THE BREATH OF LIFE 



latter is the world of silent, invisible, unsleeping, 

 and all-potent chemical reactions that take place 

 all about us and is confined to the atoms and mole- 

 cules of matter, as the former is confined to its visi- 

 ble aggregates. 



Mechanical forces and chemical affinities rule our 

 physical lives, and indirectly our psychic lives as 

 well. When we come into the world and draw our 

 first breath, mechanics and chemistry start us on 

 our career. Breathing is a mechanical, or a mechan- 

 ico-vital, act; the mechanical principle involved is 

 the same as that involved in the working of a bel- 

 lows, but the oxidation of the blood when the air 

 enters the lungs is a chemical act, or a chemico- 

 vital act. The air gives up a part of its oxygen, 

 which goes into the arterial circulation, and its place 

 is taken by carbonic-acid gas and watery vapor. 

 The oxygen feeds and keeps going the flame of life, 

 as literally as it feeds and keeps going the fires in our 

 stoves and furnaces. 



Hence our most constant and vital relation to the 

 world without is a chemical one. We can go without 

 food for some days, but we can exist without breath- 

 ing only a few moments. Through these spongy 

 lungs of ours we lay hold upon the outward world in 

 the most intimate and constant way. Through 

 them we are rooted to the air. The air is a mechan- 

 ical mixture of two very unlike gases — nitrogen 

 and oxygen; one very inert, the other very active. 



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