Contribution to the Physiology of Respiration under the Arctic Climate. 119 



Number 



of respirations 50 100 



Time taken 12/XÎ 608 m 12- 17 m 



13/Xl 13-20 m 



150 200 



1800 m 24-50 m 



227 



242 

 3000 m 



26-42 m 30-00 m 



No count was taken in the later experiments; but, as was my 

 custom, I have looked at the watch from time to time to be able 

 to determine that it was going rightly. 



The total volume of air respired is strikingly high and 

 the values vary more than in any other series of experiments. The 

 average is 522 ^ 8-4, ц = 396 or 76 ^lo of the average. One value, 

 No. 78, falls outside the calculated limit; omitting it the average 

 becomes 513 + 70, ц = 311 or 61 *^lo of the average. The total 

 volume is thus as great as in August, though the other respiratory 

 functions investigated have altered in such a w^ay, that we might 

 have expected a decrease. So far as I can see, this can be explained 

 by the probability that the total capacity of the lungs has increased 

 as a result of the sledge-journey. I have naturally only the external 

 measurements; but as already mentioned, there is no reason to 

 believe that these do not correspond to changes in the cubic capa- 

 city of the lungs, all the less since the changes described agree in 

 all respects with w^hat we should expect after Bohr's^ and Hassel- 

 balch's^ investigations. The changes found by these authors have 

 certainly been fleeting; but Durig^ has shown, that after a tiring 

 journey of 19 hours these altered conditions of lung capacity may 

 remain for several days, and there is therefore scarcely anything 

 improbable in concluding that in my case they have persisted for 

 a month. In our journey of 6 weeks we passed over ca. 900 kilo- 

 meters, of which about 800 km. in walking and running behind the 

 sledge, usually at the same time with heavy work in clearing the 

 heavily laden sledges, when they turned over or stuck fast. The 

 measurements given above were made before these respiration ex- 

 periments; but as I did not know of the papers by Bohr and Has- 

 selbalch, which were published during my absence on the Expedi- 

 tion, it did not occur to me to repeat the measurements, and I do 

 not know, therefore, how long the changes persisted. 



The carbonic acid percentage in the alveolar air is 

 on an average 419 4: 0057, ц = 0269 or 64 "/o of the average. In 

 terms of mercury pressure the average is 296 + 0-38, /i = Г80 or 



Deutsch. Archiv f. klin. Medizin. Bd. 88, p. 385. 



Festskrift fra Finseninstitutet 1908. 



Zentralblatt f. Physiologie 17, 1903. cit. Bohr 1. с. p. 430. 



