The Chemistry of CookeryWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
The Chemistry of Cookery
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Cooking
It is quite the fashion now to rely upon these later experiments; but
for my own part, I am by no means satisfied with them—and for this
reason, that the excretions from the skin and from the lungs were not
examined.
It is just these which are greatly increased by exercise, and their
normal quantity is very large, especially those from the skin, which
are threefold, viz. the insensible perspiration, which is transpired by
the skin as invisible vapour; the sweat, which is liquid, and the solid
particles of exuded cuticle.
Lavoisier and Seguin long ago made very laborious experiments upon
themselves in order to determine the amount of the insensible
perspiration. Seguin enclosed himself in a bag of glazed taffeta, which
was tied over him with no other opening than a hole corresponding to
his mouth; the edges of this hole were glued to his lips with a mixture
of turpentine and pitch. He carefully weighed himself and the bag
before and after his enclosure therein. His own loss of weight being
partly from the lungs and partly from the skin, the amount gained by
the bag represented the quantity of the latter; the difference between
this and the loss of his own weight gave the amount exhaled from the
lungs.
He thus found that the largest quantity of _insensible_ exhalation from
the lungs and skin together amounted to 3½ oz. per hour, or at the rate
of 5¼ lbs. per day. The smallest quantity was 1 lb. 14 oz., and the
mean was 3 lbs. 11 oz. Three-fourths of this was cutaneous.
These figures only show the quantity of insensible perspiration during
repose. Valentin found that his hourly loss by cutaneous exhalation
while sitting amounted to 32·8 grammes, or rather less than 1¼ oz. On
taking exercise, with an empty stomach, in the sun, the hourly loss
increased to 89·3 grammes, or nearly three times as much. After a meal
followed by violent exercise, with the temperature of the air at 72°
F., it amounted to 132·7 grammes, or nearly 4½ times as much as during
repose. A robust man, taking violent exercise in hot weather, may give
off as much as 5 lbs. in an hour.
The third excretion from the skin, the epithelial or superficial scales
of the epidermis, is small in weight, but it is solid, and of similar
composition to gelatin. It should be understood that this increases
largely with exercise. The practice of sponging and ‘rubbing down’ of
athletes removes the excess; but I am not aware of any attempt that has
been made to determine accurately the quantity thus removed.
Does the skin excrete nitrogenous matter that may be, like urea, a
product of the degradation or destruction of muscular tissue?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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