Volume 1

Diseases of the organs of respiration : a treatise on the etiology, pathology, symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases of the lungs and air-passages / by Samuel West.

  • West, Samuel.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Diseases of the organs of respiration : a treatise on the etiology, pathology, symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases of the lungs and air-passages / by Samuel West. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    23/450 (page 1)
    School of University OF Leeds. DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION. ♦ 1. INTRODUCTORY. The object of respiration is to supply the oxygen necessary for the oxidation processes of the body as well as to remove the carbonic acid formed within the body. This is the function of the lungs. The process of respiration consists in the interchange of gases between the blood and air. The essential structure of the lungs is extremely simple, viz., a thin mem- brane richly supplied with blood-vessels, exposed on both sides to the air, the blood being kept in movement and constantly renewed by the heart and the other forces of circulation, and the air by the bellows-like action of the thorax. Defects of respiration may therefore be produced in three ways :— 1. By defects in the sup- ply of blood to the vesicles of the lungs. 2. By defects in the sup- ply of air to the vesicles of the lungs. 3. By defects in the re- spiratory organs themselves. Most of the so-called dis- eases of the respiratory organs are associated with definite anatomical changes in them which constitute their patho- logical anatomy. ANATOMY.—The re- spiratory organs of man con- sist of the lungs, with their pleura, and the air-passages leading to them. The air, drawn through the nose or mouth and pharynx, enters the larynx, where the air-passages proper commence, and passes in suc- cession through the trachea, bronchi and bronchioles to reach the vesicles. The trachea extends from the larynx to a point within the thorax opposite the third dorsal vertebra {rf. fig. 4), where it bifurcates to form the two.