| Show AIR WE BREATHE the following is a synopsis of a lecture delivered by professor kingsbury before a meeting of salt lake county school teachers the air we breathe envelops the earth and extends upwards from its surface fifty miles probably five hundred it consists mainly of oxygen and nitrogen in in small quantities carbonic add acid gas and watery vapor and in very minute quantities ozone hydrogen peroxide nitrous acid organic matter etc the oxygen is is the great supporter of combustion through its presence 0 animal life is enabled to exist in the bottle before you has been collected 1 some of this gas you will observe on al inserting a glowing taper into the bottle that the spark bursts out into a flame the nitrogen which acts as a has the opposite properties to oxygen it is a non supporter of combustion and is is incapable of maintaining life you observe that as the flame on the end of C this stick is brought into the bottle before you containing nitrogen it is extinguished tin gui shed carbonic ac acid i id gas as is is found in the atmosphere generah generally 1 in the proportion of four parts to ten thousand parts of air when it is increased to seven parts or more it then becomes detrimental to health this gas is the product of animal respiration As we inhale the air enters our lungs and the oxygen coming in contact with certain organic matter oxidizes it and produces carbonic acid gas as and water which are then expelled ellz irom the lungs as we exhale pa carbonic acid gas is is the principle food of vegetation vegetation absorbs this gas decomposes cle composes iland it and liberates oxygen animal life supplies food for the vegetable kingdom and vegetation ve provides oxygen for the animae animal kingdom carbonic acid gas is a non supporter of combustion and hence cannot maintain animal life by breathing into this glass jar thus and inserting a lighted taper into it you observe that the light is instant instantly ly extinguished this gas is not poisonous yet t it is detrimental to health when bound found in considerable quantities in the air as well as an indicator of the presence usually of injurious substances watery vapor always in larger or smaller quantities juan in the air should be present in amounts equal to about 66 seventy venty to seventy five percent of saturation ura tion for health ozone a different form of oxygen is one of the very active oxidizing constituents of the air it readily destroys organic matter in its f presence it is is found in the largest proportions in the country air and in the smallest amounts in and about large arty dirty cities this is necessarily so from the chef fact act that the organic matter in cities being quite abundant uses up the ozone this thi s important f gas as is brodu produced ced during electrical storms the electricity passing through the air changes some of the 0 oxygen into ozone hydrogen peroxide is another very active ingredient it oxidizes organic Aft iAtter tending therefore to destroy any vegetable or animal germs present it is the product of the oxidation of ammonia ammonia in the atmosphere by ozone nitrous acid is another substance destructive truc tive of organic germs and the product of a chemical action between oxygen and nitrogen brought about by electrical discharges during electrical storms or during any elect el ectrial riaT discharges through oxygen organic matter is found in larger or smaller quantities in the air depending upon the conditions present in cities where there are streets containing considerable sid erable dust much organic matter may be hurled into the air during wind storms if not kept down by sprinkling this may include disease germs along with other matter for in S ta lice in in naples doctor manfredi found in one gram of dust on one of the streets microbes mic robes on one of the best streets per gram and in one of the most filthy streets 5 microbes mic robes per gram in this dust there were several different disease germs it is quite important to have the streets sprinkled to allay the dust and thus to prevent as much as possible organic matter from rising in the air in and about our homes it is necessary to look well to the surrounding conditions in cellars underneath our dwelling houses no decaying organic matter should be allowed to remain for gases produced by its decay may either promote the growth of other organic matter animal or vegetable or through their presence deteriorate the air in our living rooms and render it unhealthful such cellars should have cemented floors and walls and these walls and the ceilings should be whitewashed with lime to disinfect them it is best to keep in the cellars cupboards and boxes in which to put away foods of different kinds and to occasionally take these from the cellars and wash them thoroughly great care should be bestowed upon our cellars especially when they are underneath our houses for whatever the air of those cellars is may determine more or less the kind of air per pervading adin our living rooms above floors should be hardwood if possible joints between the boards should be close so that dirt could find no lodging place where it might remain year after year the dirt which might thus accumulate is partly organic matter and might even be disease germs it not disease germs it might be such as would supply supply on decomposition com P position the kind of food fo necessary for t the he growth of these germs floors should be painted and oiled the latter being the better to thus prevent them from absorbing organic matter walls whitewashed are much more productive of health than those calci mined or papered neither calcimine nor paper is is permeable to air but the ordinary plaster is you will observe as I 1 blow through the stem of this thi S pipe i against the flame of the lamp that the air passes e s through the plaster contained pirt gass in in the e bowl and throws the flame to one side moreover the glue paste used both in the calcimine and for papering might undergo decomposition and thus become obnoxious besides this paper very frequently contains arsenic and sometimes in quite large quantities most all the green shades used in coloring the paper are ladeby made by arsenic compounds even in the white enameled paper arsenic to the amount of from fifteen to twenty five rains grains to the square foot has been found foun sometimes sickness of a long lingering undeterminable character is due to the arsenic dust coming from t the e wall paper if the walls are calca mined the ceilings should not be in order that the air might pass through them in laying up walls water used in making the mortar contains more or less organic matter which may become oxidized and destroyed in a short time provided the free passage of air through them is not impeded by calcimine or paper that otherwise might long remain and give rise to disease our houses should be well ventilated and especially our living and sleeping roo rooms ms our chimney flues should be well constructed have good strong draughts and the stoves used befree be free from cracks that the carbon monoxide which is such a deadly poison could not escape into our rooms carbon monoxide is that seen burning just above the surface of the hard coal with a pale blue flame minute quantities of the gas in the air we inhale will produce gas headache ea dache and additional quantities death it acts directly upon the haemoglobin the coloring matter of the red corpuscles corpus cles seles of the blood in our yards organic matter should be constantly collected burned or hauled away ashes usually should be kept kepi dry while about our premises as moisture coming in in contact with them produce ted hydrogen which is a food to low and destructive truc tive organic growths the air of our cities citie s should be tested to ascertain its condition with respect to gases and also organic matter sometimes in the vicinities of smelters shelters sm elters where obnoxious furnes fumes are g given iv en off arsenic copper copperhead lead etc are found und in quantities entirely too large manufactories Manu factories whose chemicals arp either being made or used should be carefully looked into by health officers because in some cases the air through these is found to become impregnated wi with th sulp sulphuric huri c and hydrochloric add acid fumes etc elci highly detrimental tu to health heath health officers should know enough to appreciate the importance of having all these things productive of sickness carefully considered by thorough physicians and chemists |
