[Contribution of I. M. Sechenov to the development of respiratory physiology and biophysics]

Analysis of I. M. Sechenov's scientific heritage, of the data cited in his "Autobiographic Notes", and of his contemporaries' memoirs showed that problems of physiology and biophysics of respiration closely followed the problems of central nervous system and psychology in the scientist's creative work. The principle of resumed vacuum is shown to have major significance for extraction of the blood gases and invention of absorptiometer underlying further modifications of the model. I. M. Sechenov's studies in binding of CO2 by different blood components and saline solutions, in interrelationship of oxygen binding by erythrocytes and output of carbonic acid, in solubility of carbonic acid in water, as well as other problems studied by the eminent Russian physiologist, are reviewed.