A lecture on respiration : being the sixth of a series of plain and simple lectures on the education of man / by Thomas Hopley.

  • Hopley, Thomas.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on respiration : being the sixth of a series of plain and simple lectures on the education of man / by Thomas Hopley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ail ordinary fish several superficial feet of delicate, capillary net-work must be constantly presented to the action of the vitalizing element—the ah in the water ; and reflecting farther, that the structural develop- ment of the resphatory organs in any vital system, must ever be strictly proportionate to the perfection of the general organization of the creatm’e; and further, that the fish—furnished though it be with its myriads of capillaries weaved over many feet of respi- ratory surface—is but a member of the very lowest order of vertebrated animals, while man ranks on em’th at the head of God’s creation : remembering and reflecting on these facts, you may be able, I will not say to form a conception of the elaborate complexity of the human lungs,but to perceive that they must be com- plex and elaborate beyond conception. As far as man, in all his organs, in all his senses, in all his members, in his nervous, osseous, muscular, cutaneous, and san- guineous systems—in a word, in all his bodily and mental powers, is advanced beyond the finny tribe, so far is the mechanism of the human lungs delicate, intricate, and extensive beyond the respiratory appa- ratus of the water-breathing creatures. Without, then, vainly attempting a detailed descrip- tion of these organs, I will simply state that their main bulk consists of very many millions of air-cells, all in the closest possible proximity with each other; and that every one of these cells is connected by a ramifi- cation of delicate air-tubes with the trachea or wind- pipe; so that with every inspiration, every point of the internal surface of every cell, comes into imme- diate contact with the air inspired; and so mm-vel- lously arranged are these cells for effecting the re- quired object, that the surface furnished by them col- lectively is spacious beyond belief, save among those who have scrutinized the matter, and those who reflect what Power designed these organs. Dr. Hales, some years ago, calculated this surface to