Respiratory system

“ The purity of the blood is influenced by the condition of the lungs. When the bronchial tubes and air-cells have become partially impervious to air, from pressure upon the lungs, from fluids in the chest, from tumors, or from the consolidation of the cells and tubes from disease,—as inflammation, or the deposition of yellow, cheesy matter, called tubercles,—the blood will not be purified, even if the air is pure, the lungs voluminous, and the respiratory movements unrestricted, as the air cannot permeate the air-cells. ”

“ A definite increase in the volume of the lungs is the consequence of frequent repetition of this supplemental respiration. The air-cells which are as a rule inactive, and which are reserved for cases of excessive respiratory strain, arise from their inaction; their walls, which are usually collapsed, and even stuck together, separate and give entrance to the air which can not find room in the confined space sufficient for ordinary breathing. ”

“ The impulse which comes from within, from the so-called respiratory centers, so excites the respiratory muscles that they cause the chest to execute the strongest breathing movements with the greatest ease, ventilating every portion of the lungs, filling every air-cell to its utmost capacity. ”

“ In addition to the effect on the circulation, the respiratory movements keep up the nutrition and efficiency of the lungs, which in old age undergo a kind of atrophy, and also maintain the elasticity of the chest-walls, which are apt to become stiff through disuse, and so interfere with the movements of the lungs and pleura. ”

“ But more wonderful yet is its effect on the disorders of the respiratory organs. Under anything like favorable circumstances the lungs are, indeed, the most curable part of the human body. With every inspiration the balm of pure air can be brought into contact with the thousand times thousand air-cells of the respiratory apparatus, [2] and, as we breathe about twenty times per minute, the panacea can be applied twenty-seven thousand times in twenty-four hours. ”

“ Breathing by the lungs is simply the means by which the taking up of oxygen and the giving off of carbon dioxide by the cells is made possible.
HYGIENE OF RESPIRATORY ORGANS The liability of the lungs to attacks from such dread diseases as consumption and pneumonia makes questions touching their hygiene of first importance. Consumption does not as a rule attack sound lung tissue, but usually has its beginning in some weak or enfeebled spot in the lungs which has lost its "power of resistance." ”

“ We can also now understand why, when the vessels of the lungs become congested and oppressed, and in those who are affected with serious diseases, it should be so dangerous and fatal a symptom when the respiratory organs become implicated. ”

“ The organs employed for this purpose, called the respiratory organs, are adapted to handling materials in the gaseous state, and are operated in accordance with principles governing the movements of the atmosphere. ”

“ In imperfect or shallow breathing, only a portion of the lung cells are brought into play, and a great portion of the lung capacity is lost, the system suffering in proportion to the amount of under-oxygenation. ”

“ It here receives the oxygen from the atmosphere, and the chyle, or white blood, from the digested food, and becomes, in an instant, arterial blood, a vital principle, from which every solid and fluid of the body is constructed. Besides the lungs, Nature has provided another respiratory organ, a sort of supplemental lung, that, as well as being a covering to the body, _in_spires air and _ex_pires moisture;—this is the cuticle, or skin ”

“ Special breathing exercises, as well as those active muscular movements which induce a thirst for air, are beneficial to the lungs by maintaining the flexibility of the chest, strengthening the respiratory muscles, and ventilating the lungs. These movements also exercise a most extraordinary beneficial effect upon the stomach, liver, and other organs which lie below the diaphragm. Each time the diaphragm contracts, it gives the liver, stomach, and adjacent organs a hearty squeeze, so to speak, emptying out the blood contained in these parts as one may by compression empty a moist sponge. ”

“ Consequently, any one who draws into his lungs this breath or conglomerated vapour, must necessarily absorb into his system the properties of that body from which it emanated, and from which it derived its being. For we know by experience that the air which enters the lungs dry, goes forth carrying with it moisture, [Pg 142] as may be seen by breathing on a glass, or in cold weather. Also, when we inhale the breath of any one who is ill, we are conscious of receiving infection. ”

“ To avoid these sensations and results, when we feel necessitated to walk or run a considerable distance in a short time, commence the movements in a moderate manner increasing the speed as the respiratory movements become more frequent and their expansion more extensive, so that a sufficient amount of air may be received into the lungs to purify the increased quantity of blood forced into them. The same principles should be observed when commencing labor, and in driving horses and other animals. ”

“ The lungs swell out, the heart begins to pound away with unusually increased vigor and strength, and every part of the system is stimulated. Cold bathing and deep breathing are two valuable things which go inseparably together. The deep breathing increases lung activity, and the lungs bring in more oxygen; the heart circulates the blood with greater force, and hence more and better blood is carried to every tissue of the body. ”

“ It accelerates the respiratory process, as the amount of air inhaled at one inspiration does not contain oxygen enough to supply the wants of the organism at the ordinary rate of breathing, and is therefore especially distressing to diseased (wasted) lungs, whose functions are already abnormally quickened, and can not be further stimulated without overstraining their mechanism. ”

“ Nature of the Disease. It is an error to suppose that the disease under consideration is confined to the lungs. "Pulmonary Consumption," as has been remarked, "is but a fragment of a great constitutional malady." The lungs are merely the stage where it plays its most conspicuous part. Every part of the system is more or less involved, every vital operation more or less deranged; especially is the nutritive function vitiated and imperfect. The circulation is also involved in the general morbid condition. ”

“ The free and equable expansion of the lungs by full inspiration, necessarily takes place; this maintains their healthy structure, by keeping all the air-passages open and pervious; it prevents congestion in the pulmonary circulation, and at the same time provides more completely for the necessary chemical action on the blood, by changing, at each act of respiration, a sufficient proportion of the whole air contained in the lungs,—all objects of great importance, and all capable of being promoted, more or less, by the means in question. ”

“ Air as important as Food.--The quality of the blood depends almost as much on the air we breathe as on the food we eat; in the course of every two or three minutes, all the blood in the body passes through the endless ramifications of the lungs, for no other purpose than that, during the instant of its passage, it should be acted upon by the oxygen contained in the air which is drawn into the lungs in the act of breathing. ”

“ In this case after a time the pulmonary capillaries, like the cutaneous ones, act with increased energy; the breathing, which was before quick, and the air thrown out at each respiration in less quantity, and cool to the back of the hand opposed to it, now becomes larger in quantity, and warmer than natural; which however is not accompanied with the sensation of heat in the membrane, which lines the air-vessels of the lungs, as in the skin. ”

“ From the lungs are eliminated other impurities beside carbonic acid, the perceptible quality of which is various in different persons. The offensive breath of many persons may be caused by decayed teeth, or the particles of food that may be retained between them, but it often proceeds from the secretion, in the lungs, of certain substances which previously existed in the system.
Illustration. When spirituous liquors are taken into the stomach, they are absorbed by the veins and mixed with the dark-colored blood, in which they are carried to the lungs to be expelled from the body. ”

“ Minor degrees of respiration are recognized by the appearance of little groups of dilated air-vesicles, and by the fact that, although the lungs as a whole may sink in water, certain portions of them, into which respired air has penetrated, float in water even after subjection to firm pressure in the hand. ”

“ In ordinary breathing the emission of air immediately follows the intake; expiration begins the moment inspiration ceases, and the respiration is completed. The elasticity of the lungs causes the diaphragm to rise and the walls of the chest to return to their natural position. ”

“ Lungs' Respiration.—'The number of respirations is increased at the beginning of the stay, but returns to the normal number after a longer time, and probably the depth of the inspiration is also increased.' This is in accordance with our observations. The greater expansion of the chest, and the frequency with which patients and others volunteer the statement that they can breathe deeper, confirms the opinion that the depth of respiration is increased; more bulk of air being taken in to give to the lungs an equivalent amount of oxygen, greater depth of breathing must needs follow. ”

“ The person having weak lungs should spend as much time as he conveniently can out of doors. He should provide the most ample ventilation at night and have a sleeping room to himself. He should practice deep breathing exercises and partake of a nourishing diet. While avoiding prolonged chilling and other conditions liable to induce colds, he should take advantage of every opportunity of exposing himself fully and freely to the outside atmosphere.
Summary.—The purpose of respiration is to bring about an exchange of gases between the body and the atmosphere. ”

“ In the room heated by a German stove and consequently where there cannot be a free ventilation, every individual is breathing the identical air that has circulated through the lungs of every other individual in the same place—through the air-cells of the scrofulous, the scorbutic, the asthmatic, the consumptive, &c.—air that is not only deprived of its oxygen, but loaded with animal effluvia of a very questionable character! ”

“ We have learned before that the lungs are in the chest. We need so much air and have to change the air in our lungs so often that we would not have time to swallow it as a frog does. So nature has made for us a breathing apparatus of such a kind that we can work it like a pair of bellows. Let us now study our breathing-bellows and learn how they do their work. ”

“ Therefore the blood is not duly oxygenated, and the whole system goes wrong. Paleness, weakness, consumption, scrofula, and too many other ailments, are the consequences of ill-filled lungs. For without well-filled lungs, robust health is impossible. ”

“ Of this the process of respiration might afford a constant supply, the fixed life supplied to the body in the food being set free and rendered active in the lungs, whilst the air carried off that principle which encloses and retains the animal fire. ”

“ The average person uses only about one seventh of his lung capacity in ordinary breathing, the rest of the air remaining at the bottom of the lung, being termed 'residual.' As this is vitiated by its stay in the lung, it does harm rather than good by its presence.... ”

“ I think it certain that Respiration does always communicate to the Blood some Parts from the Air: Which is proved from this Observation, that the same Quantity of Air will not suffice long for breathing, though it be deprived of none of those Qualities, by which it is fitted to inflate the Lungs and agitate the Blood, the Uses commonly ascribed to it. ”

“ Portions of the lungs to which air does not easily penetrate fail to get the fresh air and exercise which they need. As a consequence, they become weak and, by losing their "power of resistance," become points of attack in diseases of the lungs.35 The breathing of each individual should receive attention, and where from some cause it is not sufficiently full and deep, the means should be found for remedying the defect. ”

“ When we consider the size and peculiar construction of the lungs, their perpetual motion, the chemical process going on in them, and their exposure to the action of contaminated air, or sudden changes in its temperature, it can be no matter of surprise that Pulmonary Complaints are so frequent; and the lungs, not possessing the same natural powers of removing diseased structure, or of mutation as other parts of the body, we may account for their fatal termination from the want of application of proper auxiliaries, as counteractives. ”

“ At the same time the respiration is affected in a corresponding degree: it is shorter and quicker than natural; the chest does not expand so freely, and compensation seems to be sought in an additional number of respirations. ”

“ Too little importance is attached to physical development, and well-developed lungs can only be found in a well-developed chest; too little time is spent in outdoor exercise; and private houses, public conveyances, and public assembly rooms are not properly ventilated.
Good development of the chest and lungs, and thorough and systematic ventilation of the lungs, are essential to a strong heart, a vigorous circulation, and power of the tissues to resist disease. ”

“ Respiration, when frequent, indicates pain or inflammation in the parts above the diaphragm: a large respiration performed at a great interval announces delirium; but a cold respiration at nose or mouth is a very fatal symptom. Free respiration is to be looked upon as contributing much to the safety of the patient in all acute diseases, such as fevers, and those complaints which come to a crisis in forty days. ”