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28 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
for the tongue, sevente
and neck ; and it is by
Fig. 7.
i for the motions of the head
e variously combined action of
these that we have all our
movements and expressions.
There are seventeen mus
cles for the movements of the
chest, abdomen, and loins.
These perform,among others,
the important function of res
piration. The cavity of the
chest is some enlarged eight
een times a minute, by rais
ing the ribs and sternum, and
still more by straightening
or drawing down the dia
phragm, or muscular separa
tion between the thorax and
abdomen. When this is done,
the air rushes into the lungs,
to prevent the vacuum that
would otherwise be formed.
Next, the three sheets of
abdominal muscles contract,
force up the diaphragm, draw
down the ribs, and forcibly ex
pel the air : and this actitn is
kept up, night and day, sleep
ing and waking, from the mo
ment of birth till death ; while
MUSCr/LAE SYSTEM. the heart, a muscular organ,
contracts four times as often,
during
The whole body of man,
the same period.
in all its parts and
organs, is,