New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-09-01
Wonders Of tie human systsln,

tbj,ay 10y applaads the contriyauce by which eyerv
W. eat and drink is made to glide an a. zoos
;,5 X w quiet over the entrance Of the gindutpa
g.s9gds ISilng into it. little movable lid tlls III
gostlsf which is lifted up when We breathe Il ave.
aoW9 W9 upon the chnk Of tie air.nassaga bv tite
@s8lL q me fo0d and the action Of the muscles n
sfslioHlha IT, Neither solids nor fluids in sI,orf aeS,
pass Without seasting down M trar5oor ~ 49, -
proceed Bat this is only part Of the safao,isTY
Inc sHt az the top Of the wjnd.nine 7-bieS na,s
otSsa t gseiy ".lie we breathe Is endued with al
aGute selsiany 10 the slightest particle og matter
The least thing which touches the raargiy ~ a.
aperture causes its sides to come 9rTnlt t,ssatt -
and the Infrndng body is stopped at the inet Tti9
stopped, bat unless removed must dron ~ H.. .s
inspiration into the lungs. To effect ifs ayr,Is4
the sensibity Of the rim at the top Of the yindna
actually puts into vehement action whole otssv F
muscles placed lower than its bottom and which.
compressiug the chest over which they ars disfrit
uted drives out the air With force that sweeDs the
Offending substance before it. The c0nvasiFe cough.
ing which arises when we are choked is the ener-
getie enort OF nature for our relief when anything
chanees TO nave eYaded the protective epigIotts Yet
this property, to which we are constantly owing our
lives, Is confined to single spot in the throat It
does not as Sir Charles Bell affirms belong to the
ress Of tbe Windpipe, but is limited to the orifee,
Where alone 1t is needed. Admirable too it ia to oh
serve, tnat while thus sensitive to the most insigni
cant atom, it bears without resentment the atm0-
pnefc currents which are ncessantly passing to and
Iro ever lts irritable lips. " 1t reectsn saws Patev
the touch Of a crumb IF bread or dron 0f water
/ WITH spasn which c0Hvulses the whole frame. vet
eit 70 itself and its proper Office the ntronissio Of
alE acne aotning can be so quiet It does not even
make itself felt does not know that he has
Vfachea. Ihis capacity Of producing with such
aeutenes this fmpatenee OF oense vet rerfect rect
ana ease when let alone, are properties one would
have thought not likely to reside in fFe sar4a Lscf
1t IS 10 the junction; however Of these almost tr7r
sistent qualities in this as well in some other eii
cate parts OF the body that we owe our safety and
our comtortour safety to their aensibility, our com
/ fort TO their Tepose.
Another Of the examples adduced by Belt ia that oF
the heart. The famous DR.. Harvey examined AZ ire
request of Charles L. nObleman Of the Montgomery
family, who, in consequence of an abscess had a s-
tuas opening into the chest through which tie heart
couid be seen and handled. The great paysiol0oisf
was astonished to find it insensible then brought
him., he says { to the king, that he might behold
and touch extraordinary thing and that he might
perceive as did, that unless when we tonched the
outer skin or when he saw our fingers in the cavity
! this young nObleInan knew not that we touched the
heart Yet it is to the heart that ne refer our Joys
our sorrows and our affections we speak of d good
hearted hard hearted, a true-heaTted and heart
| less man. Shielded from physical violence by an
outWork of bones it is not invested with sensations
which could have contributed nothing to its
ton, but while it can be gTasped with the fingers and
give intimatioD OF the fact to its possegsor it u-
mistakabiy responds to the varied emotions Of the
mind, and by the general consent of mankind is pro-
nOunced the seat of pleasures griefs syuatffea
hatreds and love. Persons have frequently dropped
| down dead from the vehemence with which it con-
tracts or expands upon the sudden announcement of
coed or bad neRs-lts muscular walls being strained
too far in the upward downward direction to ena-
| bic them to returu-and one of the purposes which
this property of the heart is probably designed to
subseve is to put check upon the passions through
| the alarming physical sensations they excite
/ The brain, again, is enclosed in bony case All
our bodily sensations dependent upon the nerves.
but even the nerves do not give rise to feeling unless
they are in connection with the brain The nervous
chord which, IN familiar language called the spinal
marrow is the channel by which this communication
is kept up to the major part of them and when the.
section of what may be termed the great trunkroad
by the breach in ts continuity the nerves below the
disordered part no longer send its accustomed in
teigence to the hrain the portion of the body which
thus becomes Isolated may be burned or hacked and
more pain will result than if it belonged to dead
carcass instead of to living man. The brain there
fore, in subordination to the mind s the physical
center of all sensation. Yet strange to say it is it.
self nsensble to the wounds which are torture to the
skin and which wounds the brain alone enables US
feel 1t is as insensible says Sir Charles Bell as
the leather of our shoe and piece may be cut of
without nteruptng the patient in the sentence that
be is uttering Because the bone which envelopes il
is its protection against injuries from without it has
no perception of them when directed against its own
fabric though is at the same time the sole source
the pain which those injuries inf1iet upon the other
portions Of the system. But the skull is no defense
against the effects of intemperance or yitiated at
mosphere, too great mental toll. To these conse
quently the brain which has been created nsen-
sibe to the cut of the knife is rendered fully alive
and giddiness, headache, and apoplectc oppression
gives ample notice to to stop the evil unless we
are prepared to pay the penalty.