PULMO
\pˈʌlmə͡ʊ], \pˈʌlməʊ], \p_ˈʌ_l_m_əʊ]\
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The essential organ of respiration, which is double, and occupies the two sides of the chest. The lungs, which are of a spongy, soft, flexible, compressible, and dilatable structure, fill exactly the two cavities of the thorax, and are separated from each other by the mediastinum and the heart. The right lung, which is shorter and broader than the left, is divided, by two oblique fissures, into three unequal lobes, Lobi seu Alae pulmonum. The left has only two lobes, and consequently only one fissure. At the internal surface of those organs, which is slightly concave, there is, about the middle, a pedicle, formed by the bronchia and pulmonary vessels, and called, by anatomists, the root of the lungs, (F.) Racine des Poumous. Essentially, the lungs are composed of prolongations and ramifications of the bronchia, and of the pulmonary arteries and veins, -the divisions of which are supported by a fine, areolar tissue. When the surface of the lungs is examined in a clear light, we may see, even through the pleura, that their parenchyma is formed by the aggregation of a multitude of small vesicles, of an irregularly spheroid or ovoid shape, full of air, and separated by white and opake septa, constituting lozenge-shaped spaces, which are called lobules-. lobuli seu insulae pulmonales- and which are separated by interlobular areolar tissue. These lobules do not communicate with each other. The vesicles are called Air-cells, Spiramenta seu Spiramina seu Cellulae Pulmonum. Along the partitions or septa is deposited, in greater or less quantity, black pulmonary matter, (F.) Matiere pulmonaire noire, as it has been called, which seems to be natural. Sometimes it is seen in points; at others, in spots. The colour of the lungs varies according to age and other circumstances. In youth, it is more red; and afterwards, grayish or bluish; often, as if marbled. The pleura pulmonalis is their investing membrane. The air is carried to the lungs by means of the trachea and bronchia. The black venous blood, which requires oxygenation, is conveyed to them from the heart, by the pulmonary artery; and when it has undergone this change, it is returned to the heart by the pulmonary veins. The blood-vessels inservient to the nutrition of the lungs are the bronchial arteries and veins. The pulmonary lymphatics are very numerous. Some are superficial; others, deep-seated. They pass, for the most part, into the bronchial ganglions or glands. The nerves are furnished by the pulmonary plexus.
By Robley Dunglison
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