1 68 ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY 



There has been much discussion among physicians, voice 

 trainers, and elocutionists as to the proper way to breathe, 

 some advocating chest breathing (Fig. 143), and some ad- 

 vocating abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing (Fig. 144). 

 The fact that so elementary a process as breathing is still 

 a subject of discussion illustrates how imperfect is the 

 state of our physiological knowledge, especially when 

 an attempt is made to apply it to practical purposes. The 

 author believes that pure chest breathing and diaphrag- 

 matic breathing are both wrong, and that what may be 

 termed full breathing is the natural and best way (Fig. 145). 



280. Full breathing employs movement of both chest 

 and diaphragm, the greatest expansion being in neither 



Chest n r abdomen > but at 

 the waist, and diminishing in 



amount both upward and down- 

 ward. The objection to pure 

 chest breathing'^ that the marked 



m vement f the u pp er p art f 



the bon y ca S e rec l uires exhaust- 

 4. MAN IN CORSET m g effort ; such movement can 



be employed without waste of 

 strength for only a short period, 

 as in gasping for breath _or 

 REFORMED CORSET WEARER during great muscular exertion 



FIG. l 4 6.-BreaThing Tracings (5 26 3> Yet Some women with 



(Kellogg). waists confined by tight clothing 



Motion of chest recorded at left and of breathe in this way f or hours at a 



waist at right. t j me . thus their stren g t h WCarS 



out, and they are old before their time (Fig. 146). 



281. In full breathing, the diaphragm contracts but at the 

 same time the ribs are lifted upward and outward, and the 

 points of attachment of the diaphragm are thus raised and 

 separated so that the diaphragm flattens without any great 

 descent. But in pure abdominal breathing, the movement 



wou, CORBET 



