190 



perature 73, and retained for more than three 

 hours. During all this time, not a bubble, either 

 of carbonic acid or nitrogen gas, was seen to ema- 

 nate from the skin ; and the experiment was a se- 

 cond time repeated with precisely the same result. 

 He next immersed his hand and wrist in very pure 

 lime-water, of the temperature of 70, and held 

 them in that situation, in different experiments, for 

 one and two hours, during which times no carbonate 

 of lime was formed ; but, on the contrary, the lime- 

 water, when the hand was withdrawn, was as trans- 

 parent as before it was introduced. He next placed 

 his hand and wrist, after separating all adhering air 

 from their surface, in four ounce measures of pure 

 hydrogen gas, confined in a vessel inverted over 

 mercury, and kept them in this situation for three 

 hours. The air in the vessel was then examined in 

 the presence of Professor Woodhouse : its volume 

 was not in any degree diminished ; neither, on the 

 addition of lime water, could any trace of carbonic 

 acid be discerned in it *. In addition to these ex- 

 periments, disproving the existence of an aeriform 

 function in the skin, it may be observed, that if such 

 a function did really exist, the bulk of air ought to 

 be increased, \vlvn carbonic acid is formed by placing 

 the arm in a jar of atmospheric air ; but, according 

 to Mr Abernethy himself, the air was considerably 

 diminished. All the arguments already urged against 

 the absorption of aeriform fluids, forbid us to suppose 

 that the oxygen gas which disappears, is taken up 



Inaugural Dissertation, Philadelphia, 1805, p. 21. ct scq. 



