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The Physiology of Yogam.
TT is a matter of pretty general belief amongst the + Hindus, that there are persons, for the most part religious ascetics, who, after taking a few deep breaths, pass into a trance state and remain in it for several hours without breathing. I have not personally witnessed this performance; but I have met people who allege that they have, and I have no reason to doubt their varacity. At first sight the physical phenomena seems a monstrous impossibility, utterly opposed to all we know of the human constitution. However, after thinking the matter out on the accepted physiological principles of the present day, I have arrived at the conclu sicn that it is theoretically possible, after a long course of regular preparatory raining extending over a period of years, for a man to remain alive for several hours without breathing by the lungs; but that he must minimise during that time the expenditure of energy by the combustion of oxygen in his muscles and in his vital organs. The very conditions which the Hutta Yogi is said to seek are arguments in support of my belief. In the first place, there are, as far as I am aware, no records of any such practices being adopted in cold, damp countries. Southern Asia and Egypt have
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