150 THE WONDERFUL HOUSE THAT JACK HAS 



one-half or two-thirds of the pure air we might have, 

 because our habit of supplying our lungs is to give only 

 a slight downward pressure to the diaphragm, or a 

 little raising of the ribs by the intercostal muscles? 

 Then we have surely been deprived of our rightful 

 share of air long enough, and in a business-like way we 

 should set about getting the largest supply with the 

 least cost of effort. " But how can we do this? " some 

 may ask. " Isn't breathing one of the habits born with 

 us that our wills cannot regulate?" Certainly not! 

 Girls and boys can form correct breathing habits if 

 they persevere in trying to do so, and mature people 

 can greatly improve theirs. But before we consider 

 how this may be done, let us first give attention to one 

 more essential breathing habit, the importance of 

 taking air through the nose. 



The long narrow passages of the nose were designed 

 both to strain and to warm the air. The dust particles 

 not stopped by the numerous little hairs near the open- 

 ing of the nose are arrested by the moist mucous 

 membrane of the passages and expelled with its se- 

 cretion, whenever the use of the handkerchief is re- 

 quired. This membrane also arrests germs, and it is 

 likewise thought that its secretion tends to render them 

 harmless. That one can endure breathing impure air 

 through the nose much longer than through the mouth 

 is a well-established fact. When people have been in 

 the presence of some deadly fumes, those who breathed 

 through the mouth were fatally injured, while others, 



