362 Tivcifth ComTnunicationfrom Dr. Thornton, 



mentioned ; but the debility must have been great, and the; 

 danger aiarming. 



2. " After each inhalation of the superoxvgenated air, 

 the patient wx?, revived." Mr. Walker also mentions a like 

 elFect, from inhaling an atmosphere of a higher standard. 

 Dr. Pnes^tley likewise experienced the same good, effect, and 

 ventures to prophecy " that in time the inhaling of oxygen 

 air would bejome a fashionable article of luxury. Hi- 

 therto," says Jhis philosopher, " onlv two mice and 

 myself have hp/i the pleasure of breathing it." In my first 

 rommunications, publis-htd by Dr. Beddoes, December 

 1793, I have staled the same circumstance, and add, by 

 •ivay of P. S. to my second letter, " 1 cannot at this time 

 forbear mentioning the instance of a clergyman, the Rev, 

 Mr. T — r — r, v/ho laboured under dyspepsia, and great de- 

 pression of spirit. He had exhausted the whole catalogue of 

 tonic*, without experiencing nuich benefit. As nothing 

 conduces more towards good spirits avid quick digestioi> 

 than a clear pure au', 1 accordingly ordered him to inhale 

 vital air, blended with a proportion of atmospheric. The 

 load on his chest, as he termed it, was removed ; his ap- 

 petite was quickened ; his spirits were raised, to the pitch I 

 would term gaiclj/ ; and, as he informs me, he felt the 

 ^ame night so strong a desire to go to the play, to which 

 he had not been, not feeling the least inclination towards 

 such an excursion, for a long time, that he went that night ; 

 ^nd declares, that he is fully convinced that no inducement 

 could have got him thither, had he not previously inhaled 

 a more exalted atmosphere." About the same time Dr. 

 Biggs was a patient of Dr. Jleddoes, and being a physician, 

 the more credit will be allowed to his assertion. He says^ 

 *' after breathing the superoxygenated air, I found irvy dif- 

 ficulty of breathing much relieved in three days, and bci'ore 

 the expiration of eight davs it entirely ceased. Before this 

 time I had been subject to coldness of the extremities, 

 ti-hich now went off. I could e\-en sleep witli fewer bed- 

 clothes. I had also a greater flow ofspiqils." J)r Max.- 

 well, and Dr. Goodwyn, Infused 4 pints of vilail air into the 

 Ci'Jlular texture of several dogs, by making an insertion 

 under the skin. After the first effects of the operation was 

 over, the animals appealed " excecdinghj livclij" {maxhiia. 

 alacrltas.) (Vide Dr. Maxwell's Thesis, published in ]787, 

 i-.dinburgh.} The celebrated Dr. Beddoes, in his history of 

 that remarkable case, wliere a person subject to epilepsy 

 was thrown into an unusual fit, says, " 1 was not prepared 

 %o expect any thing like intoxication from an overdose of 

 3 dilute^ 



