34 2 Abbe Fontana’s Experiments and 
I therefore endeavoured to force various four-footed 
animals to breathe the inflammable air through the 
mouth only, without immerging their whole bodies into 
it. I chiefly ufed bladders tied to their mouths, but 
fometimes I alfo made ufe of tubes which entered imme- 
diately into the wind-pipe. In both cafes the animals 
died in a very Ihort time : hence it became evident, not 
only that the inflammable air is pernicious to animal 
life, but that it does not a£t on the body of an animal ; 
for I kept fome of them immerged in inflammable air, 
With the mouth only out of it, and did not perceive any 
effect hurtful to them. 
It being in this manner afcertained, that the inflam- 
mable air could not be breathed by animals with impu- 
nity, it ftill remained to find out the caufe of Mr. 
sheele’s miftake; I began therefore to breathe the in- 
flammable air contained in bladders, after the man- 
ner of Mr. sheele. The inflammable air ufed in my 
experiments was extracted from zinc and from iron by the 
action of the vitriolic acid, and it was received into blad- 
ders that were dry in the infide, but a little moift on the 
outfide. The quantity of air contained in each blad- 
der was about eighty cubic inches. The air coming 
out of the mattrafs pafled through about one inch of 
water before it went into the bladders. At firft I 
breathed 
