The times., 1899-02-26
EAsTERTIDE EVENING TOILETS

ficiently nourished by this Impoverished
blood supply, becomes sluggish and the
victim loses energy and interest in life.
Physicians have often remarked the OK
like submission of consumptives to their
disease. They listlessly drop their hands
and accept their condition as the doom
meted out to them by an offended God.
This state of mind, alternating with fits
Of unreasonable hopefulness. is the direct
result of a badly nourished brain.
brief explanation of the way the blood
is aerated in the lungs will show Just what
/ mean. The lung substance is very light
and spongy, as full of tiny holes as a bun
die OF fine lace. The venous blood which
has become loaded with Carbonic acid gas
in its passage through the body. goes to
the lungs to be aerated and rendered pure
again. That process is accomplished in
this way: The walls of the blood vessels
in the lungs are full of tiny holes which
while they are too small to allow the red
corpuscles TO escape, are yet large enough
to permit the carbonic acid gas to be
thrown OFF into the lungs and TO admit the
pure oxygen in its place. If, through de-
fective breathing, but few inches of the
lung substance is supplied with air. then
the blood cannot be properly aerated, but
must be sent out through the body again,
still burdened with its old load of impuri-
ties and mind and body suffer alike for
want of nourishment
There is no medicine so cheap as pure
air, and the tubercular bacili have no
more powerful foe. These germs find their
way to the lungs, no one knows whence.
At first there may be only a few which
get foothold, and finding a congenial soil
in the sluggish lung tissue of the person
who does not breathe deeply enough to
keep his lungs in a healthy condition, they
quickly multiply and spread. These bacilli
have a tendency TO pack themselves into
the air cells, one on top of another, till
they form a solid mass. AS this mass pre-
vents the air from getting into the cells
the affected tissue soon decays and breaks
down. leaving a cavity in the lung which
gradually grows larger, unless the spread
of the bacilli can be checked.
If the wasting process has not already
| gone too far, il can assuredly be checked
! by forcing pure air into every sluggish,
unused cell of the lungs, and stimulating
them TO perform their normal functions.
| The thrush of air gradually lOosens the
1 hold of the bacilli which are then expelled
| by exhalatiOn or eXpectoration. The lung
tissue thus stimulated, begins to do its part
| in throwing off these parasites, and the
! pure oxygen drawn into every part of the
| lungs by this deep breathing, once more
| does its normal work in aerating the blood
supply, which in turn carries its fresh.
pure current to the brain and other parts
| of the body, stimulating and vivifying every
| organ.
This habit of deep, full breathing is one
of the simplest things TO acquire, and if
persisted In will make any narrow chest
! ed weak lunged man or woman feel as If
they had been drinking of the fab,ed elixir
! of life. When people come to me to be
treated for lung trouble. put them
through a course of physical training be
ginning with the breathing exercises
, which are the most important of all.
If the patient Is a woman ! encourage
her to wear clothing comfortably loose so
as to allow full expansion of the lower
part of the lungs Then / show her how to
breathe AS most women habitually use
only the upper part of the lungs. | have
my women patients begin by drawing in
the breath through the nostrils, slowly
| expanding the diaphragm and filling the
lower part of the lungs; then the upper
part till every air cell is full; then eXhal-
ing very slowly through the slightly opened
mouth When the lungs. are apparently
emptied of air. | show the patient how to
draw in the muscles of the abdomen and
contract the lungs still further, forcing out
| the large quantity of residual air which
| always remains even after an ordinary ex-
piration. 'u b
AT first these breathing exercises may
be decidedly painful, and II so, a person
should always stop just short of the point
where pain begins. 1t will soon be OBJ
served that with each effort to breathe
deeply the unpleasant sensation comes
later, and after time it will disappear
altogether, while free. iexhilarated, ex-
ultant feeling takes its place.
These breathing exercises should be re-