10G4 TiiAXSACTioxs OF THE Americax Institute. 



have the image mncli enlare:cd. The arterial and veinous hh:>o(l give 

 the same lines. Here is blood taken from a person wlio died of 

 typhus fever ; it shows that the blood is broken up, disorganized ; it 

 seems like a membrane stretched tight. The point which he wished 

 to make is, that all contagious diseases have a fatal growth which 

 develops at the expense of the body. Many poisonous substances act 

 like tonics when taken in small doses, for instance carbolic acid. We 

 know that it kills animals. It is now recommended for the small 

 pox. The medical journals mention it as being very successful in 

 that disease. The next thing is arsenic, which fattens horses and 

 other animals, but taken in small doses. Two explanations are given 

 of this action ; one is that it kills all animals in the body, and the 

 other is that it retards waste of the system. Many other remedies, 

 which, used with judgment, improve the system. But we must be 

 careful ; good food and good air are the medicine. People are very 

 particular about their food, but not so about the air they breathe ; 

 jirobably because it costs nothing, but it is the most important of all, 

 for we can do without food and drink for a long time, but M'e must 

 liave air all the while. 



Mr. John B. Root exhibited a drawing of a theory of his in rela- 

 tion to the circulation of the blood. He said it fnight be termed a 

 drawing of the heart and lungs. The arterial blood has a pressure 

 of not quite three pounds to the inch. Xow the mechanical force 

 is the resnlt of the heat power generated through the blood. Here 

 we have the lungs, where the combustion of carbon takes place. 

 The muscles are mtiiile of line laminated fibres; these fibres are flexi- 

 ble tubes, and are collected together in bundles, inclosed in a sheet, 

 so that we find them amply protected from pressure. Now, the cir- 

 culation is due to nothing more than the mechanical pressure of the 

 contraction of these fibres ; the same as the piston in a cylinder. 

 The mechanical force is manifested in the arterial blood much the 

 same as when we put coal on the fire and admit air; the oxygen in 

 the air combines with the coal and forms carbonic oxyd and carbonic 

 acid gas, which pass off through the chimney. When a man has 

 fever he burns up a great quantity of carbon, and thus too much car- 

 bon in the system produces fever ; and if there is less fuel in the sya- 

 tcm there is a lassitude throughout the body. He inferred that from 

 the construction of the muscles they operate the same as the piece of 

 .mechanism called tlie toggle-joint. 



Dr. Vanderweydc remarked that some parts of Mr. Eoot's theory 



