The plagiarisms of Julius Jeffreys, F.R.S., in his treatise on the statics of the human chest / by G. Calvert Holland.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The plagiarisms of Julius Jeffreys, F.R.S., in his treatise on the statics of the human chest / by G. Calvert Holland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    “ We now, surely, may perceive tlie beauty of the arrangement wliicli lodges a large quantity of air durably resident in the cells ; which is there during expiration as well as inspiration, and also at the interval between the two; and is, therefore, carrying on its bar- ter with the blood, at all times, continuously and uninterruptedly Tlie discoveries to -which he lays claim as peculiarly his own—and which he regards as marking an important advance in our knowledge of the functions of respiration, may he examined under the following heads : I. He contends that previous to his labours, the re- searches of physiologists had altogether been confined to the consideration of the breath, or the quantity of air which is received into the chest by each act of inspira- tion : That their attention had never been directed to the modifications of the large volume which is always contained within it. This is stated in several of the quoted passages ; and he endeavours, on numerous occasions, to show the immense light which a knowledge of these modifications throws upon the functions of respiration. II. The next grand and original truth at which he arrives, is, that the breath, or the air of respiration, neither enters the air-cells nor the smaller air tubes, that it has, in fact, “ no direct concern in the oxydation of tlie blood, nor does it receive its carbonic acid and vapour directly from the blood.” The stratum of air which is the lowest in the series, is of course viewed as alone engaged in tliis important process. III. The discovery which he now lights upon is, that the air which is emitted by the act of expiration, is not that which immediately “ went in, but a mixture of that air with the uppermost resident air.” “ It is this resident air which performs all the duty of oxydating the blood. * Statics of the Human Chest, &c. p. 22.