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V. Extratl of a Report, on the Means to be 7/ fed for puri- 

 fying the Air in the Apartments of Sick Perfuns,made to the 

 Society of Medicine at Brujfels. By J. B. Van Mojns. 



T ' . . . 



■1- II E principal object of the author, in this Report, is to 

 prove that it ought not invariably to be the aim of the phy- 

 fician to repair the lofs of a portion of the refpirable air in 

 the atmofphere which furrounds the patient ; fince difeafes 

 may occur, fuch as thofe of a putrid and inflammatory na- 

 ture, where an augmentation of the unrefpirable part may 

 be beneficial. In fuch difeafes, if air of the common ftandr 

 ard be refpired, the patient is furnifhed with, fuch a por- 

 tion of oxvgen as, by increafing animal heat and accelerat- 

 ing circulation, mud naturally incrcafe the fever, inflamma- 

 tion and putrefaction, or decompofition of the blood and 

 other humours. A lowered atmofphere, which in health is 

 improper for refpiration, muft in thefe ftates prove falutary, 

 as, by affording lefs oxygen to the fyftem, it will abate in- 

 flammation, check the putrefaction, and diminifh other bad 

 fymptoms, producing the good effect of what are called 

 coolino- medicines. Thefe principles are confirmed beyond 

 a doubt by daily experience *. 



" It is," fays this author, " to the falutary effecl pro- 

 duced by diffufing through the atmofphere a new portion of 

 unrefpirable and of diminifhing the refpirable air that fumi- 

 gations have been fo long indebted for their being employed 

 as correctors of corrupted air, while thofe who prefcribed 

 them often did fo on a very contrary fuppofition. 



" In general I have found the air in the apartments of 

 tick perfons to confift of abundance of carbonic acid gas, hy- 

 drogen gas, oxygen gas, and azotic gas; fometimes of a 



■' No fa&s of this kind are known in England; and from the experience 

 of Dr. Thornton and others, it would fecm, that a fuper-oxygenatcd air 

 is highly beneficial in putrid difeafes, although it be inimical to thofe of an 

 inflammatory nature. Edit- 



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