On the science of easy chairs, reprinted from "Nature", Oct. 17, 1878 : On posture and its indications, reprinted from "The Lancet", July 2, 1892 / by T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., D.Sc.Edin., LL.D. (Hon) Aberd., F.R.S., &c., assistant-physician and lecturer on materia medica and therapeutics at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

  • Brunton, T. Lauder (Thomas Lauder), 1844-1916
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the science of easy chairs, reprinted from "Nature", Oct. 17, 1878 : On posture and its indications, reprinted from "The Lancet", July 2, 1892 / by T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., D.Sc.Edin., LL.D. (Hon) Aberd., F.R.S., &c., assistant-physician and lecturer on materia medica and therapeutics at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a circular outline not only in the transverse, but in the longitudinal direction. The sternum and vertebrae pre¬ vent it from becoming completely globular, notwithstanding all efforts, and it thus assumes the barrel shape so charac¬ teristic of emphysema, as being the nearest possible approach to a globe. In going through a hospital ward one sees here and there patients who are constantly sitting up in bed and do not lie down at all ; these are for the most part people who have great difficulty of breathing. The reason for this position has no doubt been often given, but I do not recollect coming across it in print and I cannot say whether the reason that I now give has been evolved from my own brain or whether I have learned it from others. When a man is sitting upright the diaphragm moves up and down during respiration. (Fig. 16.) At each inspiration it descends and displaces the intestines and the abdominal walls Fig. 16. outwards. During each expiration the diaphragm ascends and the intestines and abdominal wall return back to their former position. In the upright posture the diaphragm moves vertically, but the abdominal walls and intestines move in a horizontal plane and there is no lifting work for the dia¬ phragm to do. The case is quite different when a man is lying on his back, for then the diaphragm moves in a hori¬ zontal plane and the abdominal walls and intestines in a