The Shasta courier., 1866-12-01
Lungs.

No organ in the body is so outrageously
interfered with as the lungs. The brain is
| goaded with unnatural excitements, and the
stomach Is oyertasked and abused, but sys
tematIc pressure is not brought to bear upon
either OF these organs from without. This IS
done to the lungs in the female, not only pre-
venting them from performing their full
junction, but repressing their growth so that
they are often OF much less volume than they
should be to compare with the other organs
OF the body. This lack of proportion in the
human machine, for SO it may be regarded,
inevitably results in disorder, just as 1t
would In any machine made by man, if some
important part were made altogether TOO
small for the other parts.
10 appreciate the importance of the lungs
as part OF the bodily machinery, let US OBJ
serve their functions and the arrangements
tor Its props: performance. The function OF
these organs is to effect a change in the blood
| by means of pure air. The blood that re
turns to the heart from all parts of the body
must be sent to the lungs to be thus aerated
In order to fit it to 20 forth again to the
organs. If this were not done it would carry
death and destruction, instead of life and
growth, wherever it goes But how is the
blood aerated? Not by shaking it up with
air in a cavity. This would be mans way
of doing it, But the Creator has an arrange
ment which is not thus rude and Intellectual.
The lungs are a mass of minute air-cells.-
There are millions upon millions of them
Into these the air is fully introduced at every
| inspiration. and there acts upon the blood IN
the vessels spread out upon the walls of these
cells, OF course through very pore. You
| can see how delicate this organization IS
You can also see how important it is that
each cell should have its full supply of air in
order to perform its work.
Observe now the pains which have been
taken IN construction of the chest to secure
the free action Of all the laboratories
as we may term them. There are no organs
that so distinctly proclaim in their exterior
arrangements that they must have plenty of
room as the organs within the chest. A very
elastic frame work is furnished, composed
partly of bones and partly of cartilages, so
that the chest may be fully expanded for the
introduction of air into the lungs The
cavity Of the abdomen below by large sheet
of muscular substance, called the diaphragm,
attached all aronnd to the inside of the chest.
This .arched upward. making membranous
dome, and it is chiefly by the fattening of
this downward that the cavity of the chest
is enlarged, causing the air to rush in through
the windpipe TO fill out all the little air.
cells
1t is plain enough to any one that this
apparatus is designed to have freedom of
motion, and that arrangements of dress
should surely permit this. But fashion pre-
scfbes smallncss Of the waist in the female,
and so the chest is begirt firmly in its lower
part, thus limiting its capacity, and prevent
ing the diaphragm from having its full
action. And so early is the pressure begun,
and so Systematically is it pursued, that the
chest and the contained organs are not per.
mitted to attain anything like their full
volume.
Observe now what are the consequences Of
this eonstrairt. We will suppose that the
capacity Of the lungs is lcssened one-third-
that is. that there are one third less cells in
the lungs than there should be. If then the
other organs attain their usual size. with the
ordinary rate of respiration, the aeration of
the blood must be defective to this amount
But this result does not come in full, but is
in part prevented by another injury which
| the system at large sustains from the same
| source for the repression OF growth in the
lungs, lessening the general vigor, represses
| growth in all the other parts. In such a
state of things there is not as much blood in
the body as in vigorous condition, and
therefore there is not as much sent to the
lungs to be aerated. Still, this general
stinting of growth (for such it isl does not
so regulate the proportion between the
organs as to prevent embarrassment in the
lungs, and this nature seeks to remedy by
increased frequency in respiration, for the
tightly corseted lady always breathes more
quickly than one whose chest has its natural
freedom.
There is another point to be looked at
Growth repressed by pressure will not be as
good and regular as natural, unrestrained
growth. The air ve~icles, of which we ha We
spoken, will not be uniformly well construct
ed and well arranged. They can not there
fore, do their duty perfectly, and will be La
ble to dis ease
There is another point still. With the
chest free, the hurried circulation caused by
occasional strong exercise is prevented from
doing violence to the lungs by the means at
command for the full expansion Of the chest.
| But crippled in this respect, injury must be
done to the delicate cells, and thus the germs
of disease are often planted.
COMPRISING the chest does harm, then,
in two ways-by creating Il tendency to dis
ease in the lungs themselves, and by impair
ing the general vigor.
We think it ridiculous and cruel in the
Chinese mother to repress the growth of her
daughters S feet, but is it really as much so
as to repress the growth Of lungs? Which
organs are most important? Which by
their disability most affectthe general health ?
Let American mothers consider whether they
do not go beyond the Chinese in foolish and
cruel obedience to the mandates of fashion,
Harper's Ueekly.
FRIGHTFNING . GRFFNUoRN While trav.