PREVENTION OF DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS. 



/ypinions and conduct are apt to run from one 

 extreme to another.&quot; We have already seen, 

 that, in consequence of false conceptions of the 

 Deity, and of his arrangements in the economy 

 of nature, the minds of multitudes have been 

 alarmed by the most unfounded apprehensions, 

 and have been &quot; in great fear where no fear 

 was.&quot; On the other hand, from a similar cause, 

 many have run heedlessly into danger and de 

 struction, when a slight acquaintance with the 

 powers of nature, and the laws of their opera 

 tion, would have pointed out the road to safety. 

 This leads me to the illustration of another ad 

 vantage which would be derived from a general 

 diffusion of knowledge, namely, 



That it would tend to prevent many of those 

 diseases and fatal accidents which flow from igno 

 rance of the Izws which govern the operations of 

 nature. 



There are, indeed, several accidents to which 

 mankind are exposed, which no human wisdom 

 can foresee or prevent. Being furnished with 

 faculties of a limited nature, and placed in the 

 midst of a scene where so many powerful and 

 complicated causes are in constant operation, 

 we are sometimes exposed, all on a sudden, to 

 the action of destructive causes, of which we 

 were ignorant, or over which we have no con 

 trol. Even although we could foresee a pesti 

 lence, a famine, an earthquake, an inundation, 

 or the eruption of a volcano, we could not alto 

 gether prevent the calamities which generally 

 flow from their destructive ravages. But, at the 

 same time, it may be affirmed with truth, that a 

 great proportion of the physical evils and acci 

 dents to which the human race is liable, are the 

 effects of a culpable ignorance, and might be 

 effectually prevented, were useful knowledge 

 more extensively diffused. But it unfortunately 

 happens, in almost every instance, that the per 

 sons who are exposed to the accidents to which 

 I allude, are ignorant of the means requisite for 

 averting the danger. To illustrate this point, I 

 shall select a few examples, and shall inter 

 sperse a few hints and maxims for the consider 

 ation of those whom it may concern. 



The first class of accidents to which I shall 

 advert, comprises those which have happened 

 from ignorance of the nature and properties of the 

 different gases, and of the noxious effects which 

 some of them produce on the functions of ani 

 mal life. 



We have frequently read in newspapers and 

 magazines, and some of us have witnessed, such 

 accidents as the following : A man descends 

 into a deep well, which had for some time been 

 shut up. When he has gone down a consider 

 able way he suddenly lets go his hold of the 

 rope or ladder by which he descends, and drops 

 to the bottom in a state of insensibility, devoid 

 of utterance, and unable to point out the cause 

 of his disaster. Another hastily follows him, 



to ascortain the cause, and to afford him assist 

 ance ; but by the time he arrives at the same 

 depth he shares the same fate. A third person, 

 after some hesitation, descends with more cau 

 tious steps. But he soon begins to feel a cer 

 tain degree of giddiness, and makes haste to 

 ascend, or is drawn up by assistants. In the 

 mean time, the unhappy persons at the bottom 

 of the well are frequently left to remain so long 

 in a state of suspended animation, that all means 

 of restoration prove abortive ; and the cause of 

 the disaster remains a mystery, till some medical 

 gentleman, or other person of intelligence, be 

 made acquainted with the circumstances of the 

 accident. Similar accidents, owing to the same 

 cause, have happened to persons who have in 

 cautiously descended into brewers vats, or who 

 have entered precipitately into wine cellars and 

 vaults, which had been long shut up from the 

 external air, and where the process of fermen 

 tation was going on : They have been suddenly 

 struck down, as by a flash of lightning ; and, 

 in some instances the vital spark has been 

 completely extinguished. Many instances, too, 

 could be produced, of workmen, who have in 

 cautiously laid themselves down to sleep in the 

 neighbourhood of lirne-kilns where they were 

 employed, having, in a short time, slept the 

 sleep of death. The burning of charcoal in 

 close apartments has also proved fatal to many ; 

 more especially when they have retired to rest 

 in such apartments, while the charcoal was 

 burning, and before the rooms had received a 

 thorough ventilation. 



Numerous are the instances in which acci 

 dents have happened, in the circumstances now 

 stated, and which are still frequently recurring ; 

 all which might have been prevented had the 

 following facts been generally known and at 

 tended to : That there exists a certain species 

 of air, termed fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, 

 which instantly extinguishes rlame, and is de 

 structive to animal life ; that it is found in con 

 siderable quantities in places which have been 

 shut up from the external atmosphere, as in 

 old wells, pits, caverns, and close vaults ; that 

 it is copiously produced during the fermentation 

 of liquoios in brewers vats, where it hovers above 

 the surface of the liquor ; in cellars where wine 

 and malt-liquors are kept ; and by the burning 

 of lime and charcoal ; and, that being nearly 

 twice as heavy as common air, it sinks to the 

 bottom of the place where it is produced. The 

 following plain hints are therefore all that is 

 requisite to be attended to, in order to prevent 

 the recurrence of such disasters. Previous to 

 entering a well or pit which has been long se 

 cluded from the external air, let a lighted candle 

 or taper be sent down ; if it continues to burn 

 at the bottom there is no danger, for air that will 

 support flame, without an explosion, will also 

 support animal life; but, should the taper b* 



