184 DR. R. A. SMITH ON AIR f-ROM OFF THE MID-ATLANTIC, 



way ventilated ; and as I was very ready to please him, as 

 well as desirous of increasing my list of analyses, I collected 

 specimens. 



The court was extremely warm and unpleasant at the 

 moment of entering, and even after some minutes it was 

 not to be voluntarily borne ; I therefore did not attempt to 

 penetrate the mass of people, but took specimens of air 

 when perhaps eight feet from the door. On coming out, 

 the feeling of relief was remarkably pleasant. This feeling, 

 as elsewhere explained, is usually accompanied with a re- 

 storation of the normal action of the heart, and a calmer 

 respiration. 



The amount of oxygen in places not mountainous is 

 given by me as 20*978 — an average from many ana- 

 lyses. London always stands well in examinations of air, 

 and the parks will contain about 20*9800, and sometimes 

 more, judging from the carbonic acid of which estimations 

 have been made, leaving out the oxygen. We have then 

 209,800 of oxygen in a million, but in the law court only 

 206,500, or a loss of 3300 in a million. Examining the 

 Tables to which I have already alluded, we find no place 

 above ground with such a small amount of oxygen, except 

 the gallery of an extremely crowded theatre at half-past 

 ten at night, when the whole evening had been spent in 

 spoiling the atmosphere, and those places at the backs of 

 our houses, which we are not expected to name, much less 

 to inhabit. Although by analysis these places were as bad 

 as the court, in reality they were less so, as the court tem- 

 perature was very high, and the organic matter from per- 

 spiration in proportion. The deleterious effects of this we 

 are not yet able to judge of, the other we can to some 

 extent measure. I say deliberately, that this court where 

 I took the air was worse than the middens alluded to. 



The warmer air rises, and that at the ceiling is generally 

 the worst. This, however, depends upon circumstances; 



