Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-05-13

cfamped position of the body, it is diffus- !;
ea or spread over all the hollow cavities |
or cells with which the lungs so wonder
iully abound, TO come in close contact
with the blood, and 10 form it and purify !
IT, In order however to understand this !
part OF our subject, we must say some
ming OF the blood itself, as we'll as of its
circulation.
ms mud, IN quantity amounting to at
least I'VE or SIX gallons in the adult, goes
from the heart TO the extremities of the
system, and returns again, in less than
louf minutes. 1t goes out comparatively
pure; and alter having its finer and more
perfect particles taken out 10 promote our
CROWN, or to supply the constant wear
ana tear or waste Of the various parts
through which ii passes, comes back more
or less Impure. 1t goes out also highly
endowed with vitality, (for the blood may
be SAID TO have life as much as The solid
pats Of the body, } but it comes back with
a considerable loss Of that vitality. II is
somewhat cooler. aud would freeze sooner
ltaan Wien 1t sci out on It's journey. Were
there no means of restoring its heat, and
The circulation bat very few times be-
fore it would not only be unft for crcu-
iatlon, and for the nourishmcnt of the
body, but actually poisonous 10 it. Either
the carbon with which ii becomes loaded,
and which gives it very dark color, or
something else 10 it, would spoil it for the
purposes OF sustaining lite, and we should
soon perish.
Nor is this all, The chyle which is
; formed from our food, which is at first Ell
Their milky or pearIy in its appearance,
: and which is ultimately TO become blood,
cannot become SO by merely circulating in
, the veins into which 1t is poured, nor by
S going every four minutes the whole round
: of the circulation, including the heart and
: the arteries. There must be some pro-
r cess or processes both for forming the
3 blood aud for yefor Mug 1t.
This twofold work is accomplished in
;, the lungs. The whole mass of the blood
: not only goes out to all paris of the body
= and back again every three or four min
= utes, but as soon as this grand general
" tour is finished, it makes a shorter bul
: more special journey, through the lungs
) whence it returns again 10 the heart. In
: this Journey it is that the work of fof ming
:, :. as we'll as of renovating the blood is &C
= complished. -
A. We have spoken OF air cellsin The lungs
4 Now it would be difficult 10 describe The
: inside of the lungs in such way as Il
!, make the subject Ineligible, in shor
i, article like this, especially without the ali
of plates We are compelled, therefore
to the mere statement, that the wind pipe
- through which the air passes from tn
= throat to the lungs, divides and subdivide
:, almost without end, till at last these mi
- mute subdivisions end in little globula
:" cells. Now the numerous passages form
! ed by the divisions of the windpipe c
}" which we have spoken, together with til
almost inuumerable little cells at their ex
. tremties, are all lined with thin men
10 brane, not unlike the skin and the inin
~ of the intestines, only vastly thinner an
:" more delicate than either. The extent I
:" this membrane thus lining the inferno
y surface of the Lungs, has been usually e;
&c timaed, III an adult, al about fifteen SquaI
nc feet-euual to the extent of the skin itsel
u These cells are always filled with air,
~ the living, healthy adu individual. amour
"a ing probably to one hundred cubic incl
III es, or from, three TO four pints. The di
at ference of different individuals, in this r,
!, a. spect, is however, extremely great.
-: ne But be the qnahtity of air contained
~ the lungs what it may, 1t is not all expe
u led in expiration, that Is, In throwing o.
W. our breath may, only very small pa
LAT of it-probaby, in ordinary cases, n
ny more than half pint This is replace
, ,a at The drawing in of the next breath,
=" !, an equal quantity, so that the lungs a
= always kept full. ~.
n TO be continued