The leading question just now in our study of breathing is, How shall the necessary space be created in the chest-cavity to enable the lungs to receive the necessary amount of air seventy times a minute?
We have seen that the lungs and heart together form a cone-shaped body which completely fills the thorax, the inside of the chest, and that the strongly built chest is a protecting cover to the vital organs which form this cone. We have inquired whether the cover of this cone shall be raised in order to provide the necessary space for breath; and we have found that answer to be a most emphatic No. The chest cannot be kept in motion for any such purpose, and the lungs cannot be used to produce such motion, without tending directly to disease and death.
Then as the cover of the cone cannot be moved, can the cone itself be moved? As nature teaches so decidedly that the chest, the cover of the lungs, cannot be lifted for this purpose, does nature itself teach that the cone itself can be lowered so as to provide the necessary space for air in breathing?
Well, as something has to move in order to provide the space for the two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air that we must have, and as the chest cannot be moved sufficiently for this purpose, it follows, and nature itself teaches, that the cone itself--the lungs and heart-must be moved. How, then, shall this be done?
In describing these organs at the beginning,[1] we found that the cone formed by the lungs and heart rests upon the diaphragm as upon a floor. If that floor can be lowered, this will lower the cone. And when the cone is lowered, this will give space as really as though the chest were raised; then the lungs will be expanded by the air which will rush in of itself.
Now this is precisely what is done in right breathing. This is nature's way. This is just what God has made these organs to do. And this is why the diaphragm is made as it is, and occupies the place that it does occupy as the floor of the lungs, the base of that cone.
The diaphragm is an arched, or rather, dome-shaped, muscle (as it is arched on all sides), which forms the floor of the organs in the chest-cavity, and at the same time forms the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The drooping sides of this dome, all around, are formed of muscle, which reaches up over the curve toward the center, but does not extend entirely to the center. A considerable portion of the center of the diaphragm is not composed of muscle, but is simply a sheet of tendon.
The drooping sides of the diaphragm extend downward along the inner surface of the body to the twelfth rib all around, except in front, where it extends only a very little below the tip of the breast-bone; and the edge is fastened all around to the inner surface of the body. By this it is seen that the edge of the diaphragm where it is fastened all around, is a considerable distance below the top of the diaphragm, except immediately in front. It is seen also that the drooping sides of the diaphragm all around, extend downward close to the inside walls of the body.
Now the muscles of these drooping sides of the dome-shaped diaphragm contract, and thus draw down the top of the dome, which is the floor of the cone that is formed of the lungs and heart.
When this floor is drawn down, that which rests upon it--the whole cone-shaped contents of the chest--descends with it. the lowering into a larger cavity of that cone which already only fills the cavity where it is, would leave a space all around and over itself from bottom to top, but for the fact that "nature abhors a vacuum." Therefore as this cone is lowered, and begins thus to make room, the air, which exerts fifteen pounds of pressure to the square inch outside of the body, rushes through the nostrils into the lungs, and causes the lungs to expand till every particle of this larger space is filled as completely as was the smaller space before the cone was lowered.
Thus is created the room for that two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air which must be taken in at each breath. And in this way of breathing, it is perfectly plain that it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves, and without any pressure being brought upon the lungs.
Now we have taken the breath in, how shall it be got out? Let us follow on and see.
It was stated a little while ago that the top of the diaphragm not only forms the floor of the organs of the chest cavity, but also the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The stomach, liver, etc., fit up under this roof just as closely as the lungs fit down on the floor above. From this it is evident that when this roof descends by the contraction of the muscular sides of the diaphragm, that which is beneath--the contents of the abdomen--is forced downward also. but the abdominal cavity is completely filled already, and there is no vacant place into which to push the contents of the abdomen. Besides, the abdominal cavity is smaller at the lower part than at the upper.
What, then, can be done? That roof is surely descending, and so surely that which is beneath if must be pushed downward out of the way. And this is just right. The Lord has provided for this. It is true that there is no vacant space into which to push these organs. But the Creator made the muscular walls of the abdomen elastic, so that when the diaphragm forces down the contents of the abdomen, these elastic muscles are stretched by the pressure against them, the abdomen swells outward, and thus ample room is made for the contents of the abdominal cavity when the contents of the chest-cavity descend by the drawing down of the diaphragm.
Then, when the muscular contraction of the diaphragm has ceased, and the pressure is removed from the elastic abdominal muscles, those muscles naturally return to their former and normal position. This forces the contents of the abdomen back again, up against the diaphragm; this carries the diaphragm upward again to its normal position; and this, in turn, carries the contents of the chest cavity back to their normal position by contracting the lungs and forcing out the air which has been taken in at the previous inspiration.
And still it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves. They are not required to do any work at all, but are wholly passive, subject to the movement of the diaphragm.
Thus the abdominal muscles, alternating with the muscles of the diaphragm, carry on the motion which alone is right breathing. The principle is that of the blacksmith's bellows. The weights attached to the lower part of the bellows draw it down, the pressure of the air outside raises the valves underneath, and the air rushes in and fills the bellows. The blacksmith's hand presses down the lever, compresses the bellows, and forces the air out.
The diaphragm corresponds to the weight on the bellows, the abdominal muscles correspond to the lever, and the lungs are the bellows. As the bellows can do no work except as it is moved by the lever, so the lungs can properly do nothing except as they are moved by the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm. The lungs, as the bellows, are never active of themselves, but always passive; they never act, but are always acted upon.
This, though, is in normal, regular breathing. But when taking a long, full breath, the fullest kind, there is another motion added to these, and that comes only as the consequence of these. It is a slight upward motion of the ribs.
In looking at the course of the ribs, it is seen that from back to front they tend downward, instead of pointing straight around. If the front ends of the ribs could be raised so that they would point straight, or nearly straight, around, instead of downward, it would make the chest larger, and so make more room inside.
Now there are muscles attached to the ribs, and interconnected from rib to rib over the whole chest, which are put there for the express purpose of raising the ribs to the position in which they point nearly, if not quite, straight around. This is so arranged in order that the deep, full, long breath can be taken, which is taken only occasionally, in addition to the normal, regular breathing; and which, when it is taken, should fill each cell of the lungs to its fullest capacity.
But, as before stated, this motion is only in addition to the regular motion of the diaphragm and abdomen, and is only the consequence of that motion. It can never be properly made, except as it follows the full motion of the diaphragm and abdomen.
In military tactics there are certain movements that are made in what is called "one time in two motions." The second motion is always the consequence of the first, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the first.
Right breathing is also "one time in two motions." The primary, original motion is of the abdominal and diaphragmal muscles. The secondary is the rib motion, and is the consequence of the primary, and cannot properly be made except as it follows the prima.[2]
Thus the only way to elevate and broaden the chest is by "exercising the abdominal muscles in deep breathing."--Advent Review, February 8, 1898.
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