Experiments on the insensible perspiration of the human body
No Image
- London: George Nicol, 1795
London: George Nicol, 1795. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. With 1 folding plate containing various figures in color. Modern morocco, gilt spine; interior excellent. Early signature on the fly-leaf. Second edition with corrections and additions, released as a response to remarks made by Dr. Priestly (which indicated his disagreement with Cruikshank’s conclusions) and further experiments made by Abernethy (which confirmed his work). Priestley wrote:
“Cruikshank’s experiments ... would both prove that fixed air is composed of common air and phlogiston and that the perspiraiton of animal bodies, in a healthy state, has the same effect on air that breathing it has (phlogisticating it). Priestly concludes that “it is only respiration, and not the perspiration of the body, that injures common air.”
So this is a reprinting of his experiments with observations and arguments in response to these other authors. His objectives are “to ascertain the quantity of watery vapour lost in 24 hours by insensible perspiration; to ascertain whether there was something else in insensible perspiration beside the watery vapour; and to ascertain the affinity between the vapour of insensible perspiration and the vapour of the lungs in expiration. The results of his work include observations on the skin and its pores, air passing through the lungs, the amount of condensation and perspiration in closed environments (such as bottles), with further discussion about the skin, pores, ridges on fingers, on the dermis and epidermis, etc. Cruikshank’s focus is how liquid is passed through pores. He references many previous authors including Hunter, Ingen-Housz, Lavoisier, Hippocrates, Leeuwenhoek, Boerhaave, Malpighi, and Haller. Of particular interest is his distinctions between skins of white and black people.
Cruikshank (1745-1800), a British physician and anatomist, started in career as assistant to William Hunter. He wrote The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body (1786) and was the first to demonstrate that a particular crystallizable substance exists in the urine and is precipitated from it by nitric acid. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1797.
Blake, p. 104; Blocker Collection, p. 92; Wellcome, II, p. 411.
“Cruikshank’s experiments ... would both prove that fixed air is composed of common air and phlogiston and that the perspiraiton of animal bodies, in a healthy state, has the same effect on air that breathing it has (phlogisticating it). Priestly concludes that “it is only respiration, and not the perspiration of the body, that injures common air.”
So this is a reprinting of his experiments with observations and arguments in response to these other authors. His objectives are “to ascertain the quantity of watery vapour lost in 24 hours by insensible perspiration; to ascertain whether there was something else in insensible perspiration beside the watery vapour; and to ascertain the affinity between the vapour of insensible perspiration and the vapour of the lungs in expiration. The results of his work include observations on the skin and its pores, air passing through the lungs, the amount of condensation and perspiration in closed environments (such as bottles), with further discussion about the skin, pores, ridges on fingers, on the dermis and epidermis, etc. Cruikshank’s focus is how liquid is passed through pores. He references many previous authors including Hunter, Ingen-Housz, Lavoisier, Hippocrates, Leeuwenhoek, Boerhaave, Malpighi, and Haller. Of particular interest is his distinctions between skins of white and black people.
Cruikshank (1745-1800), a British physician and anatomist, started in career as assistant to William Hunter. He wrote The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body (1786) and was the first to demonstrate that a particular crystallizable substance exists in the urine and is precipitated from it by nitric acid. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1797.
Blake, p. 104; Blocker Collection, p. 92; Wellcome, II, p. 411.
Details
Title
Experiments on the insensible perspiration of the human body
Author
CRUIKSHANK, William
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
George Nicol: London
Date
1795
Edition
SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED