while in the 

 bath ; in four others hemorrhage occurred but could not be distinctly 

 connected with this form of treatment. There was usually some 

 gain in weight and diminished cough and expectoration, and appar- 

 ently the respiration became freer in the unaffected portions of the 

 lungs. Beyond the opening up or aeration of portions of the lung 

 which had not been brought into play for some time, there seemed 

 to be no special change for the better. Compressed air in Williams's 

 experience did not facilitate the absorption of lung consolidation or 

 infiltration. 



At the Brompton Hospital a large wrought iron chamber was con- 

 structed about ten feet in diameter by eight feet in height, and ac- 

 commodated four patients. It had thick glass windows and a closely 

 fitting door. By means of inlet and outlet pipes compressed air was 

 introduced and allowed to escape. The outer air from a pure source 

 was filtered through cotton and pumped into the receiver. The pres- 

 sure was gradually increased after the patients were inside the tank 

 until it reached ten pounds or two-thirds of an atmosphere above the 

 normal. Half an hour was spent in increasing the pressure, one hour 

 in maintaining it at the highest point required, and half an hour in 



* Charles Theodore Williams : Compressed Air Bath and Its Uses in the 

 Treatment of Disease, London; Smith, Elder & Co., 1885, and Aerotherapeu- 

 tics. Macmillan, London, 1894, p. 106. 



