NO. 2$ INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE ON HEALTH 33 



Weichardt * rejoined that the respiratory condensation fluid gives 

 the guiac reaction and so must contain some trace of protein. He 

 also said the mouse was not affected by i cc. of the concentrated 

 condensation water, if heated to dryness and redissolved, while it 

 was affected by the same dose of unheated condensation water. 



He gives details of only one or two such experiments. We now 

 know that either distilled water or isotonic saline solution, when 

 kept in the laboratory, may produce toxic symptoms, especially when 

 large doses are injected. The solution or water becomes infected 

 with bacteria and although sterilized by boiling, when injected intra- 

 venously into men, may produce febrile and other disturbances, such 

 as have been observed after the injection of salvarsan. These mis- 

 chances have been altogether prevented by the use of freshly pre- 

 pared, pure, sterile, salt solution. 2 



The toxic effect is due to the dosage of dead bacteria injected with 

 the water. The symptoms are shivering, fever, and cyanosis, vomit- 

 ing, headache, and pain in the back lasting about four hours. The 

 only conclusion which can be drawn from the above is that the 

 evidence in favor of the existence of poison in the condensation 

 water is entirely unsubstantiated. The negative results obtained by 

 so many capable workers are convincing, while the few positive 

 results cannot be accepted in the absence of proper controls. To 

 inject one-thirteenth of its body weight into a mouse, and expect it 

 not to be ill, is about the limit of absurd experiment. Recently 

 Rosenau and Amoss 3 have brought forward evidence of another kind 

 which seems to show that traces of protein may pass away in the 

 expired air, at any rate under their experimental conditions. They 

 breathed through a Drechsel flask, interposing a plug of cotton 

 wool, for 6 to io hours ; 10 to 20 cc. of condensation fluid was so 

 obtained ; 5 to 10 cc. of this fluid was injected into guinea-pigs ; and 

 a month later 0.2 cc. of human serum was injected either into the 

 heart or into the brain. Symptoms of anaphylactic shock occurred 

 in many of the animals ; but, be it noted, several of the experiments 

 gave negative results, and in particular some in which a double plug 

 of glass wool was employed. It seems to us that in breathing 

 through a tube droplets of saliva will be carried away from the mouth 

 and the glass wool in time will become wet through. When this hap- 



1 Weichardt and Stotter, Arch. f. Hygiene, Vol. 75, p. 265, 1912. 

 - Mcintosh and Fildes : Syphilis, pp. 200, 207. Arnold, London, 191 1 ; Lancet. 

 March 9, 1912. 

 3 Journ. Med. Research, Boston, 191 1, Vol. 25, p. 35. 



