CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Preface vii 



I. The Regulation of Breathing .... 1 



Introduction. 



The problem presented by the co-ordinated main- 

 tenance of reactions between organism and environ- 

 ment Vitalistic and Mechanistic attempts at explana- 

 tion. 



The elementary facts relating to breathing. 



The respiratory centre and the blood. 



Alveolar air and the exact regulation of its CO^ 

 percentage. 



Apnoea and hyperpnoea. 



Varying frequency of breathing. 



Physiological effects of varying pressures of gases. 



Effects of deprivation of COg. 



Effects of air of confined spaces and mines. 



Effects of breathing compressed air in diving and 

 tunnelling. 



Influence of the vagus nerves in breathing. 



Co-ordination of the responses to central and periph- 

 eral nervous stimuli, so that the respiratory apparatus 

 acts as a whole. 



II. The Readjustments of Regulation in 



Acclimatisation and Disease ... 27 



The gases of the blood. 



Oxyhaemoglobin and the conditions of its dissocia- 

 tion. 



The combinations of COg in the blood and their 

 dissociation. 



Effects of oxygenation of haemoglobin on the disso- 

 ciation of COg. ^^* -^- i^ 



