Ectotherm

“ It is only in those parts of the body to which arterial blood, and with it the oxygen absorbed in respiration, is conveyed that heat is produced. Hair, wool, or feathers do not possess an elevated temperature. This high temperature of the animal body, or, as it may be called, disengagement of heat, is uniformly and under all circumstances the result of the combination of combustible substance with oxygen.
"In whatever way carbon may combine with oxygen, the act of combination cannot take place without the disengagement of heat. ”

“ The proportion in water is always the same, two of hydrogen and one of oxygen—this is the only partnership that will form water. The molecule of table salt contains one atom of sodium and one of chlorine. The molecule of air contains five chemical gases, of which nitrogen and oxygen are the principal ones, the proportion being about three parts of nitrogen to one of oxygen. Some molecules are far more complex, for instance the molecule of sugar is composed of forty-five chemical atoms, and sulphuric acid of seven. An atom is estimated at one-250,000,000th of an inch in diameter. ”

“ Moreover, the nitrogen and the excess of oxygen occupy much space in the flame, making it larger, and distributing that fixed quantity of heat which it is capable of generating over an unnecessarily large area. It is for this reason that any gas gives so much brighter a light when burnt in pure oxygen than in air, (1) because the flame is smaller and its heat more concentrated, and (2) because part of its heat is not being wasted in raising the temperature of a large mass of inert nitrogen. ”

“ Now in different climates the quantity of oxygen introduced into the system of respiration, as has been already shown, varies according to the temperature of the external air; the quantity of inspired oxygen increases with the loss of heat by external cooling, and the quantity of carbon or hydrogen necessary to combine with this oxygen must be increased in like ratio. It is evident that the supply of heat lost by cooling is effected by the mutual action of the elements of the food and the inspired oxygen, which combine together. ”

“ We have not confined the term oxyd to expressing the combinations of metals with oxygen, but have extended it to signify that first degree of oxygenation in all bodies, which, [Pg 81] without converting them into acids, causes them to approach to the nature of salts. Thus, we give the name of oxyd of sulphur to that soft substance into which sulphur is converted by incipient combustion; and we call the yellow matter left by phosphorus, after combustion, by the name of oxyd of phosphorus. In the same manner, nitrous gas, which is azote in its first degree of oxygenation, is the oxyd of azote. ”

“ The air composed of oxygen and nitrogen—for the nitrogen enters naturally with the oxygen—penetrates into the pulmonary cells, spreads itself through the blood, and is borne through the numberless little capillary vessels. It is in these little vessels that combustion takes place,—that is to say, that the oxygen unites with the carbon and that carbonic acid is formed. This carbonic acid circulates, dissolved in the blood, until it can escape out of it. It is in the lungs that it finds liberty. ”

“ During the operation of an acetylene generator a large amount of heat is produced, the quantity of which is beyond human control. It is desirable, for various reasons, that the temperature shall be kept as low as possible. There are three substances present to which the heat may be compelled to transfer itself until it has opportunity to pass into the surrounding atmosphere: the material of which the apparatus is constructed, the gas which is in process of evolution, and whichever of the two bodies-- calcium carbide or water--is in excess in the generator. ”

“ Fig. 338.—Extraction of oxygen from air.
Hydrogen burns with a blue flame, and is very inflammable. Even water sprinkled upon a fire will increase its fierceness, because the hydrogen burns with great heat, and the oxygen is liberated. Being very light, H can be transferred from one vessel to another if both be held upside down. Some mixtures of H and O are very explosive. The oxyhydrogen blow-pipe is used with a mixture of O and H, which is forcibly blown through a tube and then ignited. The flame thus produced has a most intense heating-power. ”

“ Imagine two methyl radicles, each, let me remind you, a carbon atom with three hydrogen atoms hooked on and one spare hook. Also imagine one atom of oxygen with its two hooks outstretched like two arms, [Pg 58] and just link one radicle on to each. Then you have the picture of methyl ether. All the ethers are formed by taking two of the paraffin radicles and linking them together by means of the two hooks of an oxygen atom. The ether which is so largely used in hospitals for wounded soldiers is ethyl ether, consisting of two ethyl radicles joined by oxygen. ”

“ Were a cock, however, which should have been shut, to be carelessly left open, an escape of gas from, rather than an introduction of air into, the apparatus would follow, because the pressure in the generator is above that of the atmosphere. As is well known, roughly four-fifths by volume of the air consist of nitrogen, which is non-inflammable and accordingly devoid of danger- conferring properties; but in all flames the presence of nitrogen is harmful by absorbing much of the heat liberated, thus lowering the temperature of that flame, and reducing its illuminating power far more seriously. ”

“ For the conception is simple, in that it supposes one form of matter to spring out of another form, that is, from an aetherial form to gaseous, in a similar manner to that in which a gaseous form changes into a liquid form, that is, by condensation, or a closer drawing together of the aetherial elastic envelopes that surround each atom; each particular gas, as Hydrogen, Nitrogen, or Oxygen, representing different quantities of aetherial condensations, as will be seen in the next article. ”

“ No process of solution is conceivable without oxydation. The dissolved body, while it obtains the aqueous nature, is taken up in the sense of oxygen. No solution occurs without oxygen, as well as no combustion is possible without water. The solvent character of water is based upon the preponderance of the oxygen over the hydrogen.
435. During every solution the two principles of water enter into a state of tension with each other, as the two aerial principles do in electricity. This tension is established by that which is to undergo solution ”

“ Nitrogen takes on hydrogen, becoming oxygen fifteen, which ejects a positron and becomes nitrogen fifteen. Another hydrogen makes it oxygen sixteen, which is stable excepting in the solar conditions, where it ejects an alpha particle and reverts back to carbon again, ready to go through the same process.
"Sometimes the oxygen does not break down but takes on another hydrogen again, becoming fluorine seventeen, which breaks down by positron ejection to oxygen seventeen—and another hydrogen brings it up to fluorine eighteen, back to oxygen eighteen and up to stable fluorine nineteen. ”

“ The fact, however, that disintegration also continues in an anoxydative form, if oxygen is withdrawn, has given rise to the thought, which has been accepted especially by plant physiologists with great readiness, that the decomposition of organic respiratory substances of the aërobic organisms invariably takes place in two stages; in that the dextrose molecule—to again use this as an example—is split up first by an enzyme into larger fragments, which then in the second stage of the process undergo combustion to the formation of carbon dioxide and water. ”

“ The experiment of burning things in oxygen beats any fire-works.”
“Oh, how jolly!” exclaimed Tom.
“Now we see, uncle,” Harry continued, “that water is hydrogen and oxygen united together, that water is got wherever hydrogen is burnt in common air, that a candle won’t burn without air, and that when a candle burns there is hydrogen in it burning, and forming water. Now, then, where does the hydrogen of the candle get the oxygen from, to turn into water with it?” ”

“ Traces of coal gas are known to enhance the phototropic excitability of an organ while continued absence of oxygen is found to depress it. The experiment I am going to describe shows: (1) the enhancement of phototropic excitability on the introduction of coal gas, and (2) the depressing effect of excess of coal gas and of the absence of oxygen. After obtaining the normal curve of geotropic torsion, light was applied below at -L, and exact balance was obtained in the course of two minutes as seen in the top of the curve becoming horizontal. ”

“ In the formation of steam (from one part by weight [1 gram] of hydrogen) 29,000 heat units are evolved. The following are the quantities of heat (thousands of units) evolved in the formation of various other corresponding compounds of oxygen and of chlorine (from Thomsen's, and, for Na2O, Beketoff's results) :
With the first four elements the formation of the chlorine compound gives the most heat, and with the four following the formation of the oxygen compound evolves the greater amount of heat. ”

“ Thus, for example, if 16 grams of oxygen combine with copper, 38,000 units of heat are evolved; and when 16 grams of oxygen combine with hydrogen, forming water, 69,000 units of heat are evolved; whilst 23 grams of sodium, in combining with 16 grams of oxygen, evolve 100,000 units of heat. This example clearly shows that chemical reactions which proceed directly and unaided evolve heat. Sodium decomposes water and hydrogen reduces copper, because they are exothermal reactions, or those which evolve heat ”

“ Oxygen, the gas which supports the rapid combustion of the acetylene in the torch flame, is one of the elements of the air. It is the cause and the active agent of all combustion that takes place in the atmosphere. Oxygen was first discovered as a separate gas in 1774, when it was produced by heating red oxide of mercury and was given its present name by the famous chemist, Lavoisier. ”

“ This dry air then passed into a large tube inside the reverberatory furnace, in which tube were pieces of caustic baryta. Heated to a dull redness this absorbs oxygen, and when the heat is increased to a bright red the superabundant gas is given off. Thus the oxygen was permitted to pass from the furnace-tube into the receiving glass, and so pure oxygen was obtained from the air which had been in the glass bottle at first (fig. 338) .
Fig. 336.—Phosphorus burning in oxygen. HYDROGEN—SYMBOL H; ATOMIC WEIGHT 1.
Hydrogen is abundant in nature, but never free. ”

“ Though complicated in its various stages, the ultimate result is as simple as in ordinary combustion outside of the body, and the products are the same.
The continual chemical changes, then, chiefly by oxidation of combustible materials in the tissues, produce an amount of heat which is efficient to maintain the temperature of the living body at about 981⁄2° F. This process of oxidation provides not only for the heat of the body, but also for the energy required to carry on the muscular work of the animal organism. ”

“ Rather less carbonic acid is given off from the lungs than the oxygen absorbed, and it is supposed that the remainder of the oxygen enters into combination with hydrogen in the blood, producing some of the water which is given off from the body, and also with compounds of hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, thus further increasing the animal heat, for heat is evolved whenever chemical combination takes place. ”

“ The oxygen."
"But what can oxygen effect in the face of a poisoning of the ether? There is not a greater difference in quality between a brick-bat and a gas than there is between oxygen and ether. They are different planes of matter. They cannot impinge upon one another. Come, Challenger, you could not defend such a proposition."
"My good Summerlee, this etheric poison is most certainly influenced by material agents. ”

“ Seeing that there is a tendency in nature for the steady dissipation of energy, it follows that an exothermic substance is stable, for it tends to remain as it is unless heat is supplied to it, or work is done upon it; whereas, according to its degree of endothermicity, an endothermic substance is more or less unstable, for it is always ready to emit heat, or to do work, as soon as an opportunity is given to it to decompose. The theoretical and practical results of this circumstance will be elaborated in Chapter VI., when the endothermic nature of acetylene is more fully discussed. ”

“ Ether Vapour.—The vapour of ether has caused death. Entering the blood through the lungs, it acts with great rapidity, a state of lethargy being quickly induced.
The early symptoms are noticed in a modification of respiration, the breathing becoming slow, prolonged, and stertorous. The face is pale, the lips bluish, and the surface of the body cold and exsanguine. The pulse, at first quickened, becomes slower, as the inhalation of the vapour is continued. The pupils are dilated, and the eyes glassy and fixed. ”

“ There is a beautiful phenomenon which accompanies the expansion of ether under the influence of heat. Placed in a flask to which heat is applied, the ether will go off in vapour; and as the heat increases, the vapour will gradually light up into a lovely flame. The expansibility of air, which is vapour in a permanent form, can be shown by experiment. If we tie up an empty or collapsed bladder, and place it in a vessel over an air-pump, we may see, as we withdraw the air from the vessel, and so diminish its pressure, the bladder gradually expand and swell as it does under inflation. ”