The medical title of ``Lobar Ventilation in Man'' by Drs. C. J. Martin and A. C. Young, covers a brief paper which is one part of a much larger effort to apply electronics to the study of the respiratory process. At the University of Washington Medical School, the electronics group has developed the ``Respiratory Gas Analyzer'' shown in Fig. 3. This unit, affectionately dubbed ``The Monster,'' can be wheeled to any convenient location and provides a wealth of information about the patient's breathing.

In the lower center rack an 8 -- channel recorder indicates the percentage of carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the upper and lower lobes of one lung, the total volume of inhalation per breath, the flow of air from both lobes, and the pressure of the two lobes with respect to each other. Usually the patient breathes into a mouthpiece while walking a treadmill, standing still, or in some other medically significant position. From the resulting data the doctor can determine lung defects with hitherto unknown accuracy and detail.

The original electrocardiograph primarily indicates irregularities in the heartbeat, but today's techniques allow exact measurements of the flow of blood through the aorta, dimensioning of the heart and its chambers, and a much more detailed study of each heartbeat. For many of these measurements the chest must be opened, but the blood vessels and the heart itself remain undisturbed.