Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1858-07-09
From the London Qad1terig
wonders OF the Human system.


Paley applauds the contsivanee By which
every thing we eat and drink is made to glide
on its road TO the gullet, over the entrance to
the windpipe, without falling into it 4 little
movable lid, the epiglottis, which is lifted up
whom We breathe, is pressed down upon the
ehink Of the air passage by the weight Of the
food and the action Of the muscles in swallow
ing it. Neither solids nor liquids, 10 Short
can pass, without shutting down The trap-door
as they proceed, But this is only a part Of the
fe-gusrd. The slit at the top os the wind
pipe, which never closes entirely when We
breathe, is endowed With an. acute sensibiity to.
the slightest particle OF matter. The least
thing which touches the margin of the aper
turo causes its sides to come firmly together,
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 ef-
feet its expulsion, the sensibillty OF the rim at
the top Of the windpipe actually puts into We
henent action whole class of muscles placed
lower than its bottom, aud which, compressng
the chest, over which they are distributed,
drives out the air with force which Eoeps the
offending substance before il
The congulsive coughing which arises when
we are choked, is the energetic effort of nature
for our relief, when anything chances TO have
eyaded the protecting epiglottis. Yet this
! property, to which We are constantly owing our
lives, is confined to q single spot in the throat.
| 1t does not, as Sir Charles Bell afirms, belong
to the rest Of the windpipe, but il limited to
| the orifce, where alone it is needed. Admira-
bic, too, 1t is to observe, that, while thus sensi
/ tive to the most insignificant atom, it bears,
without resentment, the atmospheric currents
! which are constantly passing to and fro over
4 its irritable lips. sit rejects" says Paley,
athe touch of crumb of bread, or a drop of
water, with a spasm that convulses the whole
frame; and yet, left to itself and lis proper of
| fee, the iutromission of air alone, nothing can
he SO quiet. 1t does not even make itself felt;
a man does not know that he has trachea. .
This capacity of perceiying with such acute
ness, this impatience of offence, yet perfect
rest and ease when let alone, arc properties
one would have thought, not likely to reside IL
the same subject. 1t is to the junction, how
ever, of these almost inconsistent qualities, il
this, we'll as in some other parts of the body,
1 that we owe our safety and our comfort oul
safety 10 to their sensibiity, our comfort tC
their ropose-
Another of the examples adduced by BELIZE
that of the heart. Tho famous DR. Harvey ex
amned, at the request Of Charles l., noble
man Of the Montgomery family, who, u con
sequence of un abccss, had fstulous openin!
into the chest, through which the heart coul'
be seen and handled The great phisio.ogis
was astonished 10 find it insensible. 81 thel
brought him. be says, ITO the king, that h
might behold and touch SO extraordinary
thing, and that he might perceive, asI az :,
that unless when we touched the onc,syitv hi.
when he saw our fingers ,igat ia we we touched tbe
young nobeman y the heart that we refer
heart. le' Sorrows, and our affections; We
onraJeySff a good-hearted, and bad-hesrted
j true hearted, and heartless man. Slielded
from physical violence by an outwork Of bones
! it is not invested with sensations which coulc
have contributed nothing to its preservation