268 



HITCHCOCK'S ANATOMY 



The lungs, if compressed by disease or improper clothing, and 

 even in many cases of so-called perfect health and soundness, 

 can be very much enlarged in their capacity. This can be 

 done by loud reading, or by the simple act of filling the lungs 

 with air to their utmost capacity several times each day, after 

 the manner mentioned under inference 3d. If this healthy 

 habit be kept up for a few years even by some considerable 

 effort, nature will at length take up the habit, and we shall 

 ultimately be found involuntarily filling the lungs with pure 

 air, and thus fix upon ourselves a hygienic habit of great im- 

 portance in preserving health, and of great value in repelling 

 disease. 



476. — 10. Colds and Coughs — Treatment — Sympathy 

 between the Different Parts of the Mucous Membrane. — 

 Colds and ordinary coughs are affections of the mucous mem- 

 brane, and generally only of the lungs, pharynx, and nostrils 

 and air passages leading to the lungs. They are often pro- 

 duced by obstructions in the vessels of the skin, and hence a 

 great relief in many instances for a cold, and often a cure, is 

 to remove this obstruction by stimulating these vessels to 

 powerful action, as in sweating. This effect is produced by the 

 sympathy which exists between the skin and mucous mem- 

 brane, one often performing the function of the other for a 

 short time. The mucous membrane also has a remarkable 

 sympathy between its different parts ; and hence even the 

 portions which are unaffected by the cold should be kept as 

 quiet as possible, by taking, for instance, but little food into 

 the alimentary canal, and that of a liquid character, so that it 

 may be readily taken up by the absorbents of the stomach. 



477. — 11. Injurious Effects of Wearing Shawls by 

 Gentlemen. — From the fact that whatever compresses the 

 chest greatly tends to bring on diseases of the lungs, we in- 



475. How can the size of the lungs be perceptibly increased ? 476. What are colds and 

 common coughs ? How are they often induced ? What is their best treatment? What 

 is remarkable about the sympathy between the skin and the mucous membrane? 477. 

 How are shawls often injurious to th* lungs ? 



