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Show 108 (/‘iuit‘ltisiit/l of Me First Purl. Conclusion of ibe First Pm'l. terics. I have seen nothinglike this vapour. Haller, speaking ofthe air of the blood, says, " Ita in reliquo humorc dissolutus, ut nulla eJus bulla adparcat." And experiments made on the blood, in the air-pump, by others, rather confirm mine. " Valde spumat in spafio inani urina et succus am- mi; in albuminc multus est aer; ex sanguine difficulter prodit Musschen- brocckio tcste." As to Galen's and lIippocratcs's doctrine, that the veins absorb air from the atmosphere, I have proved that they do not absorb any thing. That something from air enters the blood-vessels of the. lungs, and combines with the blood, is probable, from the change of colour it puts on as it passes through the lungs during respiration. How this is effected, I do not know. It is also probable, that the lymphatics ofthc skin take in something from the atmosphere. Professor Home found himself heavier in the morning than he wasjust before he went to bed in the preceding evening, though he had been perspiring all night, and had received nothing, either by the mouth, or in any other sensible way. The Abbé Fontana also informed me, that walking some hours in the open and damp air, immediately after the ope- ration of a purgative, that on returning borne, and weighing himself again, he was some ounces heavier; a circumstance which cannot so easily otherwise be accounted for, than by supposing an inhalation from the atmos- phere. The celebrated De Haen, finding that his dropsical patients filled equally fast, whether they were permitted to drink liquids or not, did not hesitate to assert, that they must absorb from the atmosphere. That the surface of the skin absorbs other fluids, which come in contact with it, I have not the least doubt. A patient of mine, with a stricture in the oeso- phagus, received nothing, either solid or liquid, into the stomach, for two months; he was exceedingly thirsty, and complained of making no water. I ordered him the warm bath, for an hour, evening and morning, for a :09 believe, first advanced by Mr. Hunter. That the solids are removed, ap- pears from the following facts, In young animals, the cavities of the cy- lindric bones enlarge as the bone enlarges, so that that cavity which was at first not so large as the cavity of a crow-quill, will afterwards receive one‘s finger, particularly in quadrupeds, bearing always the same proportion to the bulk of the bone; but this could not take place unless there was a power taking from the inside in proportion to the addition that was made on the outside. The same thing must take place in the cavity of the skull, which enlarges as the brain enlarges. It is not only in growing bodies that we observe this removal of the solids; we perceive it again in old age: there is then not only a general shrinking and wasting of the whole body, but, in particular, the alveolar processes are removed; the nose, for this reason, comes nearer the chin; there is a redundancy of the lips, and the tongue, in consequence of the cavity of the mouth having been so much diminished, and the speech, for these reasons, becomes indistinct. There are also other instances of the removal of solids in old people, that come less under common observation. The bones have then lost one fourth of their former weight, at least; a great part, therefore, of their substance must have been removed. That solids formed from disease are frequently removed, every body must have observed. A venereal node, for exam- ple, forms on the tibia, swells to a considerable size, and afterwards, from the use of mercury, disappears entirely. A testicle or a breast enlarges to double or quadruple the natural size, continues in this state for years, and afterwards returns to the. natural size. Ulceration takes place on the breast of a woman, and spreading destroys it entirely, and in this way almost any part may be removed. The solids, then, are either constantly clianging,or occasionally removed. Now ifthe lymphatics and lacteals remove fluids, it is extremely probable that they remove the solids also, and that they not month, his thirst vanished, and he made water in the same manner as when only bring in nutritious matter into the body, but have an equal share with he used to drink by the mouth, and when the fluid descended readily into the stomach. In the fourth place, these fluids are not only absorbed by these vessels, but we have the strongest reasons for believing that the solid parts of the the arteries in the disposing of it at last, and by that means cooperate with the arteries in giving shape to the solids in growing bodies. They body are also, on a variety of occasions, removed by them ; an Opinion, I believe, also in a manner take down the body in old age. They are the principal agents both in the ettre and removal of diseased solids. How those vessels remove solids is difficult to say. It is not easy to account for their mode of 2-5-: m-Th - agar..."v-fl "use." , » mu l t‘ {luau 'j,' |