881. An account has been given ([439]) of the experiments, which prove that the lungs also constantly exhale a quantity of azote.
882. It has been further shown ([469]) that, together with the carbonic acid, which passes off in the inspired air, there is always present a quantity of aqueous vapour. This aqueous vapour is not visible at the ordinary temperature of the air in its ordinary hygrometric state, because the water is then dissolved in the air, and is carried off in the form of invisible vapour; but it becomes abundantly manifest at a low temperature, or when the air is loaded with moisture. By the removal of this aqueous vapour, the lungs assist the skin in the depuration of the blood. The water transpired by the lungs, like that perspired through the skin, is separated from the blood by a true and proper secretion constituting the pulmonary transudation. It is commonly estimated that the lungs exhale about one-third as much as the skin, or fifteen ounces daily. Dalton estimates it at twenty-four ounces.
883. These estimates of the quantity of fluid lost by cutaneous and pulmonary transpiration relate to the quantities lost at the ordinary external temperatures in which the human body is placed. The quantity lost when the body is exposed to an elevated temperature is prodigiously increased. It did not occur to the physiologists, whose experiments have been detailed (492, et seq.), to ascertain this by causing themselves to be accurately weighed immediately before they entered their heated chamber and immediately after they left it. Having heard that the loss daily sustained by the workmen employed in gas-works is very extraordinary, I endeavoured to ascertain the amount of it with exactness. This I have been enabled to accomplish by the assistance of Mr. Monro, the manager of the Phœnix Gas Works, and of Mr. Cooper. The following are the experiments by which this has been ascertained.
EXPERIMENT I.—November 18, 1836, at the Phœnix Gas Works, Bankside, London.
884. Eight of the workmen regularly employed at this establishment in drawing and charging the retorts and in making up the fires, which labour they perform twice every day, commonly for the space of one hour, were accurately weighed in their clothes immediately before they began and after they had finished their work. On this occasion they continued at their work exactly three-quarters of an hour. In the interval between the first and second weighing, the men were allowed to partake of no solid or liquid, nor to part with either. The day was bright and clear, with much wind. The men worked in the open air, the temperature of which was 60° Farh. The barometer 29° 25´ to 29° 4´.
| Weight of the Men before they began their work. | Weight of the Men after they had finished their work. | Loss. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cwt. | qr. | lbs. | oz. | cwt. | qr. | lbs. | oz. | lbs. | oz. | |
| Michael Griffiths | 1 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| John Kenny | 1 | 0 | 26 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| John Ives | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| James Finnigan | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| William Hummerson | 1 | 0 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 12 |
| Timothy Frawley | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 14 |
| Patrick Nearey | 1 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| Bryan Glynon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
Experiment II.—Nov. 25, 1836.
885. Day foggy, with scarcely any wind. Temperature of the air 39° Farh., barometer 29° 8´. On this occasion the men continued at their labour one hour and a quarter.
| Before. | After. | Loss. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cwt. | qr. | lbs. | oz. | cwt. | qr. | lbs. | oz. | lbs. | oz. | |
| Patrick Murphy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| John Broderick | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Michael Macarthy | 1 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Michael Griffiths | 1 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| James Finnigan | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 8 |
| Bryan Duffy | 1 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| John Didderick | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| Charles Cahell | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 15 |
886. Charles Cahell, the man who on this occasion lost the most, was weighed previously to the commencement of his work, with all his clothes off, excepting his shirt, which was kept dry and put on him again when weighed a second time at the end of his work. He was then immediately put into a warm bath at 95° Farh., and kept there half an hour: he complained of being weak and faint, and when reweighed had gained half a pound.