Medical history of the expedition to the Niger during the years 1841-2, comprising an account of the fever which led to its termination / by James Ormiston M'William.

Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical history of the expedition to the Niger during the years 1841-2, comprising an account of the fever which led to its termination / by James Ormiston M'William. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    could be put in operation when the hold produced no offensive atmosphere. By this mode, when the external atmosphere was very warm and the water cold, the air could be conveyed in the first place to the hold, and cooled there to a certain extent, by impinging on the iron bottom in contact with the water before passing to the compartment which it was intended to supply, t r and v illustrate the action of the gunwale-tubes on the after-cabin d, the in- fluence of the other ventilating arrangements there being suspended by closing the valves. Such was the system adopted for the extraction of air by exhaustion: and extensive as the arrangements may appear, still when the steam-vessels arrived at the Niger, more rather than less ventilation was desirable. Dr. Reid has remarked, “Few individuals, excepting those who have visited warm climates, are ready to credit the great supply of air that is indispensable for health and comfort in such , countries, the all-subduing influence to many con- stitutions of sudden or extreme changes in respect to the quality of the air that surrounds the person, and the extent to which the mental faculties as well as the bodily strength are often prostrated by such causes. Proceeding on the assumption that no sup- ply of air that was likely to be provided by artificial means would exceed the wants of the system in the Niger expedition, the demand made in respect to the power of the apparatus was limited solely by