Abstract
I. MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,—The subject I have chosen is a consideration of the gaseous constituents of the blood in relation to some of the problems of respiration. This has been selected both because it deals with a province of physiology in which there are many profound problems connected with the molecular phenomena of life, and also because it gives me the opportunity of illustrating some of the methods of physiological research. I purpose to treat the subject chiefly from the physical stand-point, and to demonstrate some of the phenomena as I would endeavour to do to a class of students, believing that this will be of more interest to many of my audience than if I placed before you anything like an encyclopaedic account of recent researches. I cannot help adding that as I speak in the class-room of one of the most distinguished physicists of the day, I feel the genius of the place is hovering over me, and I will be impelled to guide you to the borderland of physics and of physiology. It is in this territory that we meet with the most profound questions regarding the nature of vital activity, and it is here that the physiologist and the physicist must join hands in working out their solution.
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The Gases of the Blood 1 . Nature 38, 376–382 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038376a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038376a0