Drs. Hourmann and Deschambre obtained, as the result of 255 observations on aged females, 3.41 to 1, or, excluding extreme fre quencies both in excess and defect, 3'65 to 1. Dr. Pennock, from 146 observations on aged males, obtained a mean of 3-51 to 1, and from 143 observations on aged females, 3'53 to 1.
From the results of these experiments, then, it would appear that the proportion which the pulse bears to the respiration, in the same posture of the body, diminishes as the frequency of the pulse increases.
Another fact established by these experi ments is the different frequency of the respira tion morning and evening for the same fre quency of pulse. Thus, for a pulse of 63, being an average of 50 experiments in the morning and 50 in the evening, the number of respirations in the morning was 17'60, and in the evening 18.58, being as nearly as pos sible as the numbers 17 and 18.
The effect of posture on the respiration, and the proportion which it bears to the pulse, is, however, still more remarkable than that of the time of the day. Thus, to take the only instance in which it was possible to compare the proportion of the pulse to the respiration in three postures of the body for the same number of the pulse : the pulse being 64, the proportions were : standing, 2.95 to 1.
sitting, 3.35 to I.
lying, 4.97 to I.
Again, an average of 14, experiments, in which the pulse in the sitting and recumbent posture had the same frequency, namely, 62.40, gave thr. fnlInurinc. racIllte sitting, 3'30 to I. lying, 4.39 to 1.
The difference between the erect and sitting posture is less considerable, as will appear from the following average results of six observations, in which the pulse had the same frequency in these two postures, namely, 61.4,5 : standing, 3.05 to 1.
sitting, 3.40 to 1.
The proportion which the pulse bears to the respiration, therefore, is greater in the erect than in the sitting posture, and in the sitting than in the recumbent posture but the difference is greater in the latter than in the former case.
If experiments made with great care upon a single individual in the enjoyment of good health may be employed to establish general rules, the following may be laid down in refer ence to the proportion between the pulse and respiration.
1. The proportion which the pulse bears to the respiration varies greatly-with the fre quency of the pulse.
2. The proportion of the pulse to the respiration decreases as the frequency of the pulse increases.
3. The proportion of the pulse to the respiration for the same frequency of the pulse is greater in the evening than in the morning ; the respirations in the evening being to those in the morning as 18 to 17.
4'. The proportion of the pulse to the respiration varies in different postures, being higher in the erect than in the sitting, and in the sitting than in the recumbent posture ; the difference between the sitting and the recum bent posture being greater than between the sitting and erect posture.
Since these results were published, Dr. Harden, of Georgia, U. S., has published an account of some experiments on the pulse and respiration* made on his own person, but without the use of any registering instru ment. They are, to a certain extent, con firmatory of the results obtained by the writer. The average number of respirations was as follows : Standing, 16 ; sitting, 14 ; lying, 12 ; the average numbers of the pulse in the same postures, 80, 70, and 66. By selecting from the table published by Dr. Harden five * Observations on the Pulse and Respiration, by John M. B. Harden, M.D., of Liberty County, Georgia. American Journal of the Medical Sciences, April 1843, vol. v. p. 340.
observations, in which the pulse, in each of the three postures, was 68, the following num bers are obtained : Respirations, standing, 15.2 ; sitting, 14.4 ; lyino, 13. The propor tions consequently are 1:.47 to 1, 472 to 1, and 5.23 to 1, which follow the same order as the experiments of the writer though they present smaller differences. 'The respira tions are also more numerous in the evening than in the morning, in the proportion of 131 and 13, the pulse being 62 at the former period, and 61 at the latter.
Calculations founded on the observations of Dr. Pennock, already more than once re ferred to, confirm the preceding results, as far as the standing and sitting postures are concerned.
As the calculations in question serve to exhibit the relation existing between the Pulse and Respiration in advanced age, as well as, by inference, the increasino frequency of the respiration in the aged, they are ap pended in a tabular form.
These results are somewhat at variance with those obtained by Hourmann and Des chambre, who found both the pulse and re spiration to increase in frequency with the advance of age, but in consequence of the former increasing more rapidly than the latter, the proportion between the one and the other diminished instead of increasing. The effect of posture on the pulse and respiration was not examined by them ; and it is probable that their observations were made in the re cumbent position.
Such are the leading results of careful observation on the frequency of the pulse as affected by the more influential natural causes.