320 LAVOISIER. 



that the oxygenation of the blood, in passing through 

 the lungs, produces both carbonic acid gas by the slow 

 combustion of carbon, and water by that of hydrogen, 

 the carbon and the hydrogen being alike supplied by 

 the blood, which as early as 1785 M. Lavoisier had 

 suspected from many appearances ;* but they enable 

 us to ascertain the exact quantity of oxygen gas con- 

 sumed, and of carbon and hydrogen inhaled in the 

 process ; for they show 24 cubic feet of gas, or 2 Ibs. 



1 oz. and 1 scruple to be consumed in 24 hours, and 



2 Ibs. 5 oz. and 4 scruples of carbonic acid to be 

 formed with 5 scruples 51 gr. of water : answering to 

 10 oz. 4 scruples of carbon and 1 oz. 5 scruples and 

 51 gr. of hydrogen. A number of valuable physiolo- 

 gical and therapeutical conclusions are derived from 

 the same inquiry. In the paper on Transpiration 

 (Mem. 1790) the inquiry is continued, and a general 

 estimate is formed by approximation of the amount 

 lost in the 24 hours by this process ; it is 1 Ib. 14 oz. 

 and by respiration only 5 drachms : a calculation not 

 reconcileable with the former course of experiments, 

 which made the loss under 12 oz. 



Beside these Memoirs, and one or two others of less 

 importance on chemical subjects, he gave a paper in 

 1789 upon the horizontal strata deposited by the sea ; 

 a subject to which he had, in the earliest period of his 

 scientific researches, devoted much of his attention, as 

 I have already related. From Lavoisier's numerous 

 observations, both on the coast and on the Paris basin, 

 M. Monge drew the conclusion that the earth was 

 originally covered with vegetables long before any 

 animals were upon its surface. The subsequent in- 

 quiries, we may say discoveries, of Cuvier and his 



* The theory of the present day departs somewhat from Lavoisier's, par- 

 ticularly in holding that the carbonic acid is not produced at the surface 

 of the lungs, and that the oxygen enters into combination with the mass 

 of the blood, forming water and carbonic acid at the capillary terminations 

 of the'vessels. 



