On the respiratory functions of the nose : and their relation to certain pathological conditions / by Greville MacDonald.

  • Greville MacDonald
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the respiratory functions of the nose : and their relation to certain pathological conditions / by Greville MacDonald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/86 (page 11)
    the experiments, the apparatus for some of them being so simple that it may be purchased for a very few pence. Before proceeding, however, I may call attention at the outset to an objection that will probably suggest itself as a serious obstacle. It is this: that the air passing in at one nostril and out at the other has traversed double the natural area of mucous membrane, and, therefore, that the experi- ments are not trustworthy. The answer to this argument is this : that if the air be drawn through the nose by a natural act of respiration, as already suggested, passing in only at one nostril, it will necessarily traverse that with double the velocity attained when breathing is performed through both air- passages. Consequently, it remains in con- tact with the mucous membrane only half the time, although by passing through both sides it traverses double the area ; and we may assume that the one condition balances the