Lung Air Cells.  -- Each air cell varies in size from the seventieth to the one two-hundredth parts of an inch in diameter.  The number of aerosols in the two lungs is truly surprising, they're been certainly not less than 600,000,000, though according to Dr. Addison's computation there are 1,700,000,000, equivalent to 1,500 square feet of surface on which the process of purifying the blood is constantly in continuously going on in a healthy lung.

_____________________ The book doesn't mention who Dr. Addison is or how he reached his computation, a hundred years later these numbers seem highly questionable if for no other reason than they are not supported, there's no footnote in the book, there's no mention of who Dr. Addison is or what he's done or why his numbers should be considered.  There's no mention of who came up with the original numbers that Dr. Addison's numbers seem to refute. Also I've referenced the diagrams from chart 2, this includes three images of the lungs diagrammed and you can compare those to modern-day diagrams of the lungs from a Google image search.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Great Value and Beauty of the Plate
  
  

  Great Value and Beauty of the Plate.–We can understand much of this wonderful process. We have looked into the stomach, watched its peculiar actions and traced its various steps, from which the scientist is capable, in his laboratory of knives, mortars, baths, chemicals and filters, of imitating many of the operations of digestion; but just at the moment he thinks himself most successful, he is compelled to pause.  At the threshold of that “one step more,” which Fontenelle required, “and he would surprise nature herself,” he stops, and very wisely, without concealment of his designs, admires, then wonders, and finally worships with all the reverence of his soul.

   

  After reading that diatribe, I have to honestly say I have no idea what the author is talking about.  The other seems beyond some strange sort of rant about science, scientists in the digestive system.  Unfortunately he’s ranting on a bunch of nonsense almost sound like he’s talking about Frankenstein’s monster.  One things for sure I’m glad that I didn’t take a class instructed by this writer.  If this book is that hard to understand from sheer gibberish, I can just imagine what’ll lecture would be like.

  I don’t think this has so much to do with the difference in the decades of the century even.  This seems to be more of an issue of an author suffering from the ability to provide a clear thought and written format.  It’s almost like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher lecture on real estate over the telephone in a Peanuts cartoon.

  WAh wah wah wah , wu wah . . . .

   

  This entry seems to reaffirm my belief that this author got paid by the word and not by the concept of thought.

• Lead Poison in Rural Districts
  
  

  Lead Poison in Rural Districts. — in rural districts, on the other hand, whenever Rainwater is used for drinking purposes, it is exceedingly liable to be contaminated with lead from lead lined cisterns, led service- or collection-pipes, lead ropes, or from the solder of tin roofs. As a rule, the purer the Rainwater, the greater is its action on lead with which it stands in contact; hence, therefore, the presence of a minute quantity of some salt of sulfuric acid and water is of very great importance, and serves as an invaluable protection against lead poisoning to the human beings and animals who may employ it for drinking purposes.

   

   

  There are many sources for lead poisoning, chief among them is typically lead based paints.  However, today people also run the risk of exposure to heavy metals through many batteries from all those devices that require Nickel Cadmium or Lithium Ion batteries.  We don’t always think about what is going into our environment when we’re putting more laptop memory in a computer or buying a spare battery, not to mention all the cell phone batteries churning through landfill dumps each year.

• VENEREAL DISEASES
  
  

  VENEREAL DISEASES.Syphilis, gonorrhoea and a host of diseases which follow in their train, come within the scope of Preventive Medicine. They are not spread by water, air, food, or insects as are so many diseases, but develop only from contact with a sufferer (usually by co-habitation, but possible by non-sexual contact), or by the germs from a sufferer being imparted to another by towels, clothing or other articles. They may be communicated to an innocent wife by a diseased husband and vice versa, and many serious diseases and infirmities depending on these diseases may be trans­mitted to the children of the diseased, as instance the disease of Opthal-mia or Blindness in Children, which occurs at or shortly following birth, and which is usually attributable to one or both of the parents suffering from gonorrhoea, although it may arise from other causes (see Index for article on Opthalmia, its cause, treatment and prevention).

  Syphilis and gonorrhcea are so largely dependent on immoral Inter‑course that their prevention is largely a matter of moral uplifting of the people. But, pending this morat uplifting, much is possible by the State and municipal governments placing these diseases on the list of contagious diseases which must be reported to the authorities, as is now required in respect of small-pox, scarlet fever and other diseases which are neither so loathsome nor have such far-reaching results for ill to mankind.

  All parents should carefully read the articles on Syphilis, Gonorrhoea and Opthalmia, to be found elsewhere in this work (see Index), and then they should carefully guard their children and at proper age thoroughly instruct them in the fearful ravages of venereal disease. There is too much false modesty in these matters on the part of parents. The general discussion. of sexual matters in novels, in sensational books on eugenics and in ordinary conversation is to be condemned, but it is the duty of every mother to her daughter and of every father to his son, to not only keep constant guard over them in these matters, but, at the beginning of puberty, to instil into their minds the real truths that they may become imbued with the horrors of venereal disease, yet realize the nobility of true sexual life. Professors and teachers in resident schools and colleges where youth is congregated should also have regard to this vital subject and take means to properly impart useful knowledge, and not only adopt every possible precaution to prevent students from meeting lewd persons, but by periodical medical examination discover if any venereal disease is existent, and if found in any individual then suspend such student until the disease be eradicated beyond the possibility of contagion.

  Syphilis is a more horrible disease than small-pox and may be easily communicated to the innocent by a common towel, by a brother kissing his sister or a son his mother, and in many other ways, and yet the syphilitically diseased may go where they please and little or no pre­cautions are taken as to the spreading of the disease. It is estimated that in New York City alone 250,000 people are suffering from this loath­some disease, either inherited or acquired, and when it is borne in mind that large numbers of these have innocently acquired it and are now in turn transmitting it to others, the enormity of the evil and the imperative need of preventive measures, will be realized.

  Today, fighting venereal diseases begins with a much more solid foundation for education, but is solidly supported by a host of drugs and treatments that can fight many venereal diseases.  In some ways venereal diseases today have a stigma significantly less than 100 years ago, because they can be treated better and do not result in death.  Popping an antibiotic is as easy as popping a diet pill or taking cold medication.