PRESFR-
VATION
OF MARINERS'..
Prieftley)' and o f fuch air as will not fupport the flame o f a candle..
This empyreal air Mr. Scheele, * has proved to be compounded
o f a very fubtle acid and a phlogifton. Confequently in every
inhalation, the common air yields to the blood its empyreal part,,
which contains a good deal o f phlogifton, and leaves the reft unfit
for refpiration. T h e empyreal air adls as an ether, or dulcified;
acid upon the lungs and the heart, and confequently as a gentle:
ftimulus.. Were the' acid too prevalent in its eompofition, i t
would caufe convulfions, and too much phlogifton would likewife
be hurtful, as we fhall fhew in the fequel.. T h e dulcified acid or-
ethereal air- is therefore- found the moft convenient. All. the
operations o f our body are produced either by. chemical.precedes or.
by mechanical powers, or both. Th e empyreal air, on account of
its dulcified acid, {Emulates the heart, and caufes its continual motion,
and on account o f its phlogifton entertains and diffufes that
natural heat, which is abfolutely neceifary for the fun&ions o f
life-
A ll organic bodies both animal and vegetable confift o f an acid,,
fome phlogifton and abforbent earth. T h e proportions o f the
integrant parts vary, and are fometimes. modified by additions e f
fome other fubftances- The. addition of food and the attradion of.
juices;
* Chemical Treatife on Air. and Eire, by Charles William Scheele, Upfala, odara,
1777. .(written in German),-
juices by the roots, arei the means of increafing the growth and preser-
fupporting the life both of vegetables and animals. All animal
bodies require a continual fupply o f food, from whence both by a ners.
chemical and mechanical operation juices are extra&ed }'■ ' which are
aflimilated as much as poflible to thofe contained in the body, and
rendered nearly homogeneous to its conftituent parts; thefe juices
circulate in the form o f blood through the body, and gradually form
a fecretion o f various parts, conftantly depofiting infenfible atoms
o f matter, replacing continually thofe atoms which are inceflantly
wafted by.perfpiration, and friftion, by labour, walking, &c. Thefe
atoms depofited by the blood and other juices are analogous to the
mixtures, contained in the various fubftances employed as food; if
therefore the acid particles prevail in the nourifhment, it is an Acidulated
diet; i f the phlogifton is moft copious, it yields a phlogiftic
diet', and i f the abforbents and alkalies preponderate it becomes an
alkaline diet. Health depends partly on the juft medium-or mixture
between the various diets : for according as the quality o f the
diet prevails in the food, fo muft the juices be changed which are
circulating in the body, and which afterwards conftitute the fslids.
I f the acids prevail, the fibres o f the body become too crifp and
much inclined to convulfive fymptoms ; i f the phlogifton becomes too
copious, inflammatory and eruptive difeafes may be apprehended, and
i f the alkaline parts are the chief ingredients o f our food, putrid
4 K difeafes