Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-07-30

I
which, however familiar to professional an
thropologists, may be instructive to the com
mon mind. We quote some of the most in
terestlng statements made by the author Of
the contribution in question.
The blood is described as a torrent impetu-
ously rushing through every part of the body,
; carried by an elaborate net. work Of vessels,
4 which, III the course of twe lve months, convey
to the various tissues not less than three thou
| sand pounds weight of nutritive material,
and convey from the various tissues not less
than three thousand pound. weight of waste.
AT every moment of our lives there is nearly
ten pounds of this fluid rushing in one con-
hnuous throbbing stream, from the heart
through the great arteries, which branch and
branch like a tree, the vessels becoming
smaller and smaller as they subdivide, till they
are invisible to the naked eye, and then they
are called capillaries (hair-like vessels, al
though they are no more to be compared in
calibre with hairs, than hairs are with cables
These vessels form a network finer than the
nnest Iace-so line, indeed, that if we pierce
the surface at almost any part with the point
OF needle, we open one of them and let out
Its blood. In these vessels the blood Yields
some OF Its nutrient materials, and receives in
exchange some OF the wasted products of It's
sue; thus modified, the stream continues its
rapid course back ward to the heart through
a system of veins, which commence in The
myriad capillaries that form the termination
of the arteries. The veins, instead of subdi
viding like the arteries, becomes gradually
less and less numerous, their twigs entering
branches, and the branches trunks, till thew
reach the heart. No sooner has the blood
poured into the heart from the veins. than it
rushes through the lungs, and from them back
again to the heart and arteries, thus complet-
ing the circle, or circulation.
This wondrous stream ceaselessly cireu
laling, occupies the very centre of the vital
organism, midway between the functions of
nutrition and the functions of exertion, feed
ing and stimulating the organs into activity.
and removing from them all their useless
material. In its torrent, upward of FORTY diff
ierent substances are hurried along; it car.
RES gases, 1t carries salts--it even carries
metals, and soaps Millions OF organized
cells hoat In its liquid; and of these cells
winch by some are considered to be organic
entities twenty millions are said to die at
every pulse of the heart, to be replaced bv
other millions. The iron which it washes
EDWARDS can be separated. Professor Berard
used to exhibit lump of it in his lecture
room-nay, one ingenious Frenchman has
suggested that coins should be struck from
the metal extracted from the blood of great
men. Let TO one suggest that we should
wash our hands with the soap extracted from
similar source
The blood, instead of being red, is of
yellowish red color, and has, in solution.
many floating solids" known as blood discs
and corpuscles. These were first discovered
in 1868, but the first accurate KNOWLEDGE If
them dates from 1878, and is due to Lewan.
healthy human blood, and play but a second
airy part, unless they are the early stage of the
red dlsca.
The constituents Of the blood are stated n
be water, 1884 parts out of thousand albu-
men 70, and hbrine 2.20. The remainino
elements are chiefly fat containing phosphor.
us, chloride OF potassium, oxide and nhos.
phate OF IRON, with various other su bstances
The blood OF no Two men is precisely similar
the blood OF the same man is not DreciseIv
similar IN disease to what it was in health or
at different epochs of life. The iron which
circuates in the veins of the embryo is mara
abundant than the iron in the veins of tho
mother; and this quantity declines after
birth, to augment again at puberty. The fats
vary, in different individuals, from 4 TO "a
IN 1000. The blood cells vary with the varv-
ing health. The albumen huctuates from en-
to 70 parts in 1000, the proportion heinz
greater during digestion. The fbrine, nan.
any amounting to about 3 in 1000, NAV arise
as high as IL, or fall as low as
There are two descriptions of blood in Dir
culatlon In every human being-venous and
arterial blood the former from BEING da,G
purple, the latter bright scarlet. If yenons
blood be injected into the arteries going IN tho
brain, it produces syncope and death. Vet
arterlal blood thus injected will revive an
animal suffering from loss of blood. Between
the two fluids, therefore, profound differ
ehce exists; and yet the venous blood has
ohly to pass through the lungs in an Amos.
phere not overcharged with carbonc acid and
at once 1t becomes transformed into A nutrient
sustaining fluid.
Arterlal blood is every where the same it
Is one stream peIpetunlly flowing off into
smaller streams, but always the same fuid in
It's mlnutest rills as in its largest currents.
Not so venous blood. That is o confluence of
many currents, each one bringing with il
something from the soil in which It arises
the streams issuing out of the muscles bring
substances unlike those issuing out of the
nervous centres the blood which hurries ont
OF the intestine contains substances unlike
those which hurry out of the liver. The waste
OF all the organs has to be carried away by the
vessels Oh the organs. Wondrously does the
complex machine work its many purposes
the roaring loom of Life is never for moment
still.
The amount of blood IN the human frame
is variously stated. If we say ten pounds for
an adult healthy man, we shall probably be as
near the mark as possible. The quantity
however, necessarily varies in different persons
and seems from some calculations to be greater
In women than in men. In the seal its quan.
nty is enormous, surprising that of all other
animals. man included.