^'"De'^!''i'875^''"  }    Development  of  the  Chemical  Arts.  553 
asphyxia,  from  want  of  air,  or  from  the  inspiration  of  pernicious  gases, 
oxygen  gas  may  be  inhaled  with  advantage.  From  the  same  reasons, 
it  has  been  recommended  in  spasmodic  asthma  attended  with  danger  of 
suffocation.  Still  it  is,  at  the  best,  a  mere  palliative,  and  can  by  no 
means  prevent  renewed  attacks.  If  we  consider,  in  the  application  of 
oxygen  gas,  its  physical  action,  as  already  discussed,  we  shall  readily 
conclude  that  the  inspiration  of  oxygen  is  in  most  cases  useless,  and 
that  but  little — and  only  in  few  cases — can  be  expected  from  its  thera- 
peutical application." 
Nevertheless,  an  Inhalatorium,"  recently  opened  in  Berlin,  sells 
oxygen  at  6  silver  groschen  per  cubic  foot  (20  marks  per  cubic  metre), 
and  oxygenated  water  at  silver  groschen  per  bottle.*  As  water  at 
0°  does  not  absorb  4  per  cent,  of  its  volume,  a  half-litre  bottle  does  not 
contain  20  c.c.  or  0*0017  grm.  of  the  gas  !  To  expect  any  effect 
from  such  a  dose  appears  irrational. 
Just  as  concentrated  food  is  recommended  for  travelers,  so  oxygen 
has  been  proposed  to  be  inhaled  by  those  who  climb  the  highest  sum- 
mits of  mountains  or  attain  altitudes  in  balloons  where  the  rarefaction 
of  the  atmosphere  occasions  dangerous  affections. f  P.  Bert  J  has  ex- 
posed himself  and  others,  in  a  suitable  apparatus,  to  dilutions  of  air  far 
surpassing  that  encountered  at  the  greatest  altitudes  hitherto  reached. 
The  difficulty  of  breathing  and  the  symptoms  of  suffocation  which  ap- 
peared when  the  barometer  indicated  300  to  250  m.m.  were  relieved, 
according  to  his  account,  by  a  single  inspiration  of  pure  oxygen.  Dilu- 
tion of  oxygen  with  atmospheric  air  was  found  more  advantageous  than 
the  pure  gas and  on  a  balloon  voyage  which  Croce-Spinelli  and  Sivel 
undertook  from  Paris,  March  22d,  1874,  they  took  with  them  mixtures 
of  45  and  75  per  cent,  of  oxygen  (and  therefore  55  and  25  of  nitrogen). 
With  the  aid  of  this  mixture  they  were  able  to  conduct  valuable  physi- 
cal observations  at  leisure,  and  without  bodily  inconvenience,  at  the 
height  of  more  than  6,000  metres  ;  and  although  Glaisher  succeeded, 
without  this  auxiliary,  in  attaining  still  greater  heights,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  oxygen  gas  affords  the  means  of  exploring  atmospheric  regions 
hitherto  unknown. 
The  physiological  applications  of  oxygen  lead  us  naturally  to  that 
modification  which  bears  the  name  of  ozone,  with  which,  in  the  out- 
set, high  therapeutical  hopes  were  connected. 
*  Eight  silver  groschen=four-fifths  of  a  shilling  sterling.=i9  cents, 
f  Fonvielle,  "  La  Science  en  Ballon  ;  "  Paris,  1869. 
X  Bert,  "  Comptes  Rendus,"  i874,p.  911. 
