Page:Structure and functions of the body; a hand-book of anatomy and physiology for nurses and others desiring a practical knowledge of the subject (IA structurefunctio00fiskrich).pdf/134

 expulsion of air from the lungs, the former process being a little shorter than the latter. A pause follows each expiration before there is another inspiration. At birth the normal rate of respiration is 42, but it grows slower as the child grows older, being 26 at the age of five or six, while in the adult it averages 17 to 20 times a minute. It is slower during sleep and more rapid during physical activity. The average amount of air taken in with every inspiration is 30 cubic inches and the minimum air space per individual should be 3000 cubic feet per hour.

Breathing is of two kinds, diaphragmatic or abdominal and chest or rib breathing, the former usually being more pronounced in men than in women, probably because of centuries of tight dressing on the part of the latter. As a rule, however, both diaphragm and ribs come into play; for in inspiration, which is an active movement, the thorax becomes enlarged from before backward, laterally, and vertically. The ribs are raised by the external intercostals chiefly, though the internal intercostals aid somewhat, and swinging out upon the vertebræ, widen the chest as well as deepen it. The diaphragm, which is dome-like when relaxed, becomes flattened in contraction and so increases the size of the chest from above downward. As the chest enlarges, the lungs expand, the air in them becomes rarefied, and more air rushes in. When the lungs are full they relax and the muscles relax after their contraction, so that expiration is a passive movement, due largely to the elastic relaxation of lungs and muscles, the air being driven out by the lessened capacity of the lungs.

Difficult Breathing.—In heart and lung troubles, where too little oxygen is carried to the tissues, dyspnœa or difficult breathing results and may even advance to asphyxia, a condition in which no air is obtained. In difficult or labored respiration the pectoral muscles are used in inspiration and the scaleni, which pass from the vertebræ of the neck to the sternum,