Abstract
THE book before us comprises the subject-matter of the Croonian lectures delivered before the Royal College of Physicians in 1895, and an appendix, which latter contains a full description of the methods of investigation employed by the author. The first lecture contains a discussion of respiration from a general biological standpoint, and concludes by giving the effects of muscular exercise upon the production of CO2, and the temperature of the body. The second lecture is devoted to human respiration; the different forms of breathing, and the absorption of oxygen in the body are considered in it. In the third lecture the effect of volition upon respiration is discussed, simple volition towards any kind of muscular exercise, i e. volition without any response being attended by an increased production of CO2, and an increased absorption of O. The question to what extent response to volition can be checked is, with regard to the author's deductions, of the greatest importance. In any case the volition exerted is not simple volition to increased breathing or muscular movement, but volition to the movement in question + volitional inhibition of the movement. The results of the author in this direction will almost certainly attract the attention of psychologists. In the fourth lecture the author discusses the changes in respiration produced by changes in the pressure of the atmosphere breathed, and concludes by showing the influence low atmospheric pressure exerts in checking volition. The appendix comprises a description of the methods used, and numerous experimental protocols.
A Contribution to the History of the Respiration of Man.
By William Marcet Pp. 116; charts and diagrams. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1897.)
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T., F. A Contribution to the History of the Respiration of Man. Nature 56, 364 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/056364a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/056364a0