This paper deals with a unifying hypothesis addressed at lung tissue resistance and its responses to neurohumoral and biophysical stimuli. The hypothesis holds that dissipative and elastic processes within lung tissue are coupled at the level of the stress-bearing element. Such a description leads naturally to consideration of a readily measured attribute of organ-level dissipative behavior called lung tissue hysteresivity, eta. On preliminary analysis this attribute is found to be nearly frequency independent and numerically conserved across species. To the degree that the numerical value of eta might be conserved during an intervention in which tissue dynamic elastance changes, such behavior would be consistent with the notion that elastic energy storage and dissipative energy loss reside within the very same stress-bearing element and, moreover, that those processes within the stress-bearing element bear an approximately fixed relationship. Tissue hysteresivity is closely related to the parameter K used by Bachofen and Hildebrandt (J. Appl. Physiol. 30: 493-497, 1971) to describe energy dissipation per cycle, and both lend themselves directly to interpretation based on processes ongoing at the levels of microstructure and molecule. Intraparenchymal connective tissues, surface film, and contractile elements appear to submit individually to this description and, in doing so, yield respective hysteresivities that are relatively well matched; this suggests that such hysteretic matching may be a necessary condition for synchronous expansion of the alveolar duct. The overriding simplicity with which this description organizes diverse observations implies that it may capture some unifying attribute of underlying mechanism.