Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-08-02
WONDERS OF THE HUMAN SYSTEM

Paley applauds the contrivance by which
everyt thing We eat and drink is made to glide
on Its road to the gullet, over the entrance of
the wind-piPe without falling into it. A little
movable I'D, the epiglOttis, 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 swallow
ans 1T. Neither solids nor liquids in short,
can pass without shutting down the trapdOOr
as they proceed. But this is only part of
'he safeguard. The slit at the top of the
Wlnd-plpe, which never closes entirely while
we breathe, is endued with keen sensibili-
~ to the slightest particle of matter. The
least thing which touches the margin of the
aperture causes its sides to come firmly toyeth-
er, and the intruding body is stopped at the
inlet. Ii is stopped, but, unless removed, must
drop at the next inspiration into the lungs
To effect its expulsion the sensibility of the rim
at the top Of the wind-Pipc actually puts into
vehement action whole class of muscles placed
lower than its bottom, and which, compressing
the chest, over which they are distributed
drives out the air with force that sweeps the
offending substance before it. The convu!sive
coughing which arises when VIC are choked is
the energetic effort Of nature for our relief
when anything chances 10 have evadcd the
protective epiglOttis. Yet this property, to
which We constantly owing our lives, is
confined to single spot in the throat 1t does
not, as Sir Charles Bell afirms, belong to the
lNot VI tuC DuI Il 10 the
Orlhce, where alone it is needed. Admirable
too, 1T is to observe. that while thus sem
sitiye to the most insignificant atom, it bears
without resentment the atmospheric currents
which are necessarily passing to and fro over
Its irritable lips. alt rejects, says Paley "the
touch OF erumb of bread, or n drop of water,
with Spasm which cOnvulSes the whole frame:
yet, left 10 itself and its proper Orifice the in
tromlSSiOn Of air alone, nothing can be 50 quiet
1t does not even make itself felt; a man does
not know that he has tracdea This capa-
city OF perceiying with such acuteness this
lmpatience OF offence, yet perfect rest md ease
when let alone, are properties, one would have
thought, not likely to reside in the same sub
Ject- 1t IL TO the junction, however, of these
almost inconsistent qualities In this well as
In some other delicate parts of the body, that
we owe our safety and our cOmfort-our safety
TO their senslbili:y, our comfort to their ropose
Another OF the examples adduced by Bell is
that of the heart. The famous DR.. Harvey
examined. at the request of Charles L.. noble
man of the Montgomery family, who, in con Sc
quence OF an abscesS, had a fstuOus opening
into the chest, though which the heart coulf
be seen and handled. The great Psychologist
was sstOnlSAed to find IT insensihle. O. then
brought him." he says, - to the King, that he
might behold and touch so extraordinary
thing, and that he might perceive, as | did
that unless when we touched the outer skim or
when he saw our fingers in the cavity this
young nObleman knew not that We touched the
heart" Yet it is to the heart that we refer
our joys, our sOrrOWs, and our affections we
speak of a gO0d-hearted, hard hearted, true
hearted and heartleSs man. Shielded from
physical violence by an Outwork of bones, ii is
not invested with sensations which could have
contributed nothing to its preservation, but
while il can be grasped with the fingers and
give no intimatiOn of the fact to its poSsessor
IT unmistakably responds TO the varied emo
tiOnS of the mind and by the general consent
Of mankin1 Is pronuoneed the seat OF our plea
sures, gifts, sympathies, hatrels and love.
Persons have frequently dropped down dead
from the vchemence with which it contracts or
expands upon the sudden announcement of
good or bad news-its muscular walls being
strained too far in the upward OF downward
direction to enable them to return and one Of
the purposes which this property of the heart
Is probably designed to subseTve is to put
check upon the passions through the alarming
physical sensations they excite.
The brain, again, is enclosed in bony cate;
All our bodily sensations dependent upon
the nerves, but even the nerves do not give
rise 10 feeling, unles they are in connection
with the brain. The nervous chord which, in
familiar language, is called the spinal marrow
Is the channe! BY which this Communication is
kept up as 10 the major part of them, and when
the section OF what may DC termed the great
trunk road fVT the conveyance of our sensa-
tons is diseased, and by the breach in ats con-
tinuity the nerves below the disOrderod part
can no longer send its accustomed intelligence
TO the brain, the portion of the body which
thus become i o ated may b. burned or hacked
and no more Ia will result thanif it belonged
To- dead carcase instead Of tO a living man.
The brain, therefore, in suSordinaton to the
mind, Is the physical centre of all sensation.
ct, strange to say, II Is itself inSensDe to the
wounds which are torture to the skin, and
which wounds the brain alone enables US to
feel. " 1t is as inSsnsible, = says Sir Charles
Bell, - "a the leather Of our shoe and piece
may be cutoff without intcrrupting the patient
in the sentence that he is tutoring Because
the bone which envelopes il is its protection
against injuries from without, il has no percep-
tion Of them when directed against its own
fabric, though il is at the same time the sole
source Of the pain which those injuries inGiet
upon the other portions of the system. But
the skull is no defence against the effects of
iutemperaBce, OF a vitiated atmosphere, or too
great mental toll To these consequently the
same brain which has been created insensible
10 the cut OF the knife is rendered fully alive
and giddiness, headaches, and apOplectic op-
preston gives ample notice 20 to stop the
evil, unless we are prepared to pay the penal
ty--Lol,dOH QHaTteJIy.