Medical Extracts: On the Nature of Health, with Practical Observations and ... - Google Bøger

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{All Poifons deftroy Irritability,

Whether OxYGEN be THE PRINCIPLE OF

385

ib.

SECT. XXXVI. OF OXYGEN AS THE PRIN-

CIPLE OF IRRITABILITY.

Perhaps from the New Chemistry, which is daily unfolding,

the profoundest Secrets of Nature, and, among the Rest,

the delicate Play of living Machinery, a method may

be devised of restoring IRRITABILITY to the System, 382

{Is fo falutary a Revolution in Medicine possible?

I do not know, fays Dr. BEDDOES, but it is worth while

The conftituent Principles of Vegetables are,

3. CARBON,

The TWO FIRST PRINCIPLES have a great
Affinity for CALORIC, or the Matter of
Heat; while the THIRD, the CARBON, is
a more fixed Principle,

But in a red Heat (instead of the HYDROGEN
and OXYGEN escaping in the Form of Gas,
leaving behind the CARBON) the OXYGEN
cleaves to the CARBON, and thefe efcape
in the Form of FIXED AIR,

ib.

383

ib.

Thefe Phænomena appear after Death, but in a
State of Health, it is reasonable to suppose,
that these Elements remain (from the
living Powers which repair, and throw off
Superfluities) in a State of EQILIBRIUM Or
REST, and therefore Plants contain neither
Oil, or Water, or Fixed Air, but only the
ELEMENTS of all these Substances,

{A Note to prevent a Misconception of LAVOISIER's Idea,

To illuftrate further this Idea, we have

1ft. A full Relation of an Experiment

wherein a moderate Degree of Heat was em-

ployed; and 2d. An Experiment wherein

a red Heat was employed,

ib,

That Vegetables are composed of, 1. HYDROGEN, 2. Ox-
YGEN, and 3. CARBON, may be alfo proved by
Synthefis, -

If you put a Pea into a Phial containing only Water, it
will shoot out, and branch itself into Foliage,

This cannot arise from the Extenfion of Parts; for though

a Guinea may be beat out to cover a small Room, yet

will it have no Increase of Weight. Here it has evident-

ly acquired fomething, and the Question then naturally

prefents itself, "WHENCE THIS ADDITION?"

The Pea was exposed to nothing but WATER (Hydrogen

and Oxygen), AIR filled with animal Effluvia, and

FIXED AIR (Carbon and Oxygen): Its growth there-

fore proceeded from the Decompofition and proper Adjust-

ment of these three Elements,

ib.

ib.

As

As large Quantities of Marble, and whole Mountains, are

formed from the Exuviæ or Shells of Marine Animals,

fo do we here fee that whole Forests of the most folid

Oaks arise from the WATER of the Earth and Heaven,

and the FIXED AIK thrown off from the Combustion of

the Body, and other organized substances,

-Thefe Truths, equally new as they are fimple, recal us to

the FIRST CAUSE, who, by differently combining a

few fimple Bodies, has infinitely diverfified the Nature

and Appearance of Things,

-Some Years back, and this Doctrine would have been look-

ed upon as the Dream of a Vifionist, so opposed is TRUE

PHILOSOPHY often to the ordinary Conceptions of Man-

The Play of Affinities is ftill more complicated

in those Plants which contain Azotic Air,

as the cruciform Plants, and in those which

contain Phofporus; but as these Substances

enter into combination only in a small

Quantity, they do not produce great

Changes, at least apparently, in the Phæ-
nomena of Distillation,

ANIMAL MATTER being compounded of the

fame Principles as the cruciform Plants,

give nearly the fame Results in Diftilla-

tion;
but as they contain more Hydrogen

and more Azotic Air, they furnish larger

Quantities of OIL (Hydrogen and Carbon)

and VOLATILE ALKALI (Azot and Hydro-

ib.

In

In Vegetables and Animals there is an express

Organization of Parts, fubfervient to the

Purposes of the SUBLIMEST CHEMIS-

{Thefe alter the Fluids that pass through them,

That the living organized Machinery accomplishes all these

Wonders, as they seem to us, we have a beautiful Ex-

ample in the Procefs of ENGRAFTING, where the four

Juices of a Crab, by paffing through the CHEMICAL

APPARATUS of the engrafted Part is made to produce

the most delicious Fruit,

{A Species of Ingrafting has been performed on Animals,

Are we staggered that a FEW PRINCIPLES, differently

modified by Chemical Processes, fhould produce fuch an

immenfe Variety,

-Here the young Student in Chemistry is reminded that,

1 Part Oxygen, with 4 of Azotic Air, loosely combined

and fufpended by Caloric, is ATMOSPHERIC

4 Parts Oxyg n, and 1 of Azot, in a State of closer

Combination, fufpended by Caloric, is NITROUS

The Former of which, being blended with Water, is the

Beverage of common Life,

The Latter, being combined with Water, is AQUAFORTIS,

which corrodes and destroys every Thing.-So much

do the Nature of Things depend on the Proportions and

Combinations of the FIRST ELEMENTS,

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