Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-07-31

i've uCket u IN the 0et0, let &c be remembered 0y
all who vote for Judge Elis.-WM .Ioxrnal
From the London Qaarseriyl ~
WONDERS OF THE HUMAN SYSTEM
Paley applauds the contrivanee BY which every
thing eat and drink is made to glide on it's road
to the gullet, over the entrance Of the wind-ppe
without falling into it. little movable lid, the
epglottis, which is lifted up when we breathe, is
pressed down upon the chink of the air passage by
the weight of the food and the action Of the muscles
in swaowngit. Neither solids nor liquids, in Short
can pass without shutting down the trapdoor Is
they proceed. But this is only part Of the safe
guard. The slit at the top of the wind pide, which
never closes entirely when we breathe, is endowed
with an acute sensbity to the slightest particle of
matter. The least thing which touches the margin
OF the aperture causes its sides to come firmly to.
gether, and the intruding body is stopped at the
inlet 1t is stopped, but unless removed, must drop
at the next inspiration into the lungs To effect its
expulsion, the sensibity of the rim ut the top of
the wind-pipe actually puts into vehement action
whole class OF muscles placed lower than its bottom
and which, COMPRISING the chest over which they
are distributed, drives out the air with force that
sweeps the offending substance before it
The convulsiye coughing which arises when we
are choked is the energetic effort of nature for
relief when anything chances to have evaded the
protecting epiglotis. Yet this property, to which
we are constantly owing our lives, is confined to
single spot in the throat 1t does not Sir Charles
but is limited to the orce, where alone it is needed
Admirable, too, it is to observe that whs thus
sitive to the most insignificant atom it bears with
out resentment the atmospheric currents which are
constantly passing to and fro its irritable lips.
I" 1t rejects says Paley, "the touch of crumb of
bread, or drop of water, with a spasm that con
vuses the whole frame; and yet, left to itself and
Its proper office, the into rmsson of air alone moth
ing can be so quiet 1t does not even make itself
tet; man does not know that he has trachea."
This capacity of perceiving with such acuteness,
this mPatience of offence, yet perfect rest and ease
when let alone, are properties, one would have
thought not likely to reside in the same subject.
1t is to the junction. however, of these almost in
consistent qualities in this we'll in other
delicate parts of the body, that We owe our safety
and our comfort-our safety to their sensbility, our
comfort to their repose.
Another of the examples adduced by Bell is that
of the heart. The famous Dr. Harvey examined, at
the request of Charles l., nobleman of the Mont.
gomery family, who, in consequence of an abscess,
had tstulous opening into the chest, through
which the heart could be seen and handled The
great Psychologist was astonished to find it insensi-
ble 81 then brought him" he says, F" to the king
that he might behold and touch 50 extraordinary
thing, and that he might perceive, as did that IN
less when we touched the outer skin, or when he
saw our fingers in the cavity, this young noblcman
knew not that We touched the heart" Yet it lis to
the heart that we refer our joys, our sorrows and
our affections; we speak of good hearted and
bad hearted, a true hearted and q heartless man
Shielded from physical violence by an outwork Of
bones is not invested with sensations which could
have attributed nothing to its preservation, but,
while it can be grasped with the fingers and give
ntmation of the fact to its possessor it unmis.
| takably responds to the varied questions of the
mind and by the general consent of mankind, is
pronounced the seat of our pleasures gries sympa.
thies, hatreds and love. Persons have frequently
dropped down dead from the vehemence with which
| l.. -
| nent of good or bad news-its muscular walls be.
| ing strained too far in the upward or downward di
| rection to enable them to return-and one of the
purpnS"s which this property of the heart is proba
bly, designed to subserve, is to put . check upon
the passions through the alarming physical sensa
| ton they excite.
The brain, again, is enclosed in a bony case. All
our bodily sensations dependent upon the nerves
but even the nerves do not give rise to feeling nn
less they are in connexon with the brain. The ner
vous chord. which, in familiar language, is called
the spinal marrow. is the channel by which THU
communication is kept up in the ma or part of them
| and when section of what may be termed the grea
trunk for the conveyance of our sensations is de
ceased, and by the breach in its continuity, tn
nerves below the disordered part can longer SEM
their accustomed intelligence to the BRAIN the por
| ton of the body which thus becomes isolated may
than if it belonged to dead instead of to
living man. The brain, therefore, in subordinator
to the mind is the physical centre of all sensation
Yet strange to say, it is itself insensible to tn
wounds which torture to the skin, aad which
| wounds the brain alone enables us to feel cit il
as nsensble," says Sir Charles Bell, Gas the leathe
of our shoe, and piece may be cut off without in
terruptng the patient in the sentence he is uttering
Because the bone which envelopes It is its protec
ton against injuries from without; it has no per
ception of them when directed against its own fab
| rc, though it p, at the same time the sole source
of the pain which these injuries ilfict upon the
other portions of the system. But the skull is nc
defence against the effects of ntemperance, vi
tiated atmosphere, or too great mental toll. To
these consequently, the same brain which has been
created nsensbe to the cut of knife is fully alive,
| and giddness. headache, and apoplectic oppres-
sions give ample notice to stop the evil unless
| We are prepared to pay the penalty.