in regard to Respiration. 267 



that the absorption of oxvgen is directly as the heat of the 

 ambient air in which animals reside; and this accords very 

 well with the observations made on phosphorus. 



In these results, which I have made known to yon in so 

 brief a manner, because I reserve the accompanying proofs 

 for my work, you see the immense consumption made of 

 oxygen gas by animals at the expense of the air; that by 

 the Fungs, or other analogous organs, is no doubt great, but 

 it is still immensely increased by the absorption occasioned 

 by the exterior surface of the body ; and it is the same in ani- 

 mals furnished with organs proper for respiration and in 

 those which are deprived of them : nay more, when ani- 

 mals which respire cease to live, the destruction of oxygen 

 gas, which no longer takes place by respiration, continues 

 by the organ of the skin, and even increases in regard to 

 some animals when putrefaction is far advanced. If we 

 take into consideration the incalculable number of animals 

 which peoples every part of the globe, whether they inhabit 

 the land or the water, it would appear that the oxygen gas, 

 which forms the most valuable part of the air, must have 

 decreased, and produced the destruction of the organized 

 kingdom. We are, however, taught byeudiometric obser- 

 vations, that the mass of the oxygen gas of the atmosphere 

 remains unalterably the same. We must therefore neces- 

 sarily conclude, that nature has means of compensating 

 exactly for this infinite destruction of oxygen gas, in the 

 same manner as it does for maintaining an exact balance be- 

 tween the death of vegetables and animals and their re-pro- 

 duction. 



But in what manner does nature effect this compensa- 

 tion? You and Ingenhousz have shown it by the publi- 

 cation of two works which display the originality of their 

 authors, and whicli form a luminous epoch in natural philo- 

 sophy. It may be readily seen that I here allude to what 

 you both have done to show in what manner vegetables ex- 

 posed to the solar light pour out into the atmosphere a 

 prodigious abundance of oxygen gas. It certainly appears 

 proper for repairing that loss of oxygen which may be oc- 

 casioned by the pulmonary organs ; but as this loss is still 

 greater, sin(?ewe must add to it that produced at the surface 

 of living animals, and by these animals themselves after 

 d'jath^ 1 cannot say whether these losses can be compensated 

 in whole by plants, especially as the number of animals is 

 much greater than that of plants. As this great consump- 

 tion of oxygen is made by animals during their whole lives, 

 and for some time after their death, and as plants do not dif- 

 2 fuse 



