oxygen (ok's ij-en)

A non-metallic element discovered by Priest ley in 1774, and termed by him dephlogisticated air, its present name being given to it by Lavoisier in 1778. It is a colorle , tastele , and odorle gas, of a sp. gr. of 1. 1 05 as compared with that of air, and soluble in water, which takes up about 4 per cent, of it by volume. Atomic weight, 16.00; symbol, O. Under the combined influence of a very low temper at—ure ( ■ 1 300 C.) and great pre ure (475 atmospheres, or about 3 J4 tons to the square inch) o. is liquefied. Under certain conditions it is converted into ozone. It is used therapeutically by inhalation in bronchitis and pneumonia where there is deficient aeration in consequence of heart distention, in resuscitating persons asphyxiated by coal gas, in chloroform or ether narcosis, and to relieve dyspnea in phthisis and diabetic coma. The saturated water is used for gastric or intestinal indigestion, nausea, and gastric or neuralgic headache, electropositive o. See under an to zone. arized o. Ozone, respiratory o. The o. loosely combined with hemoglobin, which is available for respiration. [Gr., oxys, acid, + gennan, to engender.]