EFFICIENT RESPIRATION. 175 



that men can exhale, at one effort, from six to ten 

 pints of air, whereas in women the average is only 

 from two to four pints. In ten females, free from 

 disease, whom he examined, about the age of 18, 

 the quantity of air thrown out averaged 3i pints; 

 while, in young men of the same age, he found it 

 amount to six pints. Some allowance is to be made 

 for natural differences in the two sexes, but enough 

 remains to show a great diminution of capacity, 

 which can be ascribed to no other cause than the 

 use of stays. But having discussed this matter 

 when treating of the muscular system, it is unne- 

 cessary to enlarge on it again, further than to 

 remark, that the constrained motionless attitudes 

 enforced upon young females in the course of educa- 

 tion are very unfavourable to the play of the lungs 

 and to the full development of the chest. 



The admirable harmony established by the Crea- 

 tor between the various constituent parts of the 

 animal frame, renders it impossible to pay regard to 

 or infringe the conditions required for the health of 

 any one, without all the rest participating in the 

 benefit or injury. Thus, while cheerful exercise in 

 the open air and in the society of equals is directly 

 and eminently conducive to the well-being of the 

 muscular system, the advantage does not stop there ; 

 the beneficent Creator having kindly so ordered it, 

 that the same exercise shall be scarcely less advan- 

 tageous to the proper performance of the important 

 function of respiration. Active exercise calls the 

 lungs into play, favours their expansion, promotes 

 the circulation of the blood through their substance, 

 and leads to their complete and healthy develop- 

 ment. The same end is greatly facilitated by that 

 free and vigorous exercise of the voice which so 

 uniformly accompanies and enlivens the sports of 

 the young, and which doubles the benefits derived 

 from them considered as exercise. The excitement 

 of the social and moral feelings among children 



