DEATH CAUSED BY RESPIRATION. 27 



destructive influence of the atmosphere. Towards 

 the end, the particles of the brain begin to undergo 

 the process of oxidation, and delirium, mania, and 

 death close the scene ; that is to say, all resistance 

 to the oxidising power of the atmospheric oxygen 

 ceases, and the chemical process of eremacausis, or 

 decay, commences, in which every part of the body, 

 the bones excepted, enters into combination with 

 oxygen. 



The time which is required to cause death by 

 starvation depends on the amount of fat in the 

 body, on the degree of exercise, as in labour or ex- 

 ertion of any kind, on the temperature of the air, 

 and finally, on the presence or absence of water. 

 Through the skin and lungs there escapes a certain 

 quantity of water, and as the presence of water is 

 essential to the continuance of the vital motions, its 

 dissipation hastens death. Cases have occurred, in 

 which a full supply of water being accessible to the 

 sufferer, death has not occurred till after the lapse 

 of twenty days. In one case, life was sustained in 

 this way for the period of sixty days. 



In all chronic diseases death is produced by the 

 same cause, namely, the chemical action of the atmo- 

 sphere. When those substances are wanting, whose 

 function in the organism is to support the process 

 of respiration ; when the diseased organs are inca- 

 pable of performing their proper function of produc- 

 ing these substances ; when they have lost the power 

 of transforming the food into that shape in which it 



