It has long been recognized that records of the breathing of prematurely born infants
demonstrate gross irregularities in rate and in amplitude, as well as in the points of
maximum inspiration and expiration. This has been generally and rather vaguely accepted
as due to immaturity of the respiratory centers of these infants, a phenomenon considered as
not necessarily due to oxygen lack, although quite possibly causing it. The question has
frequently arisen as to how consistently the respiratory centers of these immature babies …