Respiration of Oxygen Gas. 95 



considerably, and now yield more copious supplies than any 

 others. 



Whatever may be the cause of this phenomenon, the effects 

 are so inconvenient, and it is so generally believed that they 

 are likely to be permanent, that the inhabitants of the town are 

 beginning to build cisterns, in order to accumulate artificial 

 reservoirs of water. 



Art. XXIII. Respiration of Oxygen Gas. 



XT is not extraordinary, when oiygen gas was first discovered, 

 and found to be the principle of life to the whole animal crea- 

 tion, that extravagant expectations should have been formed 

 as to its medicinal application. Disappointment followed of 

 course, and naturally led to a neglect of the subject ; and, in 

 fact, for some years, pneumatic medicine has gone into dis- 

 credit, and public opinion has vibrated to the extreme of 

 incredulity. Partaking in a degree in this feeling, we listened 

 with some reluctance to a very pressing application on this 

 subject during the last summer. A young lady, apparently in 

 the last stages of decline, and supposed to be affected with 

 hydrothorax, was pronounced beyond the reach of ordinary 

 medical aid. As she was in a remote town in Connecticut, 

 where no facilities existed towards the attainment of the ob- 

 ject, we felt no confidence that, even if oxygen gas were pos- 

 sessed of any efficacy in such cases, it would actually be applied 

 in this case, in such a manner as to do any good. Yielding, how 

 ever, to the anxious wishes of friends, we furnished drawings 

 for such an apparatus as might be presumed attainable, and 

 also written and minute directions for preparing, trying, and 

 administering the gas. It was obtained from nitrate of potash, 

 (saltpetre,) not because it was the best process, but because 

 the substance could be obtained in the place, and because a 

 common fire would serve for its extrication. The gas obtained 

 had, of course, a variable mixture of nitrogen or azot, and 

 probably on an average, might not be purer than nearly the 



