Chest

“ Active and Passive Chest.—Your chest in its ordinary position is what, in elocution, is called passive chest. The active chest is that assumed in the standing position, where the chest is raised up slightly and expanded, with the shoulders drawn back. Practise as an exercise the active and passive chest, alternating from one to the other without breathing, or moving the shoulders. The active chest must be kept in all the physical and vocal gymnastics, and at all time during speech. With practice it will soon become established as a habit ”

“ An amply developed chest is a sure indication of a naturally vigorous constitution and a strong hold on life; while small waists indicate small and feeble vital organs, a delicate constitution, sickly offspring, and a short life. Beware of them, therefore, unless you wish your heart broken by the early death of your wife and children. ”

“ The chest or thorax occupies the upper part of the trunk in front and is a dome-shaped cavity containing and protecting the heart and lungs. Its walls are formed by the dorsal vertebræ at the back, the ribs at either side, and the sternum and costal cartilages in front, all well covered with muscles. The floor is formed by the diaphragm. Through the upper opening of the chest pass the trachea, the esophagus, and many important vessels and nerves. ”

“ We find that under the ribs in the torso are all the vital organs. The lungs, the heart, the stomach, all these depend for their normal position, their normal action upon the expansion of the chest.
When a man stands, the tendency for the chest is to sag. There are no bones to elevate it. Man has levitation as well as gravitation, and the expansion and elevation of the chest lie at the basis of all good position in standing, sitting and also walking. ”

“ A passive chest expresses indifference, inactivity, fear, discouragement, a sense of weakness, unwillingness to awake and rise up to meet emergencies. A sunken chest, accordingly, is an indication of a tendency to disease, simply because it expresses a negative mental state or one favorable to the reception of abnormal conditions.
The expansion of the chest, on the contrary, reveals that happy acceptance of life, that active, energetic determination to control abnormal conditions which will ward off all disease and eliminate all failure. ”

“ THE CHEST THAT HOLDS THE LUNGS
Back of the lungs is the heart; its position is shown by the broken line. The black line across the chest shows how high the diaphragm rises when we breathe out quietly.
Stiff rings of bone called ribs run round your body, just like the hoops in an old hoop skirt, or like the metal rings round a barrel. Here is a picture of the bones of the chest. Perhaps your teacher can show you the skeleton 42of some animal. You will notice how the rings, or ribs, slant and are joined by hinges behind to the backbone and in front to the breastbone. ”

“ An arched chest imparts to a man’s whole figure an aspect of physical perfection, not to say sublimity, as may be seen in the ancient statues of gods, in which the chest is intentionally made more prominent than it ever can be in a man, presumably in order to weaken the impression of the chest’s more animal neighbour, the abdomen. ”

“ The chest as a whole has the form of a pear, reversed, but a little compressed, and the base attached to the neck in a delightfully well-proportioned manner. The belly, the flanks, and the secret parts are worthy of the chest; the hips are large and rounded; the thighs, the legs, and the arms are in just proportion. ”

“ When the chest is about half full, gradually raise the arms, keeping them extended with the palms of the hands down, as you suck in the air, so as to bring them over the head just as the lungs are quite full. Then drop the thumbs inward, and after gently forcing the arms backward and the chest open, reverse the process by which you draw your breath till the lungs are empty. ”

“ In severe forms of the disease the patient comes to acquire a peculiar puffy or bloated appearance, and the configuration of the chest is altered, assuming the character known as the barrel-shaped or emphysematous chest. ”

“ The chest seems to be actually growing larger; and it really is, for you are stretching out every corner of it. But the heart and stomach—indeed, about all the vital organs—feel the new pressure, and better digestion, brisker circulation, and a warmer and very comfortable feeling over the whole body are among the results. ”

“ If the upper part of the chest be not relatively short and wide, and if it owe not its width rather to itself than to the size of the shoulders; because, this shows that the vital organs contained in the chest are not sufficiently expanded. ”

“ When starting the reform always bear in mind that the chest must be held upward and outward. When this is done it is not necessary to keep the shoulders back in a forced, strained position, and so make little crowfeet in the back of your gown. The benefits of holding the chest thus are more than one—or two, either, for that matter. If practiced continually it will strengthen the lungs. It will also develop the chest and neck as no masseure of miracle-working fingers can ever hope to. Breathing exercises are also excellent. ”

“ We see then that the chest is an air-tight chamber, and that the lungs, when the chest walls are whole, are always on the stretch, are on the stretch even when the diaphragm is arched up as high as it can go. ”

“ A demand for a crucial examination of the skull, the heart, lungs, of the chest, the stomach, liver and other organs of the abdomen is made. The septum of the brain, the pericardium of the chest—the diaphragm of the abdomen which is a dividing septum between the abdomen and chest. In this examination we must know the reasons why any organs, vessel or any other substance is located at a given place. We must run with all the rivers of blood that travel through the system. ”

“ When we are about to take a long breath, the muscles pull upon the sides of the chest in such a way as to draw them apart. At the same time the diaphragm draws itself downward. By these means, the cavity of the chest is made larger and air rushes in through the nose or mouth to fill the space. ”

“ Surgery of the Chest and Heart.—The chest is the region of the body which has shown the least progress of all, and yet even here the progress is very marked. When, as a result of pleurisy, fluid accumulates on one side of the chest, even displacing the heart, we now do not hesitate to remove an inch or two of one or more ribs and thoroughly drain the cavity, with not only a reasonable, but in a majority of cases, one may almost say, a certain, prospect of cure. We have also entered upon the road which will lead us in time to a secure surgery of the lung itself. ”

“ The relation between the muscle plates and the course of development of the chest is illustrated by the fact that an arrest of development of important muscles often coexists with deformities of the chest. The human limbs are developments from the fin-folds as found in fishes and the human embryo. ”

“ The framework of the chest, consisting of the ribs and of the breast-bone, is so put together that at each inspiration it can be raised, as shown in the drawing, from the position d to the position h, thus materially enlarging the thoracic chamber, just as the upper board of an ordinary bellows is raised for the purpose of taking in the air ”

“ They would soon brace up; heads would be held erect, chins down, abdomen in, chest up, and with lips closed, and the pure air of the mountain, canyon, plain, desert, or forest entering their lungs through the nostrils; the whole aspect of life would begin to change. For “nothing lifts up the spirits so much as just to lift the chest up. It takes a load off the head, off the mind, off the heart. Raise your chest so high that the abdominal organs perform their functions in a proper way. When one is all doubled over, the head and spine are deprived of blood that they are entitled to. ”

“ If a boy have delicate lungs, do you approve of his wearing a prepared hare-skin over the chest?
I do not. The chest may be kept too warm as well as too cold. The hare-skin heats the chest too much, and thereby promotes a violent perspiration; which, by his going into the cold air, may become suddenly checked, and may thus produce mischief. If the chest be delicate, there is nothing like flannel to ward off colds. ”

“ Corsets are employed to modify the shape, to render the chest as small below, and as broad above, as possible, and to increase the elevation, fulness, and prominence of the bosom. To show how this affects the condition of the body, we must begin by giving a short description of the thorax or chest, which is the subject of this artificial compression.
Every one who has seen a skeleton, knows that [Pg 165] the chest consists of a cavity protected by a curious frame-work of bones. ”

“ In most instances consumptives have not large enough chests. Stripped to the waist, there is found to be a flatness of the upper chest, a lack of depth straight through from breastbone to spine; and the girth about the chest itself, and especially at the lower part of it, is often two or more inches less than it is in a well-built person of the same height. Now, to weed out these defects, to swell up and enlarge the chest, and bring [p.284] it proper breadth, and depth, and fulness, this will go far toward insuring healthy and vigorous lungs. ”

“ You have seen pictures of our muscles. Those of the upper part of the body, you remember, spread out from the shoulder, in all directions, like a fan. Now if you hold the shoulder still, the muscles of the chest will shrink, the shoulders stoop, and the whole chest become thin and ugly. ”

“ To do this properly the chest should be inflated and thrown forward by the action of the diaphragm and held as the most prominent part-382- of the body; a position too often usurped by the inferior abdomen. ”

“ Take, for example, the frame-work of the chest, in the cavity of which are situated those organs which seem especially to suffer whenever the recruit and the young soldier are subjected to over-exertion. Next to the inspiration of bad air, the imperfect, or continuously obstructed inspiration of the chest, tends more than any other cause known to bring about disease of the lungs and heart. ”

“ Diseases of the chest are generally confined to heart, lungs, pleura, the pericardium, mediastium, blood vessels, with nerves and lymphatics. As we open the breast we behold the heart, a very large machine or engine, situated conveniently to throw blood to all parts of the body. To it we see hose or pipes that go to each organ, all muscles, the stomach, bowels, liver, spleen, kidneys, bladder and womb, all bones, fibers, ligaments, membranes, and its body, lungs and brain. ”

“ Chest and shoulders seem to be enlarged at the expense of the pelvis and the hips, to such an extent as to make the want of proportion between the upper and lower parts of the body startling and ungraceful. ”

“ I chanced the chest and the slow-beating heart. The quick compulsion of my will was rewarded. I no longer had chest nor heart. I was only a mind, a soul, a consciousness—call it what you will—incorporate in a nebulous brain that, while it still centred inside my skull, was expanded, and was continuing to expand, beyond my skull. ”

“ All tight clothing, especially round the neck or chest, must be loosened. The heart may be stimulated reflexly by dashing cold water over the face or chest, or by rubbing the face vigorously with a rough towel. ”

“ Lacing the bottom of the chest also greatly increases this evil, and confirms a bad habit of breathing. Children that move about a great deal in the open air, and in no way [538] laced, breathe deep and full to the bottom of the chest, and every part of it. ”

“ But the increase in length, or vertically, is not so apparent, as it is caused by a muscle within the body called the diaphragm, it being the thin partition which separates the chest from the abdomen, rising like a dome within the chest. ”

“ Expansion and contraction in the chest are regular and rhythmical, and are secured by the jointed connection of the ribs with the breastbone. Expansion in the abdomen is irregular and at times excessive. ”

“ He at that time laboured under an inflammatory affection of the chest, and it was feared that when this abated, an effusion of fluid into some part of the cavity of the chest might take place; but it was believed that, though his recovery might be slow, and not complete, he would ultimately recover, and enjoy life on terms on which it would have been a blessing. ”

“ This temporary suspension of the offices of the skin is, however, peculiarly dangerous to those who are of light complexion, slender form, with a long neck, and narrow shoulders projecting almost like wings—indicating a chest whose internal organs, as well as external dimensions, are comparatively small and feeble, and therefore poorly prepared to do that work which belongs to other parts or organs. ”

“ When enlarging our chests by the descent of the midriff, we inflate our lungs where they are largest and where consequently we can get the largest amount of air into them. When expanding our chests by raising the shoulders and collar-bones, we inflate the lungs where they are smallest and where, consequently, we get the smallest amount of air into them. The criterion of correct inspiration is an increase of size of the abdomen and the lower part of the chest. ”

“ With what admirable skill and inimitable structure is formed that muscular body, situated within the cavity of the chest, and called the human heart! Its figure is somewhat conical, and it is externally divided into two parts: the base, which is uppermost, and attached to vessels; and the apex, which is loose and pointing to the left side, against which it seems to beat. Its substance is muscular, being composed of fleshy fibres, interwoven with each other. It is divided internally into cavities, called auricles and ventricles ”