1 84 ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON RESPIRATORS ORGANS. 



11. Mouth-Breathing. Quite a number of people 

 breathe through the mouth instead of the nose. This 

 not only gives the face a weak silly look, but it tends to 

 cause disease of the lungs and air-passages. 



When air is breathed through the nose, it has to pass 

 through a long narrow passage lined with warm moist 

 mucous membrane, before it gets into the pharynx. In 

 this way it is warmed and moistened before it enters the 

 larynx, on its way to the lungs. Air breathed in through 

 the mouth is apt to be too cold or too dry when it reaches 

 the bronchial tubes, and to injure them and the air-cells 

 of the lung. 



The nostrils are very often blocked during a cold in 

 the head, but if your nostrils are usually so stopped 

 that you find difficulty in breathing through them they 

 should be examined by a physician, in order that what- 

 ever causes the stoppage may be removed. If a child 

 habitually breathes through the mouth when asleep, it 

 is probable that something is wrong with its nose. 



12. Action of Alcoholic Drinks on the Respiratory 

 Organs. Indulgence in alcoholic drinks often keeps the 

 mucous membrane lining the air-passages in a congested 

 state. It thus increases the tendency to colds of the 

 head and chest. There is also a peculiar form of con- 

 sumption of the lungs, which is rapidly fatal, and is 

 found only in drunkards. 



ir. What must air, when breathed through the nose, do before it 

 reaches the pharynx ? What results ? Why is air breathed in through 

 the mouth likely to injure the lungs ? What should be done if you 

 have continual difficulty in breathing through the nose ? 



12. Action of alcohol on the air-passages ? Results ? What lung- 

 disease is found specially in drunkards? 



