The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-07-04
A Mans Bsay . Livins sieve.

- &c .
The Eclectic Review, treating Of the cslortc
or heat In human body, compares our body
TO q living stoye-walking fireplaces-fur-
naces In the fiesh,' II those terms can be ap-
iion Of human caIoric After stating the fact Of
the latent heat of the human frame, the writer
says: Suppose it to be the month of January,
when winter is presumed to b reigning in
full yigor, and every inanimate object appears
to have been drained Of its caloric; still the
human structure will exhibit q surplus OF 66
degrees above the freezing point. Why is this
How does IL happen that, whilst bronze
statue huctuates in its temperature with
every passing breeze, the living organism
aintains its standard heat unimpAired, and
preserves Its tropical climate within, though
the air should be full of frost and the ground
enveloped in snowl IT is manifest that we
must have some power of brewing" caloric
Tor ourselves. Assuming that our bodies are
yerttabIe stoves, the reviewer proceeds to ex-
plain whence we procure our fuel. For
stored up in a very interesting form. They
are laid before US in the shape Of bread and
butter, puddings and pies; rashers Of bacon
for the iaborer, and launches Of yenison or
brought up in scuttles, they are present ted In
tureens, dishes, or tumblers, or all of them
In Pheasant succession.
Speaking seriously. and looking at the quss-
tion from mere human point OF view, could
any project appear more hopeless than one for
burning fuel in q soft delicate fabric like the
human body-a fabric composed, for the most
part, OF mere fuids-a fabric which might be
easily scorched by excess of heat, or damaged
by excess of cold Does 1t not seem like q
touch of Quixotism in Nature to design a
stove with flesh for its walls. veins for it's
fiues, skin for its coveringl Yethere, we have
seen, is an apparatus which, as if by magic,
produces steady stream of heat-nOt trick
ling penuriously from its fountains, but now
Ing on day and night, winter and summer
without d moments cessation from January
IDacomh hor CHrrv this snlauHid ms htuo tn
the coldest regions on the globe-set it up in
scene where the frosts are SO crushing that
nature seems to lie trampled dead-still it
pours out its mysterious supplies with una
bated profusion. 1t is an apparatus, too,
which does its work unmatched, and, in great
measure, unaided. The very fuel which is
thrown into it in random heaps is internally
sifted and sorted, so that the true com mbustible
elements are conveyed to their place and ap-
piled to their duty with unerring precision
No hand is needed to trim its fires, to temper
its glow, to remove Its ashes. Smoke there is
none, spark there is none, fame there is none.
The pulmonary chimney is never clogged with
human CRIME. All Is so delicately managed
that the fairest skin Is neither shrivelsd or
blackened by the burnings within. Is this ap-
paratus placed in circumstances which rob it
too fast of its caIoric Then the appetite be-
comes clamorous for food, and in satisfying
its demands the fieshy stove is silently replen-
lshed. Or, are we placed in peril from SUPER
abundant warmth? Then the tiny fioodgates
Of perspiration are flung open, and the surface
is laid under water unul the fires within are
reduced TO their wonted level. Assailed on
the one hand by heat, the body resists the at
tack if resistance be possible until the store of
moisture is dissi ipated assailed on the other
by cold, it keeps the enemy at bay until the
boarded stock Of fuel is expended. Thus pro-
tected, thus provisioned, let us ask whether
these human hearths are not entitled to rank
amongst the standing marvels of creation Z
for is it not startling to find that, let the eli
mate be mild or rigorous, let the wind blow
from the sultry desert or come loaded with
polar sleet, let the fluctuations of temperature
be as violent as they may without US, there
shall be still calm, unchanging, undying
summer within us. Ht