254  ORGANIC  MATTER  OF  HUMAN  BREATH,  ETC. 
ON  THE   ORGANIC    MATTER   OF   HUMAN    BREATH  IN 
HEALTH  AND  DISEASE. 
By  Arthur  Ransome,  M.A. 
The  vapor  of  the  breath  was  condensed  in  a  large  glass  flask 
surrounded  bj  ice  and  salt,  by  which  a  temperature  several  de- 
grees below  zero  was  obtained.  The  fluid  collected  was  then 
analysed  for  free  ammonia,  urea  and  kindred  substances ;  and 
for  organic  ammonia — the  method  employed  being  that  invented 
by  Messrs.  Wanklyn  and  Chapman  for  water  analysis. 
The  breath  of  eleven  healthy  persons  and  of  17  aff'ected  by 
difi'erent  disorders  was  thus  examined,  and  the  results  were  given 
in  two  tables. 
The  persons  examined  were  of  difi*erent  sexes  and  ages,  and 
the  time  of  the  day  at  which  the  breath  was  condensed  varied. 
In  both  health  and  disease  the  free  ammonia  varied  consider- 
ably, and  the  variation  could  not  be  connected  with  the  time  of 
the  day,  the  fasting  or  full  condition.  Urea  was  sought  for  in 
fifteen  instances — three  healthy  persons  and  twelve  cases  of 
disease — but  it  was  only  found  in  two  cases  of  kidney  disease, 
in  one  case  of  diphtheria,  and  a  faint  indication  of  its  presence 
occurred  in  a  female  sufl"ering  from  catarrh. 
The  quantity  of  ammonia,  arising  from  the  destruction  of  or- 
ganic matter,  also  varied,  possibly  from  the  oxidation  of  albu- 
minous particles  by  the  process  of  respiration  ;  but  in  healthy 
persons  there  was  a  remarkable  uniformity  in  the  total  quantity  ' 
of  ammonia  obtained  by  the  process.  Amongst  adults  the  maxi- 
mum quantity  per  100  minims  of  fluid  was  0*45  of  a  milligramme, 
and  the  minimum  was  0*35. 
A  rough  calculation  was  given  of  the  total  quantity  of  organic 
matter  passing  from  the  lungs  in  twenty-four  hours — in  adults 
about  3  grs.  in  10  ozs.  of  aqueous  vapor,  a  quantity  small  in 
itself,  but  sufficient  to  make  this  fluid  highly  decomposable,  and 
ready  to  foster  the  growth  of  the  germs  of  disease. 
In  disease  there  was  much  greater  variation  in  the  amount 
and  kind  of  organic  matter  given  ofi*. 
In  three  cases  of  catarrh,  one  of  measles,  and  one  of  diphtheria, 
the  total  ammonia  obtained  was  much  less  than  in  health — less 
than  0*2  of  a  milligramme — a  result  probably  due  to  the  abund- 
