DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 



By W. H. HARBAUGH, V. S., Richmond, Virginia. 



The organs pertaining to the respiratory function may be popularly 

 classed as follows: The nasal openings, or nostrils; the nasal chambers, 

 through which the air passes in the head; the sinuses in the head, com- 

 municating with the nasal chambers; the pharynx, common to the 

 functions of respiration and alimentation; the larynx, a complicated 

 structure situated at the top of the windpipe; the trachea, or wind- 

 pipe: the bronchi (into which the wind-pipe divides), two tubes leading 

 from the wind-pipe to the right and left lung, respectively; the bron- 

 chial tubes, which penetrate and convey air to all parts of the lungs ; 

 the lungs. 



The pleura is a thin membrane that envelops the lung and is reflected 

 against the walls of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm is a muscular 

 structure, completely separating the contents of the thoracic cavity 

 from those of the abdominal cavity. It is essentially a muscle of in- 

 spiration, and the principal one. Other muscles aid in the mechanism 

 of respiration, but the diseases or injuries of them have nothing to do 

 with the class under consideration. 



Just within the nasal openings the skin becomes gradually but per- 

 ceptibly finer, until it is succeeded by the mucous membrane; the line 

 of demarkation is not always well defined. JS^ear about the junction of 

 the skin and membrane is a small hole, presenting the appearance of 

 having been made with a puucli ; this is the opening of the nasal duct, 

 a canal that conveys the tears from the eyes. Within and above the 

 nasal openings are the cavities or fissures called the false nostrils; if 

 the finger is inserted up into them it will be demonstrated that the 

 superior extremity is blind; just in this situation there is often found 

 a little tumor, to be described hereafter. The nasal chambers are com- 

 pletely separated, the right from the left, by a cartilaginous partition. 

 Each nasal chamber is divided into three continuous compartments 

 by the two turbinated bones. 



The mucous membrane lining the nasal chambers, and in fact the 

 entire respiratory tract, is much more delicate and more frequently 



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