BREATHING HABITS 149 



cautions. But by far the best preventive against all 

 diseases is the deep-breathing habit. In spite of 

 our greatest care, disease germs may be in the air 

 we breathe. Healthy tissues and bodily vigor are the 

 best armor against harm from these germs. The 

 largest possible supply of pure air in our regular breath- 

 ing is the best aid to health and vigor. 



The following statements are taken from an article 

 on deep breathing in the New York Medical Journal 

 of September 8, 1906. The article is by Dr. John H. 

 Pryor of Buffalo, who was the first superintendent of 

 the New York State Hospital for Incipient Tuber- 

 culosis, and who, for many years, has had wide ex- 

 perience in treating diseases of the breathing organs. 

 " Very frequently breathing becomes a partial or incom- 

 plete function after childhood. Enough air is admitted 

 to the lungs to support life in a sedentary way, but 

 thorough ventilation becomes a rare experience. . . . 

 Many women have never learned how to breathe, and 

 the man who has given up vigorous exercise seldom fills 

 his lungs to their full capacity. . . . The average chest 

 expansion of all patients when they entered the New 

 York State Hospital for Incipient Tuberculosis was 

 two inches, and the breathing capacity was almost 

 invariably below the standard usually required. The 

 almost universal testimony of the patients was that they 

 had never been taught to breathe." 



Are we filling just the small upper part of our lungs 

 by laborious chest breathing? Are we getting only 



