DR. A. RANSOME ON RESPIRATION. 251 



dition of the coasts and currents, besides being of great 

 stratigraphical assistance. 



In conclusion, the object of this paper is to draw atten- 

 tion to the great masses of these bodies, and the import- 

 ance of always noticing their occurrence in geological 

 formations. Nor is it of less importance to note carefully 

 the growth of recent ones ; for only through a knowledge 

 of the present can we interpret the past. 



XXXII. On the Graphical Representation of the Move- 

 ments of the Chest-wall in Respiration. By Arthur 

 Ransome, M.D., M.A. 



Read January 13th, 1874. 



In a communication to the Royal Society * I have given 

 a description of a three-plane stethometer, an instrument 

 for measuring simultaneously the extent of movement of 

 points on the chest-wall in three directions at right angles 

 to one another (namely, forward, upward, and outward) 

 during one act of breathing. Some of the results obtained 

 with this instrument were also given ; and in subsequent 

 papers, to the Royal Society and to the Medico-Chirur- 

 gical Society f, I have given both the practical applications 

 of the instrument, and the physiological deductions which 

 may be drawn from these measurements. 



In these researches, amongst other matters, certain indi- 

 cations were observed which showed that the course de- 

 scribed by the end of a rib, in respiratory action, was very 

 far from being regular, and very different from the curve 



* Proc. Koy. Soc. vol. xxi. p. 1 1. 



t Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. lvi. 1873. 



