The North-Carolinian., 1855-10-06
Facts about the Human Body.


Facts about the Human Body.
There two hundred and eight bones in
the human body, exclusive of the teeth. These
bones composed of animal and earthly ma
ter'als; the former predominating in youth, and
he latter in old age, rendering the bone brittle.
The most important of the bones is the spine,
which Is composed of twenty-four small bones
called the vertebre, one on top of the other,
cnrously hooked together and fastened by elas-
tic ligaments, forming pillar, so to speak, by
which the human frame is supported.
The bones are moved by the muscles, of
which there are more than FIVE hundred. The
red meat of beef, the fat being excluded, is tho
muscular fabric of the OK. There are two sctts
of muscles, one to draw the bone one way,
and another to draw it back again. We cam
not better describe the muscles than by COM
pairing them to fine elastic threads, bound up
IN their cases of skin. Many muscles term-
nate in tendors, which stout cords such
may be seen traversihg the back of the hand,
just within the skin; and which can be seen to
move when the hand is opened or shut. Every
motion We make, even the Involuntary one Of
breathing is performed through the agency of
the muscles
In adults there are about fifteen Quarts of
blood, each quart weighing about two pounds
This blood is of two kinds, the arterial and
venons. The first is the pure blood as it leaves
the heart to noursh the frame, and is of o
rs it returns to the heart, loaded with the i'm
purities of the body, to be there refined, and is
of a purple hue. Every pulsaton of the heart
sends out about two of arterial blood,
and there from seventy to eighty beats
in a minnie, a hogshead of blood passes through
the heart every hour. In fevers the pulsations
are accelerated the waste of the body goes on
faster than it can be recupera ted; and eense-
qnently death ensues if the fever is not checked.
The stomach is the boiler, if we may use
such figure, which drives the human engine.
Two setts of muscles, crossing each other trans
versefv, turns the food over and over, churning
it mp in the gastric juice till it has been
duced to the consistency of thin paste. This
process requires from two to four hours. Emerg-
ing from the stomach, the food enters the small
Intestlnes, where it is mixed with bile and the
pancreatic Juice, and converted into chyle.
These s,Hal! intestjnes twenty -four feet
long, closely packed, of course, and surrounded
through their whole length with small tubes,
which act like suckers, and drawing off the
chyle. empty it into larger tube, named the
thoracic duct, which runs up the back. and dis
charges its contents into the jugular vein,
whence it passes into the heart, TO assist i'll
forming arteriai blood
The lungs are two bags connected with the
open air by the windppc, which branches into
small tubes, all over the inside of
the lnngs, each tube terminating in minute
air cell The outer surface of these air cells is
full of caplaries, Infinitely small veins, a
thin membrane only dividing the air from the
blood. The impure portion of venous blood is
carbonic acid, which, having a stronger affinity
for air than for blood, passes through this thin
membrane in gaseous state, combines with
the air in the air cells and is expelled with the
next expiration. Meantime the oxygen Of the
air unites with the blood and becomes purified;
then passing into the heart being mixed with
chyle, it is forced through the body as life Civ
ing and artera blood.
The skin serves important purpose in
carrying Of impurities from the human system.
1t is traversed with capilaries, which contain
more blood in the aggregate than all the other
capil|aries of the body. It is also perforated
with countless perspiration tubes, the united
length of which amounts to twenty eight miles,
and which drain away from three to four
pounds OF waste matter every twenty-four hours,
or five-eightls of all that the body discharges
The nerves another curious feature in the
animal economy. They are, however, but little
understood. They act as feelers to tell the
wants of the body, and also as conductors to
will the muscles to act. They branch out from
the brain and spine over the whole frame, in
fine fbrcs, like the branches and
twigs of a tree.
A curious question for the lawyers has arisen
in London. a lady was courted by gentle
man. who promised to marry her, and was ac-,
cepted But he didn't fulfil his promise, and
she sued him for the breach. 1t turned out,
however, that he couldn't marry her because he
had wife living at the time l answer to the
suit, he says "Barkisis willin' but the law wont
allow it," and the lady can only demand full
fment of his engagement by an act contra
bono morcs. The question then arises, "What
damage has the lady sustained in not being
married to a married MANI" There is sub
tlety of casuistry suggested by this, which the
Chief Baron himself did not like to encounter,
and an arbitr traton was recommended. It is
nut which Philadelphia lawyer might perhaps
DC able to crack.
The finest idea of thunder storm extant is
when Wiggins came home tight. Now Wig
gins is teacher, and had been to some meet
ing where he drank too much lemonade, or
something. lie came into the room among his
wife and daughters, and just then he tumbled