Chapter VI: ARCHITECTURE, ART, ETC.--Artist's Homes. No. 11. "Weirleigh." (5)

I have asserted that I can produce, from rapidly breathing common air at the rate of a hundred respirations a minute, a similar effect to that from ether, chloroform, and nitrous oxide gas, in their primary stages; and I can in this way render patients sufficiently insensible to acute pain from any operation where the time consumed is not over twenty to thirty seconds. While the special senses are in partial action, the sense of pain is obtunded, and in many cases completely annulled, consciousness and general sensibility being preserved.

To accomplish this, each patient must be instructed how to act and what to expect. As simple as it may seem, there is a proper and consistent plan to enable you to reach full success. Before the patient commences to inhale he is informed of the fact that, while he will be unconscious of pain, he will know full, or partially well, every touch upon the person; that the inhalation must be vigorously kept up during the whole operation without for an instant stopping; that the more energetically and steadily he breathes, the more perfect the effect, and that if he cease breathing during the operation, pain will be felt. Fully impress them with this idea, for the very good reason that they may stop when in the midst of an operation, and the fullest effects be lost. It is obligatory to do so on account of its evanescent effects, which demand that the patient be pushed by the operator's own energetic appeals to "go on." It is very difficult for any person to respire more than one hundred times to the minute, as he will become by that time so exhausted as not to be able to breathe at all, as is evidenced by all who have thus followed my directions. For the next minute following the completion of the operation the subject will not breathe more than once or twice. Very few have force enough left to raise hand or foot. The voluntary muscles have nearly all been subjugated and overcome by the undue effort at forced inhalation of one hundred over seventeen, the normal standard. It will be more fully understood further on in my argument why I force patients, and am constantly speaking to them to go on.

I further claim that for the past four years, so satisfactory has been the result of this system in the extracting of teeth and deadening extremely sensitive dentine, there was no longer any necessity for chloroform, ether, or nitrous oxide in the dental office. That such teeth as cannot be extracted by its aid can well be preserved and made useful, except in a very few cases, who will not be forced to breathe.

The anaesthetics, when used in major operations, where time is needed for the operation, can be made more effective by a lesser quantity when given in conjunction with "rapid breathing." Drs. Garrettson and Hews, who have thus tried it, tell me it takes one-half to three-fourths less, and the after effects are far less nauseating and unpleasant.

As an agent in labor where an anaesthetic is indicated, it is claimed by one who has employed it (Dr. Hews) in nearly every case for three years, he has used "rapid breathing" solely, and to the exclusion of chloroform and ether. For this I have his assertion, and have no doubt of it whatever, for if any agent could break down the action of the voluntary muscles of the parts involved, which prevent the involuntary muscles of the uterus from having their fullest effect, it is this. The very act of rapid breathing so affects the muscles of the abdomen as to force the contents of the uterus downward or outward, while the specific effect of the air at the end of a minute's breathing leaves the subject in a semi-prostrate condition, giving the uterus full chance to act in the interim, because free of the will to make any attempt at withholding the involuntary muscles of the uterus from doing their natural work. It is self evident; and in this agent we claim here a boon of inestimable value. And not least in such cases is, there is no danger of hemorrhage, since the cause of the effect is soon removed.

In attestation of many cases where it has been tried, I have asked the mother, and, in some cases, the attendants, whether anything else had been given, and whether the time was very materially lessened, there has been but one response, and that in its favor.

Gentlemen, if we are not mistaken in this, you will agree with me in saying that it is no mean thing, and should be investigated by intelligent men and reported upon. From my own knowledge of its effects in my practice, I am bound to believe this gentleman's record.

I further claim for it a special application in dislocations. It has certainly peculiar merits here, as the will is so nearly subjugated by it as to render the patient quite powerless to resist your effort at replacing, and at the same time the pain is subdued.

It is not necessary I should further continue special applications; when its _modus operandi_ is understood, its adaptation to many contingencies will of a sequence follow.

It is well just here, before passing to the next point of consideration, to answer a query which may arise at this juncture:

What are the successive stages of effects upon the economy from its commencement until the full effect is observed, and what proof have I that it was due to the amount of air inhaled?

The heart's action is not increased more than from seventy (the average) to eighty and sometimes ninety, but is much enfeebled, or throwing a lesser quantity of blood. The face becomes suffused, as in blowing a fire or in stooping, which continues until the breathing is suspended, when the face becomes paler. (Have not noticed any purple as from asphyxia by a deprivation of oxygen.) The vision becomes darkened, and a giddiness soon appears. The voluntary muscles furthest from the heart seem first to be affected, and the feet and hands, particularly the latter, have a numbness at their ends, which increases, until in many cases there is partial paralysis as far as the elbow, while the limbs become fixed. The hands are so thoroughly affected that, when open, the patient is powerless to close them and _vice versa_. There is a vacant gaze from the eyes and looking into space without blinking of the eyelids for a half minute or more. The head seems incapable of being held erect, and there is no movement of the arms or legs as is usual when in great pain. There is no disposition on the part of the patient to take hold of the operator's hand or interfere with the operation.

Many go on breathing mechanically after the tooth is removed, as if nothing had occurred. Some are aware that the tooth has been extracted, and say they felt it; others could not tell what had been accomplished. The majority of cases have an idea of what is being done, but are powerless to resist.

With the very intelligent, or those who stop to reason, I have to teach them the peculiarities of being sensible of touch and not of pain.

One very interesting case I will state. In extracting seven teeth for a lady who was very _unwilling_ to believe my statement as to touch and no pain, I first removed three teeth after having inhaled for one minute, and when fully herself, she stated that she could not understand why there was no pain while she was conscious of each one extracted; it was preposterous to believe such an effect could be possible, as her reason told her that there is connected with tooth extracting pain in the part, and of severe character, admitting, though, she felt no pain. She allowed one to be removed without anything, and she could easily distinguish the change, and exclaimed, "It is all the difference imaginable!" When the other three were extracted, there was perfect success again as with the first three.

One of the most marked proofs of the effects of rapid breathing was that of a boy of eleven years of age for whom I had to extract the upper and lower first permanent molars on each side. He breathed for nearly a minute, when I removed in about twenty seconds all four of the teeth, without a moment's intermission or the stopping the vigorous breathing; and not a murmur, sigh, or tear afterward.

He declared there was no pain, and we needed no such assertion, for there was not the first manifestation from him that he was undergoing such a severe operation.

Another case, the same day, when I had to extract the superior wisdom teeth on both sides for an intelligent young lady of eighteen years, where I had to use two pairs of forceps on each tooth (equivalent to extraction of four teeth), and she was so profoundly affected afterward that she could; not tell me what had been done other than that I had touched her four times. She was overcome from its effects for at least a minute afterward. She was delighted.

With such severe tests I fear very little the result in any case I can have them do as I bid.

There can be no mistake that there is a _specific action_ from something. It cannot be personal magnetism or mesmeric influence exerted by me, for such cases are rare, averaging about 10 per cent, only of all classes. Besides, in mesmeric influence the time has nothing to do with it; whereas, in my cases, it cannot last over a half minute or minute at most. It cannot be fear, as such cases are generally more apt to get hurt the worse. It is not diversion of mind alone, as we have an effect above it.

There is no better way of testing whether pain has been felt than by taking the lacerated or contused gums of the patient between the index finger and thumb and making a gentle pressure to collapse the alveolar borders; invariably, they will cry out lustily, _that is pain_! This gives undoubted proof of a specific agent. There is no attempt upon my _own_ part to exert any influence over my patients in any way other than that they shall believe what I say in regard to _giving_ them _no pain_ and in the following of my orders. Any one who knows how persons become mesmerized can attest that it was not the _operator who forces them under it against their will_, but it is a peculiar state into which any one who has within themselves this temperament can _place_ themselves where any one who knows how can have control. It is not the will of the operator. I therefore dismiss this as unworthy of consideration in connection with rapid breathing.

Then you may now ask, To what do I attribute this very singular phenomenon?

Any one who followed, in the earlier part of this paper, the course of the argument in my soliloquy, after twenty years had elapsed from my observation upon myself of the analgesic effects of chloroform, can almost give something of an answer.

That you may the more easily grasp what I shall say, I will ask you, If it be possible for any human being to make one hundred inhalations in a minute and the heart's action is not increased more than ten or twenty pulsations over the normal, what should be the effect upon the brain and nerve centers?

If the function of oxygen in common air is to set free in the blood, either in the capillaries alone, or throughout the whole of the arterial circulation, carbonic acid gas; and that it cannot escape from the system unless it do so in the lungs as it passes in the general current--except a trace that is removed by the skin and kidneys--and that the quantity of carbonic acid gas set free is in exact relation to the amount of oxygen taken into the blood, what effect _must be_ manifested where one hundred respirations in one minute are made--five or six times the normal number--while the heart is only propelling the blood a very little faster through the lungs, and _more feebly_--say 90 pulsations at most, when to be in proportion it should be 400 to 100 respirations to sustain life any length of time?

You cannot deny the fact that a definite amount of oxygen can be absorbed and is absorbed as fast as it is carried into the lungs, even if there be one hundred respirations to the minute, while the pulsations of the heart are only ninety! Nature has _made it_ possible to breathe so rapidly to meet any emergency; and we can well see its beautiful application in the normal action of both the heart and lungs while one is violently running.

What would result, and that very speedily, were the act of respiration to remain at the standard--say 18 or 20--when the heart is in violent action from this running? Asphyxia would surely end the matter! And why? The excessive exercise of the whole body is setting free from the tissues such an amount of excretive matter, and carbon more largely than all the others, that, without a relative action of the lungs to admit the air that oxygen may be absorbed, carbonic acid gas cannot be liberated through the lungs as fast as the waste carbon of the overworked tissues is being made by disassimilation from this excess of respiration.

You are already aware how small a quantity of carbonic acid in excess in the air will seriously affect life. Even 2 to 3 per cent, in a short time will prove fatal. In ordinary respiration of 20 to the minute the average of carbonic acid exhaled is 4.35.

From experiments long ago made by Vierordt--see Carpenter, p. 524--you will see the relative per cent, of carbonic acid exhaled from a given number of respirations. When he was breathing six times per minute, 5.5 per cent of the exhaled air was carbonic acid; twelve times, 4.2; twenty-four times, 3.3; forty-eight times, 3; ninety-six times, 2.6.

Remember this is based upon the whole number of respirations in the minute and not each exhalation--which latter could not be measured by the most minute method.

Let us deduct the minimum amount, 2.6 per cent, of carbonic acid when breathing ninety-six times per minute, from the average, at twenty per minute, or the normal standard, which is recorded in Carpenter, p. 524, as 4.35 per minute, and we have retained in the circulation nearly 2 per cent. of carbonic acid; that, at the average, would have passed off through the lungs without any obstruction, and life equalized; but it not having been thrown off as fast as it should have been, must, of necessity, be left to prey upon the brain and nerve centers; and as 2 to 3 per cent., we are told, will so poison the blood, life is imperiled and that speedily.

It is not necessary we should argue the point as to whether oxygen displaces carbonic acid in the tissues proper or the capillaries. The theory of Lavoisier on this point has been accepted.

We know furthermore, as more positive, that tissues placed in an atmosphere of oxygen will set free carbonic acid, and that carbonic acid has a paralyzing effect upon the human hand held in it for a short time. The direct and speedy effects of this acid upon the delicate nervous element of the brain is so well known that it must be accepted as law. One of the most marked effects is the suspension of locomotion of the legs and arms, and the direct loss of will power which must supervene before voluntary muscular inactivity, which amounts to partial paralysis in the hands or feet, or peripheral extremities of the same.

Now that we have sufficient evidence from the authorities that carbonic acid can be retained in the blood by excessive breathing, and enough to seriously affect the brain, and what its effects are when taken directly into the lungs in excess, we can enter upon what I have held as the most reasonable theory of the phenomenon produced by rapid breathing for analgesic purposes; which _theory_ was not _first_ conceived and the process made to yield to it, but the phenomenon was long observed, and from the repetition of the effects and their close relationship to that of carbonic acid on the economy, with the many experiments performed upon myself, I am convinced that what I shall now state will be found to substantiate my discovery. Should it not be found to coincide with what some may say is physiological truth, it will not invalidate the discovery itself; for of that I am far more positive than Harvey was of the discovery of the circulation of the blood; or of Galileo of the spherical shape of the earth. And I ask that it shall not be judged by my theory, but from the practice.

It should have as much chance for investigation as the theory of Julius Robert Mayer, upon which he founded, or which gave rise to the establishment of one of the most important scientific truths--"the conservation of energy," and finally the "correlation of forces," which theory I am not quite sure was correct, although it was accepted, and as yet, I have not seen it questioned.

In all due respect to him I quote it from the sketch of that remarkable man, as given in the _Popular Science Monthly_, as specially bearing on my discovery:

"Mayer observed while living in Java, that the _venous blood_ of some of his patients had a singularly bright red color. The observation riveted his attention; he reasoned upon it, and came to the conclusion that the brightness of the color was due to the fact that a less amount of oxidation was sufficient to keep up the temperature of the body in a hot climate than a cold one. The darkness of the venous blood he regarded as the visible sign of the energy of the oxidation."

My observation leads me to the contrary, that the higher the temperature the more rapid the breathing to get clear of the excess of carbon, and hence more oxygenation of the blood which will arterialize the venous blood, unless there is a large amount of carbonized matter from the tissues to be taken up.

Nor must it be denied because of the reasoning as presented to my mind by some outside influence in my soliloquy when I first exclaimed, "Nature's anaesthetic," where the argument as to the effects of nitrous oxide gas being due to an excess of oxygen was urged, and that common air breathed in excess would do the same thing.

I am not sure that _it_ was correct, for the effects of nitrous oxide is, perhaps, due to a deprivation of mechanically mixed air.

Knowing what I do of theory and practice, I can say with assurance that there is not a medical practitioner who would long ponder in any urgent case as to the thousand and one theories of the action of remedies; but would resort to the _practical_ experience of others and his own finally. (What surgeon ever stops to ask how narcotics effect their influence?) After nearly thirty years of association with ether and chloroform, who can positively answer as to their _modus operandi?_ It is thus with nearly the whole domain of medicine. It is not yet, by far, among the sciences, with immutable laws, such as we have in chemistry. Experimentation is giving us more specific knowledge, and "practice alone has tended to make perfect." (Then, gentlemen will not set at naught my assertion and practical results. When I have stated my case in full it is for _you_ to disprove both the theory and practice annunciated. So far as I am concerned I am responsible for both.)

You will please bear with me for a few minutes in my attempt at theory.

The annulling of pain, and, in some cases, its complete annihilation, can be accomplished in many ways. Narcotics, anaesthetics--local and internal--direct action of cold, and mesmeric or physiological influence, have all their advocates, and each _will surely_ do its work. There is one thing about which, I think, we can all agree, as to these agencies; unless the _will_ is partially and in some cases completely subjugated there can be no primary or secondary effect. The voluntary muscles must become wholly or partially paralyzed for the time. Telegraphic communication must be cut off from the brain, that there be no reflex action. It is not necessary there should be separate nerves to convey pleasure and pain any more than there should be two telegraphic wires to convey two messages.

If, then, we are certain of this, it matters little as to whether it was done by corpuscular poisoning and anaemia as from chloroform or hyperaemia from ether.

I think we are now prepared to show clearly the causes which effect the phenomena in "rapid breathing."

The first thing enlisted is the _diversion of the will force_ in the act of forced respiration at a moment when the heart and lungs have been in normal reciprocal action (20 respirations to 80 pulsations), which act could not be made and carried up to 100 respirations per minute without such concentrated effort that ordinary pain could make no impression upon the brain while this abstraction is kept up.

Second. There is a specific effect resulting from enforced respiration of 100 to the minute, due to the _excess of carbonic acid gas set free from the tissues_, generated by this enforced normal act of throwing into the lungs _five times_ the normal amount of oxygen in one minute demanded, when the heart has not been aroused to exalted action, which comes from violent exercise in running or where one is suddenly startled, which excess of carbonic acid cannot escape in the same ratio from the lungs, since the heart does not respond to the proportionate overaction of the lungs.

Third.--Hyperaemia is the last in this chain of effects, which is due to the excessive amount of air passing into the lungs preventing but little more than the normal quantity of blood from passing from the heart into the arterial circulation, but draws it up in the brain with its excess of carbonic acid gas to act also directly upon the brain as well as throughout the capillary and venous system, and as well upon the heart, the same as if it were suspended in that gas outside the body.

These are evident to the senses of any liberal observer who can witness a subject rapidly breathing.

Some ask why is not this same thing produced when one has been running rapidly for a few minutes? For a very good reason: in this case the rapid inhalations are preceded by the violent throes of the heart to propel the carbonized blood from the overworked tissues and have them set free at the lungs where the air is rushing in at the normal ratio of four to one. This is not an abnormal action, but is of necessity, or asphyxia would instantly result and the runner would drop. Such sometimes occurs where the runner exerts himself too violently at the very outset; and to do so he is compelled to hold his breath for this undue effort, and the heart cannot carry the blood fast enough. In this instance there is an approach to analgesia as from rapid breathing.

Let me take up the first factor--_diversion of will_--and show that nature invariably resorts to a sudden inhalation to prevent severe infliction of pain being felt. It is the panacea to childhood's frequent bruises and cuts, and every one will remember how when a finger has been hurt it is thrust into the mouth and a violent number of efforts at rapid inhalation is effected until ease comes. By others it is subdued by a fit of crying, which if you will but imitate the sobs, will find how frequently the respirations are made.

One is startled, and the heart would seem to jump out of the chest; in quick obedience to nature the person is found making a number of quick inhalations, which subdue the heart and pacify the will by diversion from the cause.

The same thing is observed in the lower animals. I will relate a case:

An elephant had been operated upon for a diseased eye which gave him great pain, for which he was unprepared, and he was wrathy at the keeper and surgeon. It soon passed off, and the result of the application was so beneficial to the animal that when brought out in a few days after, to have another touch of caustic to the part, he was prepared for them; and, just before the touch, he inflated the lungs to their fullest extent, which occupied more time than the effect of the caustic, when he made no effort at resistance and showed no manifestation of having been pained.

In many cases of extraction of the temporary teeth of children, I make them at the instant I grasp the tooth take _one_ very violent inhalation, which is sufficient. Mesmeric anaesthesia can well be classified under diversion or subjugation of the will, but can be effected in but a small percentage of the cases. To rely upon this first or primary effect, except in instantaneous cases, would be failure.

The second factor is the one upon which I can rely in such of the cases as come into my care, save when I cannot induce them to make such a number of respirations as is absolutely necessary. The _whole secret of success lies_ in the greatest number of respirations that can be effected in from 60 to 90 seconds, and that without any intermission. If the heart, by the _alow method of respiration_, is pulsating in ratio of four to one respiration, _no effect can be induced_.

When the respirations are, say, 100 to the minute, and made with all the energy the patient can muster, and are kept up while the operation is going on, there can hardly be a failure in the minor operations.

It is upon this point many of you may question the facts. Before I tried it for the first time upon my own person, I arrived at the same conclusion from a course of argument, that rapid breathing would control the heart's action and pacify it, and even reduce it below the normal standard under my urgent respirations.

In view of the many applications made I feel quite sure in my belief that, inasmuch as the heart's action is but slightly accelerated, though with less force from rapid breathing at the rate of 100 to the minute, there is such an excess of carbonic acid gas set free and crowding upon the heart and capillaries of the brain, without a chance to escape by the lungs, that it is the same to all intents as were carbonic acid breathed through the lungs in common air. Look at the result after this has been kept up for a minute or more? During the next minute the respirations are not more than one or two, and the heart has fallen really below, in some cases, the standard beat, showing most conclusively that once oxygenation has taken place and that the free carbonic acid gas has been so completely consumed, that there is no involuntary call through the pneumogastric nerve for a supply of oxygen.

If any physiological facts can be proven at all, then I feel quite sure of your verdict upon my side.

There is no one thing that goes so far to prove the theory of Lavoisier regarding the action of oxygen in the tissues and capillaries for converting carbon into carbonic acid gas instead of the lungs, as held prior to that time, and still held by many who are not posted in late experiments. At the time I commenced this practice I must confess I knew nothing of it. The study of my cases soon led me to the same theory of Lavoisier, as I could not make the phenomena agree with the old theory of carbonic acid generated only in the lungs.

When Vierordt was performing his experiments upon himself in rapid breathing from six times per minute to ninety-six, I cannot understand why he failed to observe and record what did certainly result--an extreme giddiness with muscular prostration and numbness in the peripheries of the hands and feet, with suffusion of the face, and such a loss of locomotion as to prevent standing erect without desiring support. Besides, the very great difference he found in the amount of carbonic acid retained in the circulation, the very cause of the phenomena just spoken of.

One thing comes in just here to account for the lack of respiration the minute after the violent effort. The residual air, which in a normal state is largely charged with carbonic acid, has been so completely exhausted that some moments are consumed before there is sufficient again to call upon the will for its discharge.

As to hyperaemia you will also assent, now that my second factor is explained; but it is so nearly allied to the direct effect of excessive respiration that we can well permit it to pass without argument. If hyperaemia _is present_, we have a more certain and rather more lasting effect.

In conclusion, I will attempt to prognosticate the application of this principle to the cure of many diseases of chronic nature, and especially tuberculosis; where from a diminished amount of air going into the lungs for want of capacity, and particularly for want of energy and inclination to breathe in full or excess, the tissues cannot get clear of their excrementitious material, and particularly the carbon, which must go to the lungs, this voluntary effort can be made frequently during the day to free the tissues and enable them to take nutritious material for their restoration to their standard of health.

Air will be found of far more value than ever before as one of the greatest of factors in nutrition, and which is as necessary as proper food, and without which every organization must become diseased, and no true assimilation can take place without a due amount of oxygen is hourly and daily supplied by this extra aid of volition which has been so long overlooked.

The pure oxygen treatment has certainly performed many cures; yet, when compared to the mechanical mixture and under the direct control of the will, at all times and seasons, there is no danger from excessive oxygenation as while oxygen is given. When every patient can be taught to rely upon this great safety valve of nature, there will be less need for medication, and the longevity of our race be increased with but little dread by mankind for that terrible monster consumption, which seems to have now unbounded control.

When this theory I have here given you to-night is fully comprehended by the medical world and taught the public, together with the kind of foods necessary for every one in their respective occupation, location, and climate, we may expect a vast change in their physical condition and a hope for the future which will brighten as time advances.

I herewith attach the sphygmographic tracings made upon myself by another, showing the state of the pulse as compared with the progress of the respiration.

ADDENDA.

Sphygmographic tracings of the pulse of the essayist. Normal pulse 60 to the minute. Ten seconds necessary for the slip to pass under the instrument.

A, A¹, normal pulse.

B, pulse taken after breathing rapidly for 15 seconds when 20 respirations had been taken.

C, rapid breathing for 30 seconds, 43 respirations.

D, " " 45 " 76 "

E, " " 60 " 96 " F, pulse taken after rapid breathing for one minute, as in E, where no respiration had as yet been taken after the essayist had kept it up for that one minute. This was after 10 seconds had intervened.

G, the same taken 50 seconds after, and still no respiration had been taken, the subject having no disposition to inhale, the blood having been over oxygenated.

The pulse in E shows after 96 respirations but 14, or 84 per minute, and the force nearly as in the normal at A, A1.

The record in B shows the force more markedly, but still normal in number.

F and G show very marked diminution in the force, but the number of pulsations not over 72 per minute; G particularly so, the heart needing the stimulus of the oxygen for full power.

The following incident which has but very recently been made known, gives most conclusive evidence of the truth of the theory and practice of rapid breathing.

A Mexican went into the office of a dentist in one of the Mexican cities to have a tooth extracted by nitrous oxide gas.

The dentist was not in, and the assistant was about to permit the patient to leave without removing the tooth, when the wife of the proprietor exclaimed that she had often assisted her husband in giving the gas, and that she would do so in this instance if the assistant would agree to extract the tooth. It was agreed. All being in readiness, the lady turned on as she supposed the gas, and the Mexican patient was ordered to breathe as fast as possible to make sure of the full effect and no doubt of the final success. The assistant was about to extract, but the wife insisted on his breathing more rapidly, whereupon the patient was observed to become very dark or purple in the face, which satisfied the lady that the full effect was manifested, and the tooth was extracted, to the great satisfaction of all concerned. While the gas was being taken by the Mexican the gasometer was noticed to rise higher and higher as the patient breathed faster, and not to sink as was usual when the gas had been previously administered. This led to an investigation of the reason of such an anomalous result, when to their utter surprise they found the valve was so turned by the wife that the Mexican had been breathing nothing but common air, and instead of exhaling into the surrounding air he violently forced it into the gasometer with the nitrous oxide gas, causing it to rise and not sink, which it should have done had the valve been properly turned by the passage of gas into the lungs of the patient.

No more beautiful and positive trial could happen, and might not again by accident or inadvertence happen again in a lifetime.

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TAP FOR EFFERVESCING LIQUIDS.

When a bottle of any liquor charged with carbonic acid under strong pressure, such as champagne, sparkling cider, seltzer water, etc., is uncorked, the contents often escape with considerable force, flow out, and are nearly all lost. Besides this, the noise made by the popping of the cork is not agreeable to most persons. To remedy these inconveniences there has been devised the simple apparatus which we represent in the accompanying cut, taken from _La Nature_. The device consists of a hollow, sharp-pointed tube, having one or two apertures in its upper extremity which are kept closed by a hollow piston fitting in the interior of the tube. This tube, or "tap," as it may be called, is supported on a firm base to which is attached a draught tube, and a small lever for actuating the piston. After the tap has been thrust through the cork of the bottle of liquor the contents may be drawn in any quantity and as often as wanted by simply pressing down the lever with the finger; this operation raises the piston so that its apertures correspond with those in the sides of the top, and the liquid thus finds access to the draught tube through the interior of the piston. By removing the pressure the piston descends and thus closes the vents. By means of this apparatus, then, the contents of any bottle of effervescing liquids may be as easily drawn off as are those contained in the ordinary siphon bottles in use.

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CHEMICAL SOCIETY, LONDON, JAN. 20, 1881.

PROF. H.E. ROSCOE, President, in the Chair.

Mr. Vivian Lewes read a paper on "_Pentathionic Acid_." In March last the author, at the suggestion of Dr. Debus, undertook an investigation of pentathionic acid, the existence of which has been denied. The analyses of the liquid obtained by Wackenroder and others, by passing sulphureted hydrogen and sulphur dioxide through water, are based on the assumption that only one acid is present in the solution, and consequently do not establish the existence of pentathionic acid; as, for example, a mixture of one molecule of H_2S_4O_6 and one molecule of H_2S_6O_6 would give the same analytical results as H_2S_5O_6. Moreover, no salt of pentathionic acid has been prepared in a pure state. The author has succeeded in preparing barium pentathionate thus: A Wackenroder solution was about half neutralized with barium hydrate, filtered, and the clear solution evaporated _in vacuo_ over sulphuric acid. After eighteen days crystals, which proved to be barium pentathionate + 3 molecules of water, formed. These crystals were separated, and the liquid further evaporated, when a second crop was obtained intermediate in composition between the tetra and pentathionate. These were separated, and the mother-liquor on standing deposited some oblong rectangular crystals. These on analysis proved to consist of baric pentathionate with three molecules of water. This salt dissolves readily in cold water; the solution is decomposed by strong potassic hydrate, baric sulphite, hyposulphites, and sulphur being formed. By a similar method of procedure the author obtained potassium pentathionate, anhydrous, and with one or two molecules of water. The author promises some further results with some other salts of the higher thionates.

The president said that the society had to thank the author for a very complete research on the subject of pentathionic acid. He, however, begged to differ from him as to his statements concerning the researches of Messrs. Takamatsu and Smith; in his opinion these authors had proved the existence of pentathionic acid. He hoped that the crystals (which were very fine) would be measured.

Dr. Debus said that no one had previously been able to make the salts of pentathionic acid, and expressed his sense of the great merit due to the author for his perseverance and success. The paper opened up some highly interesting theoretical speculations as to the existence of hexathionic acid. If potassium tetrathionate was dissolved in water it could be re-crystallized, but potassium pentathionate under similar circumstances splits into sulphur and tetrathionate; but a mixture of tetrathionate and pentathionate can be re-crystallized. It seemed as if the sulphur when eliminated from the pentathionate combined with the tetrathionate.

Dr. Dupré asked Dr. Debus how it was that a molecule of pentathionate could be re-crystallized, whereas two molecules of pentathionate, which should, when half decomposed, furnish a molecule of tetra and a molecule of pentathionate, could not.

Dr. Armstrong then read a _"Preliminary Note on some Hydrocarbons from Rosin Spirit."_ After giving an account of our knowledge of rosin spirit, the author described the result of the examination of the mixture of hydrocarbons remaining after heating it with sulphuric acid and diluting with half its volume of water and steam distilling. Thus treated rosin spirit furnishes about one-fourth of its volume of a colorless mobile liquid, which after long-continued fractional distillation is resolved into a variety of fractions boiling at temperatures from 95° to over 180°. Each of the fractions was treated with concentrated sulphuric acid, and the undissolved portions were then re-fractionated. The hydrocarbons dissolved by the acid were recovered by heating under pressure with hydrochloric acid. Besides a cymene and a toluene, which have already been shown to exist in rosin spirit, metaxylene was found to be present. The hydrocarbons insoluble in sulphuric acid are, apparently, all members of the C_nH_{2n} series; they are not, however, true homologues of ethylene, but hexhydrides of hydrocarbons of the benzene series. Hexhydro-toluene and probably hex-hydrometaxylene are present besides the hydrocarbon, C_10H_20, but it is doubtful if an intermediate term is also present. It is by no means improbable, however, that these hydrocarbons are, at least in part, products of the action of the sulphuric acid. Cahours and Kraemer's and Godzki's observations on the higher fractions of crude wood spirit, in fact, furnish a precedent for this view. Referring to the results obtained by Anderson, Tilden, and Renard, the author suggests that rosin spirit perhaps contains hydrides intermediate in composition between those of the C_nH_{2n-6} and C_nH_{2n} series, also derived like the latter from hydrocarbons of the benzene series. Finally, Dr Armstrong mentioned that the volatile portion of the distillate from the non-volatile product of the oxidation of oil of turpentine in moist air furnishes ordinary cymene when treated in the manner above described. The fact that rosin spirit yields a different cymene is, he considers, an argument against the view which has more than once been put forward, that rosin is directly derived from terpene. Probably resin and turpentine, though genetically related, are products of distinct processes.

The next paper was _"On the Determination of the Relative Weight of Single Molecules,"_ by E. Vogel, of San Francisco. This paper, which was taken as read, consists of a lengthy theoretical disquisition, in which the author maintains the following propositions: That the combining weights of all elements are one third of their present values; the assumption that equal volumes of gases contain equal numbers of molecules does not hold good; that the present theory of valency is not supported by chemical facts, and that its elimination would be no small gain for chemistry in freeing it of an element full of mystery, uncertainty, and complication; that the distinction between atoms and molecules will no longer be necessary; that the facts of specific heat do not lend any support to the theory of valency. The paper concludes as follows: "The cause of chemical action is undoubtedly atmospheric pressure, which under ordinary conditions is equal to the weight of 76 cubic centimeters of mercury, one of which equals 6.145 mercury molecules, so that the whole pressure equals 467 mercury molecules. This force--which with regard to its chemical effect on molecules can be multiplied by means of heat--is amply sufficient to bring about the highest degree of molecular specific gravity by the reduction of the molecular volumes. To it all molecules are exposed and subjected unalterably, and if not accepted as the cause of chemical action, its influence has to be eliminated to allow the introduction and display of other forces."

The next communication was _"On the Synthetical Production of Ammonia, by the Combination of Hydrogen and Nitrogen in Presence of Heated Spongy Platinum (Preliminary Notice),"_ by G. S. Johnson. Some experiments, in which pure nitrogen was passed over heated copper containing occluded hydrogen, suggested to the author the possibility of the formation of ammonia; only minute traces were formed. On passing, however, a mixture of pure nitrogen (from ammonium nitrite) and hydrogen over spongy platinum at a low red heat, abundant evidence was obtained of the synthesis of ammonia. The gases were passed, before entering the tube containing the platinum, through a potash bulb containing Nessler reagent, which remained colorless. On the contrary, the gas issuing from the platinum rapidly turned Nessler reagent brown, and in a few minutes turned faintly acid litmus solution blue; the odor of NH_3 was also perceptible. In one experiment 0.0144 gramme of ammonia was formed in two hours and a half. The author promises further experiment as to the effect of temperature, rate of the gaseous current, and substitution of palladium for platinum. The author synthesized some ammonia before the Society with complete success.

The President referred to the synthesis of ammonia from its elements recently effected by Donkin, and remarked that apparently the ammonia was formed in much larger quantities by the process proposed by the author of the present paper.

Mr. Warington suggested that some HCl gas should be simultaneously passed with the nitrogen and hydrogen, and that the temperature of the spongy platinum should be kept just below the temperature at which NH_3 dissociates, in order to improve the yield of NH_3.

_"On the Oxidation of Organic Matter in Water"_ by A. Downes. The author considers that the mere presence of oxygen in contact with the organic matter has but little oxidizing action unless lowly organisms, as bacteria, etc. be simultaneously present. Sunlight has apparently considerable effect in promoting the oxidation of organic matter. The author quotes the following experiment: A sample of river water was filtered through paper. It required per 10,000 parts 0.236 oxygen as permanganate. A second portion was placed in a flask plugged with cotton wool, and exposed to sunlight for a week; it then required 0.200. A third portion after a week, but excluded from light, required 0.231. A fourth was boiled for five minutes, plugged, and then exposed to sunlight for a week; required 0.198. In a second experiment with well water a similar result was obtained; more organic matter was oxidized when the organisms had been killed by the addition of sulphuric acid than when the original water was allowed to stand for an equal length of time. The author also discusses the statement made by Dr. Frankland that there is less ground for assuming that the organized and living matter of sewage is oxidized in a flow of twelve miles of a river than for assuming that dead organic matter is oxidized in a similar flow.--_Chem. News._

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ROSE OIL, OR OTTO OF ROSES.

By CHARLES G. WARNFORD LOCK.

This celebrated perfume is the volatile essential oil distilled from the flowers of some varieties of rose. The botany of roses appears to be in a transition and somewhat unsatisfactory state. Thus the otto-yielding rose is variously styled _Rosa damascena, R. sempervirens, R. moschata, R. gallica, R. centifolia, R. provincialis_. It is pretty generally agreed that the kind grown for its otto in Bulgaria in the damask rose (_R. damascena_), a variety induced by long cultivation, as it is not to be found wild. It forms a bush, usually three to four feet, but sometimes six feet high; its flowers are of moderate size, semi-double, and arranged several on a branch, though not in clusters or bunches. In color, they are mostly light-red; some few are white, and said to be less productive of otto.

The utilization of the delicious perfume of the rose was attempted, with more or less success, long prior to the comparatively modern process of distilling its essential oil. The early methods chiefly in vogue were the distillation of rose-water, and the infusion of roses in olive oil, the latter flourishing in Europe generally down to the last century, and surviving at the present day in the South of France. The butyraceous oil produced by the distillation of roses for making rose-water in this country is valueless as a perfume; and the real otto was scarcely known in British commerce before the present century.

The profitable cultivation of roses for the preparation of otto is limited chiefly by climatic conditions. The odoriferous constitutent of the otto is a liquid containing oxygen, the solid hydrocarbon or stearoptene, with which it is combined, being absolutely devoid of perfume. The proportion which this inodorous solid constituents bears to the liquid perfume increases with the unsuitability of the climate, varying from about 18 per cent. in Bulgarian oil, to 35 and even 68 per cent. in rose oils distilled in France and England. This increase in the proportion of stearoptene is also shown by the progressively heightened fusing-point of rose oils from different sources: thus, while Bulgarian oil fuses at about 61° to 64° Fahr., an Indian sample required 68° Fahr.; one from the South of France, 70° to 73° Fahr.; one from Paris, 84° Fahr.; and one obtained in making rose-water in London, 86° to 89½° Fahr. Even in the Bulgarian oil, a notable difference is observed between that produced on the hills and that from the lowlands.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the culture of roses, and extraction of their perfume, should have originated in the East. Persia produced rose-water at an early date, and the town of Nisibin, north-west of Mosul, was famous for it in the 14th century. Shiraz, in the 17th century, prepared both rose water and otto, for export to other parts of Persia, as well as all over India. The Perso-Indian trade in rose oil, which continued to possess considerable importance in the third quarter of the 18th century, is declining, and has nearly disappeared; but the shipments of rose-water still maintain a respectable figure. The value, in rupees, of the exports of rose-water from Bushire in 1879, were--4,000 to India, 1,500 to Java, 200 to Aden and the Red Sea, 1,000 to Muscat and dependencies, 200 to Arab coast of Persian Gulf and Bahrein, 200 to Persian coast and Mekran, and 1,000 to Zanzibar. Similar statistics relating to Lingah, in the same year, show--Otto: 400 to Arab coast of Persian Gulf, and Bahrein; and 250 to Persian coast and Mekran. And Bahrein--Persian Otto: 2,200 to Koweit, Busrah, and Bagdad. Rose-water: 200 to Arab coast of Persian Gulf, and 1,000 to Koweit, Busrah, and Bagdad.

India itself has a considerable area devoted to rose-gardens, as at Ghazipur, Lahore, Amritzur, and other places, the kind of rose being _R. damascena_, according to Brandis. Both rose-water and otto are produced. The flowers are distilled with double their weight of water in clay stills; the rose-water (_goolabi pani_) thus obtained is placed in shallow vessels, covered with moist muslin to keep out dust and flies, and exposed all night to the cool air, or fanned. In the morning, the film of oil, which has collected on the top, is skimmed off by a feather, and transferred to a small phial. This is repeated for several nights, till almost the whole of the oil has separated. The quantity of the product varies much, and three different authorities give the following figures: (_a_) 20,000 roses to make 1 rupee's weight (176 gr.) of otto; (_b_) 200,000 to make the same weight; (_c_) 1,000 roses afford less than 2 gr. of otto. The color ranges from green to bright-amber, and reddish. The oil (otto) is the most carefully bottled; the receptacles are hermetically sealed with wax, and exposed to the full glare of the sun for several days. Rose water deprived of otto is esteemed much inferior to that which has not been so treated. When bottled, it is also exposed to the sun for a fortnight at least.

The Mediterranean countries of Africa enter but feebly into this industry, and it is a little remarkable that the French have not cultivated it in Algeria. Egypt's demand for rose-water and rose-vinegar is supplied from Medinet Fayum, south-west of Cairo. Tunis has also some local reputation for similar products. Von Maltzan says that the rose there grown for otto is the dog-rose (_R. canina_), and that it is extremely fragrant, 20 lb. of the flower yielding about 1 dr. of otto. Genoa occasionally imports a little of this product, which is of excellent quality. In the south of France rose gardens occupy a large share of attention, about Grasse, Cannes, and Nice; they chiefly produce rose-water, much of which is exported to England. The essence (otto) obtained by the distillation of the Provence rose (_R. provincialis_) has a characteristic perfume, arising, it is believed, from the bees transporting the pollen of the orange flowers into the petals of the roses. The French otto is richer in stearoptene than the Turkish, nine grammes crystallizing in a liter (1¾ pint) of alcohol at the same temperature as 18 grammes of the Turkish. The best preparations are made at Cannes and Grasse. The flowers are not there treated for the otto, but are submitted to a process of maceration in fat or oil, ten kilos. of roses being required to impregnate one kilo. of fat. The price of the roses varies from 50c. to 1 fr. 25c. per kilo.