v=^ 



ELECTRICAL PHYSIOLOGY OR ELECTRO-CHEMIC ENERGY 



vs. 

 OXYGENATION OF THE HUMAN BLOOD. 



ALBERT J. ATKINS, M. D., SAN FRANCISCO. 



A Lecture delivered before the National Eclectic Medical AaBOClatlon at Indlanapolie, Ind., June 11, 1903, 



Mr. Peesident and Fellow Members : 



After much study and careful experiment, I have concluded that the pro- 

 cess of revitalization of the blood in the capillaries of the lungs is due to the 

 action of electro-chemic energy, and that oxygen does not pass into the blood 

 by osmosis. 



In the following paper I submit to you an account of my experiments, and 

 a brief history of the course of reasoning that has led me to this important 

 conclusion, so widely differing from the present accepted theories. 



Although the theory of osmosis has been generally received, it has not been 

 proven. Thoughtful physiologists have admitted this; for instance, Dalton, 

 in his "Human Physiology" says, page 637, "When we endeavor to learn 

 the place and manner of oxidation in the living body, the attempt fails. 

 There is no evidence of such direct action taking place in the circulating fluid, 

 nor in any of the organs or tissues." Again, on page 257, he says: "The 

 blood collects or disseminates substances which have already been prepared 

 in other parts, and, as a general rule, conveys them unchanged to their des- 

 tinations. Even a substance like pyrogallic acid, so readily oxidizable in an 

 alkaline solution that it is employed for the quantitative determination of 

 oxygen in the air, when introduced into the animal system passes through it 

 unchanged and reappears in the urine. There is no evidence that the blood 

 exerts anywhere a direct oxidizing action." 



Further, in reference to this subject, "Howell's American Text Book of 



178?71 



