Part 35 (2/2)

534. Restrain the elevation of the ribs and depression of the diaphragm, so that the quant.i.ty of air conveyed into the lungs will be reduced to twenty cubic inches, when forty are needed, and the results will be as follows: Only one half of the carbonic acid will be eliminated from the system, and the blood will receive but one half as much oxygen as it requires. This fluid will then be imperfectly oxydated, and partially freed of its impurities. The impure blood will be returned to the left side of the heart, and the whole system will suffer from an infringement of organic laws.

533. Ill.u.s.trate the effect upon the blood when the respiratory muscles are enfeebled in their action. 534. Show how the blood is imperfectly purified by restricting the movements of the ribs and diaphragm.

535. _Scrofula, or consumption, frequently succeeds a depressed state of the nervous system._ These diseases arise from the deposition of tuberculous matter in different parts of the body. Those individuals who have met with reverses of fortune, in which character and property were lost, afford painful examples. Hundreds yearly die from the effect of depressed spirits, caused by disappointed hopes, or disappointed ambition.

_Ill.u.s.tration._ A striking instance of the effects of mental depression is related by Lnnec. In a female religious establishment in France, great austerities were practised; the mind was absorbed in contemplating the terrible truths of religion, and in mortifying the flesh. The whole establishment, in the s.p.a.ce of ten years, was several times depopulated--with the exception of the persons employed at the gate, in the kitchen, and garden--with that fatal disease, consumption. This inst.i.tution did not long continue, but was suppressed by order of the French government.

536. _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.

_Observations._ 1st. The twenty-three who escaped immediate death in the Black Hole of Calcutta were soon attacked with inflammation of the lungs, by which these organs were consolidated, and thus prevented the permeation of air into their cells. This disease of the lungs was caused by breathing vitiated air.

535. Mention some of the effects of mental depression upon the body.

What is related by Lnnec? 536. Does the condition of the lungs influence the purity of the blood? Mention some of the conditions that will impede the oxydation of blood in the lungs. What occurred to those persons who escaped death in the Black Hole of Calcutta?

2d. One of the precursory symptoms of consumption is the feeble murmur of respiration in the upper part of the lungs. This condition of these organs is produced by, or frequently follows, mental depression, the breathing of impure air, the stooping position in standing or sitting, and the restriction of the movements of the ribs and diaphragm.

3d. Persons asphyxiated by carbonic acid, water, strangling, or any noxious air, after resuscitation, are usually affected with coughs and other diseases of the lungs.

537. COLDS and COUGHS are generally induced by a chill, that produces a contraction of the blood-vessels of the skin; and the waste material, which should be carried from the body by the agency of the vessels of this membrane, is retained in the system, and a great portion of it is returned to the mucous membrane of the lungs. For such is the harmony established by the Creator, that if the function of any portion of the body is deranged, those organs whose offices are similar take on an increased action.

538. The waste material, that should have pa.s.sed through the many outlets of the skin, creates an unusual fulness of the minute vessels that nourish the mucous membrane of the bronchia; this induces an irritation of these vessels, which increases the flow of blood to the nutrient arteries of the lungs. There is, also, a thickening of the lining membrane of the lungs, caused by the repletion of the bronchial vessels of the mucous membrane; this impedes the pa.s.sage of air through the small bronchial tubes, and consequently the air-vesicles cannot impart a sufficient quant.i.ty of oxygen to purify the blood, and this fluid, imperfectly purified, does not pa.s.s with facility through the lungs. An additional obstacle to the free pa.s.sage of air into the lungs, is the acc.u.mulation of blood in the pulmonary vessels.

What is one of the precursory symptoms of consumption? How is this condition frequently produced? What diseases usually follow asphyxia by carbonic acid, water, strangling, &c.? 537. How are colds generally induced? 538. What effect has a common cold upon the mucous membrane of the lungs?

539. As colds and coughs are very generally treated by the ”matrons”

of the community, or by the patient, the following suggestions may aid in directing a proper treatment: To effect a speedy cure, it is necessary to diminish the amount of fluid in the vessels of the lungs.

This can be effected in two ways: 1st. By diminis.h.i.+ng the quant.i.ty of blood in the system; 2d. By diverting it from the lungs to the skin.

The first condition can be easily and safely affected, by abstaining from food, and drinking no more than a gill of fluid in twenty-four hours. As there is a continuous waste from the skin and other organs of the system, the quant.i.ty of blood by this procedure will be diminished, and the lungs relieved of the acc.u.mulated fluid.

540. The second condition can be accomplished by resorting to the warm or vapor bath. These and the common sweats will invite the blood from the lungs to the skin. By keeping up the action of the skin for a few hours, the lungs will be relieved. In some instances, emetics and cathartics are necessary; mucilages, as gum arabic or slippery-elm bark, would be good. After the system is relieved, the skin is more impressible to cold, and consequently requires careful protection by clothing. In good const.i.tutions, the first method is preferable, and generally sufficient without any medicine or ”sweating.”

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