The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1860-02-22
Facts abOut the Body:

There are about two hundred bones in the !
human body, exclusive of the teeth. These |
bones are composed Of animal and earthly
materials, the former predominating in youth
and the latter in old age, rendering the bones
brittle. The most important of these bones
Ia the spine, which is composed of twenty
four bones, called the vertebr@, one on top
of the other, curiously hooked together and
fastened by elastic ligaments, forming pill.
lar by which the human body is supported.
The bones are moved by the muscles OF
which there are more than 500. The red
meat in beef, the fat being excluded, is the
muscular fabric of the OK. There are two
sets Of mus cles, one to draw the bones one
way, and another to draw them back again.
We cannot better describe the muscles than
by comparing them to fine elastic thread
bound up in their cases of skin. Many mus
cles terminate in tendons, which are stout
cords, such as may be seen raversing the
back Of the hand, just without the skin, and
which can be observed to move when the
hand is open or shut. Every motion we
make, even the involuntary one OF breathing
is performed through the agency of muscles.
In adults there are fifteen quarts of blood,
each weighing about two pounds. This
blood is of two kinds, arteriaI and venous.-
The first is the pure blood, as it leaves the
heart to nourish the frame, and is of bright
vermillion color. The last is the blood as
truns to the heart loaded with the impurities
of the body, to be there refined, and is of a
purple hue. Every pulsatlon of the heart
sends out two ounces of arteriul blood, and
as there are from 70 to 80 beats in minute,
a hogshead of blood passes through the heart
every hour. In fevers the pulsations are
accelerated and consequently death ensues
if the fever is not checked.
The stomach is boiler, if we may use
such figure, which drives the human en-.
gine. Two sets of muscles, crossing each
other, turn the food over and over, churning
it up in the gastric juice till it has been re-
duced to the consistency of paste. This
process requires from two to four hours.
Emerging from the stomach the food en-.
ters the small intestines, where it is mixed
with the bile and pancreatc juice, and con
verted into chyle. These small intestinec
are twenty.iour feet long, closely packed o.
course, and surrounded through their whole
length with small tubes, which are like sock
cts, and drawing off the chyle, empty into
large tube named the thorax duct, whicI
runs up the back and discharges the content
into the jugular vein, whence it passes to tn
heart to assist in forming the arterial blood
The lungs are two bags connected witt
the open air by the windplpe which branche
into innumerable small tubes, all over th
inside of the lungs, each terminating in
minute air cell. The cutter surface of thes
air cells is full Of small cOpilaries, infnteI !,
small veins, thin membrane on y dividing
the air from the blood.
The impure portion of venous blood is car
bonic acid, which, having stronger afinit
for air than for blood, passes through thi
membrane 10 a gaseous state, combines, wit
the next respiration. Meanwhile the oxy
gen of the air unites with the blood, and be
comes purified passing into the heart, ben
mixed with chyle, it is forced through tn
body as liie.gving and arterial blood.
The skin serves an important purpose i
carrying off impurities of the system. Ii
traversed with capilaries of the body. 1t
|, also perforated with countless perspiratio
tubes, the united length of which amounts
} twenty. eight miles, and which drains ava
from three to four pounds of waste matte
, every twenty-four hours or FIVE eighths of a
} the body discharges.
The nerves are another curious feature
j the animal economy. They are, howeVe
l but little understood. They act as feele
. to tell the wants of the body, and also
conductors to will the muscles to act. Tht
: branch out from the brain and spine ov
: the whole frame in infinitely fine 6bres, lii
!. branches or twigs to trees.