Observation of Lungs (Optional).—Secure from a butcher the lungs of a sheep, calf, or hog. The windpipe and heart should be left attached and the specimen kept in a moist condition until used. Demonstrate the trachea, bronchi, and the bronchial tubes, and the general arrangement of pulmonary arteries and veins. Examine the pleura and show lightness of lung tissue by floating a piece on water.
To show the Changes that Air undergoes in the Lungs.—1. Fill a quart jar even full of water. Place a piece of cardboard over its mouth and invert, without spilling, in a pan of water. Inserting a tube under the jar, blow into it air that has been held as long as possible in the lungs. When filled with air, remove the jar from the pan, keeping the top well covered. Slipping the cover slightly to one side, insert a burning splinter and observe that the flame is extinguished. This proves the absence of sufficient oxygen to support combustion. Pour in a little limewater[43] and shake to mix with the air. The change of the limewater to a milky white color proves the presence of carbon dioxide.
Fig. 50—Apparatus for showing changes which air undergoes while in the lungs.
2. The effects illustrated in experiment 1 may be shown in a somewhat more striking manner as follows: Fill two bottles of the same[pg 102] size each one fourth full of limewater and fit each with a two-holed rubber stopper (Fig. 50). Fit into each stopper one short and one long glass tube, the long tube extending below the limewater. Connect the short tube of one bottle and the long tube of the other bottle with a Y-tube. Now breathe slowly three or four times through the Y-tube. It will be found that the inspired air passes through one bottle and the expired air through the other. Compare the effect upon the limewater in the two bottles. Insert a small burning splinter into the top of each bottle and note result. What differences between inspired and expired air are thus shown?
3. Blow the breath against a cold window pane. Note and account for the collection of moisture.
4. Note the temperature of the room as shown by a thermometer. Now breathe several times upon the bulb, noting the rise in the mercury. What does this experiment show the body to be losing through the breath?
To show Changes in the Thoracic Cavity.—1. To a yard- or meter-stick, attach two vertical strips, each about eight inches long, as shown in Fig. 51. The piece at the end should be secured firmly in place by screws or nails. The other should be movable. With this contrivance measure the sideward and forward expansion of a boy's thorax. Take the diameter first during a complete inspiration and then during a complete expiration, reading the difference. Compare the forward with the sideward expansion.
Fig. 51—Apparatus for measuring chest expansion.