Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-08-19
TIE WONDERS OF THE HUMAN
SYSTEM.

che epigloLli~. which is lifted up & hen v e
brealhe. - pressed down upon The chink
of the air passage rs the weight Of the
os,d and the action of The muscles in
swallowing IT, Neither solids nor liquids
in short, can pass without shutting down
the lrapdoor as litg proceed But lhi@
IS ,hiy part Of The safeguard. Tie ~.
~ tie top Of the windpipr. which never
Gloss entirely while wr hreale is ieh-
dewed with keen sensitliig to the
*lightest particle Of matter The least
thing which touches the margin of the
aperture causes its sides &, conc firmly
together, and the intrudiDg body is stop.
ped at the inlet. 1t is stopped. but. un-
less removed, must drop at the next in
SEPARATION into the lungs. To effect its
expulsion the sehsibility of the rim at 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 thew
arc distributed, drives out the air with
lorcc that sweeps the offending sub
stance before it. The eonvulsiye couch
ing which arises when we are checked is
the energetic effort of nature for our re-
lief when anything chances to have eva
ded the protective epiglottis. Yet this
property to which we are constantly
owing our lives, is confined to single
spot In the throat. 1t does not as Sir
Charles Bell afirms, belong to the rest
OF the windpipe, but is limited to the or.
ilce, where alone it is needed. Admira.
BILE, too, it is to observe, that while TINS
sensitive to the most insignificant atom.
1t bears without resentment the atnos
pheric currents which are necessarily
passing to and fro, over its irritable Inns.
1t rejects" says Paley, " the touch of a
cruInb OF bread or drop of water, with
spasm which conyulses the whole frame:
yet, LETT to itself, and its proper Office. the
lntermlslon Of air alone nothing can be
SO quiet. 1t does not even make itself
felt man does not know that he has a
trachea. This capacity of perceiying
With such acuteness, this impotence 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 Inconsistent qualities in
this as well as in some other delicate
parts Of the body, that we owe our com
fort-our safety to their seusibility. our
comfort to their ,repose. -
Another of the examples adduced bv
Bell is that of the heart. The famous
DR.. Harvey examined, at the REQUEST If
Charles l., a nobleman of the Montrom.
cry family, who in consequence of a@ oh
scess, had fstulous opening in the chest
through which the heart could be seen
and handled. The great physiolooist
was astonished to find it insensible. IT
then brought hin" he says. to the kim
that he might behold and touch SO extra,
ordinary a thing, and that he might ner.
celve, as did, that unless when be saw
our fingers in the cavity, this young no.
bleman knew not that we touched the
heart Yet it is to the heart that we
refer our joys, our sorrows, and our affec.
tons we speak Of good hearted q
hard hearted, true hearted. and a heart.
less man. Shielded from physical vic.
lence by an outwork of bones, it is not
invested with sensations, which conId
have contributed nothing to its nreserva-
ton, but while it can be grasped with the
fingers, and give no intimation of the
fact to It's possessor, it Enthusiastically re.
spends to the varied emotions of the
mind, and by the general consent of man.
kind is pronounced the seat OF our nleas.
ures, gifts, sympathies, hatred and love
Persons have frequently dropped down
dead from the yehemence With which it |
contracts or expands upon the sudden an.
nouncement OF good or bad news, its |
muscular walls being strained too far in
the upward or downward direction to
enable them TO return-and one of the
purposes which this property of the heart
is probably designed to subserye is to
prt q check upon the passions through |
the alarming physical sensations they, ex. |
cite.
The brain, again, is enclosed in a bony
case. All cur bodily sensations are de- |
pendent upon the nerves, but even the
nerves do not give rise to feeling, unless
they are in connection with the brain
The nervous cord which, in familiar Ian
guage, is called the spinal marrow is the
channel by which this communication is
kept up as to the major part Of them, and
when the section Of what may be- termed /
the great trunk road for the conveyance
of our sensations is diseased, and 6y the
breach in its continually below the dis.
ordered pars can no longer send its ac-
customed intelligence to the brain, the
portion Of the body which thus becomes
isolated may be burned or hacked. and
no more pain will result than if it belong.
ed to q dead carcass instead of to iy-
ing man. The brain therefore, in sIIbor.
to the mind, is the physical cen. /
ter of all sensation. Yet, strange to saw
it is itself insensihle to the wounds which
are torture to the skin, and which wounds
the brain alone enables US to feel. at
is as sensible" says Sir Charles Bell /
" as the leather Of our shoe, and a piece
may be cut out without interruptine the
patient in the sentence that he is utter
ing. Because ths bone which envelopes
it is it's protection against injuries from
without it has no perception of them
when directen against its own fabric
though it is at the same time the soul
source Of the pain which those injnries
infict upon tue other portions Of the
system. But the scull is no. defence
against the effect Of intemperance or