*
[footnote] *Lewy, in the 'Comptes Rendus de l'Acad. des Sciences', t.
xvii., Part ii., p. 235-248.
The air which Martins collected at Faulhorn at an elevation of 8767 feet,
contained as much oxygen as the air at Paris.*
[footnote] *Dumas, in the 'Annales de Chimie, 3e Serie', t. iii., 1841, p.
257.
The admixture of carbonate of ammonia in the atmosphere may probably be
considered as older than the existence of organic beings on the surface of
the earth. The sources from which carbonic acid* may be yielded to the
atmosphere are most numerous.
[footnote] *In this enumeration, the exhalation of carbonic acid by plants
during the night, while they inhale oxygen, is not taken into account,
because the increase of carbonic acid from this source is amply
counter-balanced by the respiratory process of plants during the day. See
Boussingault's 'Econ. Rurale', t. i., p. 53-68, and Liebig's 'Organische
Chemie', s. 16, 21.
In the first place we would mention the respiration of animals, who receive
the carbon which they inhale from vegetable food, while vegetables receive
it from the atmosphere; in the next place, carbon is supplied from the
interior of the earth in the vicinity of exhausted volcanoes and thermal
springs, from the decomposition of a small quantity of carbureted hydrogen
gas in the atmosphere, and from the electric discharges of clouds, which are
of such frequent occurrence within the tropics.
Pages:
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655