The role of the diaphragm in the sensation of holding the breath.

1. Block of the phrenic nerves in three normal subjects, produced by injection of lignocaine in the neck, caused alleviation of the thoracic sensation during breath holding and prolonged breath-holding time. 2. Injection of lignocaine in the neck without nerve block had no effect on breath holding sensation or breath-holding time. 3. A patient with a spinal-cord transection at the third cervical segment with paralysed diaphragm and chest wall, had no sensation in the chest or abdomen during breath holding. 4. This patient maintained normal ventilation by using hypertrophied sternomastoid muscles. During breath holding he experienced no sensation in the neck despite the presence of sternomastoid contraction. 5. There is previous evidence that complete muscular paralysis abolishes breathholding sensation but that paralysis of all muscles innervated from spinal segments below the eighth cervical has no effect.