mbs 027

MY BREATHING SYSTEM

sucked in. For persons who lind it very difficult to acquire tłiis control of the nostrils I can rccommend practicc of it before a mirror evcr_v time they havc a few minutes to spare.

Why is it generally Wrong to Exha!e through the Mouth after Nasal Inhalation ?

In a letter I received some time ago from an officer of the Royal Navy, I was asked why in " My System ” I recorn-mended both inlialing and exhaling through the nose. The writer thought I was wrong, and he stated further, that “ the Swedish system as tauglit in the Navy tells those who practise it to inhale tlirough the nose and exhale through the mouth.” 1 have often becn asked the same question by German readers, probably because so many German books on gymnastics recommend this wrong method. Lieutenant Hebcrt, the author of the new French " System,” has also fallen into tliis error (see p. 217 of “ L’ćducation physique ”), and into many other errors as well. Let me now, therefore, answer the question fully, for once and all. Perhaps the most practical way to convince a man who follows this method that he is wrong would be to let him practise it during a hard ski-ing trip up and down the mountains, or when speed-skating a fair distance in a temperaturę of that sort in which the brcatli frcezes and settles as rime on the beard and eyebrows, and upon the front of the jacket. He would certuinly soon feel as if that ornament of the face we cali the nose were completely missing, as it would be frozen white both inside and outside ; and if he did not quickly rub it with snów he would soon lose it in reality. The reason for this is, that the man, having steadily inhaled ice-cold air, would, at the same time, have lost all oppor-tunity of again heating the frozen mucous membranę by the aid of warm exlialed air, sińce he had allowed it to escape through his mouth.