NO. 2T, INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE ON HEALTH 31 



with the condensation water of human breath. The fluid was 

 obtained by breathing through a glass spiral surrounded with ice. 

 It was clear, odorless, and neutral in reaction, contained traces of 

 ammonia, and yielded a small sediment on evaporation which they 

 believe originated from the glass vessel. There was no trace of an 

 alkaloid, and ammoniacal silver solution gave no reaction. The 

 reducing power as tested by permanganate of potash was given as 

 3 to 4 milligrams of 2 for the oxidation of I liter. They confined 

 a man in a metal box for half an hour and then allowed a boy and 

 a girl to inhale the air from the box. No effects resulted excepting 

 slight hyperpncea. Lipari and Crisafulli 1 also reported results 

 directly contrary to those of Brown-Sequard and D'Arsonval. 



J. S. Haldane and Lorrain Smith 2 found that hematuria was pro- 

 duced when more than ioo cc. of boiled distilled water was injected 

 subcutaneously into rabbits weighing 1,800 grams. They injected 

 therefore 80 cc. of condensation liquid (human), and without result, 

 an amount corresponding to a dose of 3 liters in a man. 



Beu 8 collected the condensation water after cleansing his apparatus 

 with potassium permanganate and distilled water and sterilizing it. 

 The saliva was collected in a Woulfe bottle attached before the con- 

 denser. From 3,000 liters, expired in 8 hours, 100 cc. of fluid were 

 collected. This gave a distinct ammonia reaction with Nessler's 

 reagent. Its reducing power with permanganate of potash solution 

 indicated that 50 milligrams of O a were required to oxidize 1 liter. 

 The reactions for alkaloid were negative. 



He expired 500 liters through 150 cc. of a 1 per cent solution of 

 KHO and evaporated the solution to dryness. The deposit, dissolved 

 in distilled water, formed a fatty layer on the surface of the water 

 which was tinged slightly yellow. 



The fluid had a distinctive smell. It was warm to body tempera- 

 ture, and the whole of it was injected under the skin of a mouse 

 without producing any sign of disturbance — a most conclusive ex- 

 periment and complete refutation of Brown-Sequard and D'Arson- 

 val's statements. 



Billings, Weir Mitchell, and Bergey * have published the results of 

 a very thorough investigation. They found that in ordinary quiet 



1 Sicilia med. Palermo, 1889, Vol. 1, p. 229; Abstr. Arch, de Physiol, norm, et 

 path., Paris, 5 s., Vol. 2, p. 679. 



2 Journ. Path, and Bact. Edinburgh and London, 1892-3, I, 16S. 



3 Ztschr. f . Hygiene. Leipzig, 1893, Vol. 14, p. 64. 



4 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. 29, 1895. Pub. No. 989. 



