Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-08-29
From Halls Journal Of Health.
Marveis Of Man.

Marveis Of Man.
While the gastric juice has a mild,
bland, sweetIsh taste, it possesses the pow
er Of dissolving the hardest food that can
be swallowed; it has no influence on the
soft and delicate fbers of the living stom-
ach, nor has it any npon the living hand,
but. at the moment Of death, it begins to
eat them away with the pow er of the
strongest acids.
There is dust on sea, on land, in the
valley, and on the mountain-tops; there is
dust always and every where; the atmos-
phere is full Of it; it penetrates the moi
some dungeon, visits the deepest, darkest
caves of the earth; no palace door can
shut it out, no drawer SO "secret'' as to
escape its presence; every breath Of wind
dashes it upon the open eye, and yet that
eye is not blinded; because there is foun-
tain Of the blandest fluid in nature inces-
sanity emptying itself under the eyeid,
which spreads it over the surface Of the
ball at every winking, and washes every
atom of dust away. But this liquid, so
well adapted to the eye ITSELF has some
acridity, which, under certain circum-
stances, becomes SO decided as to be
scalding to the skin, and would rot away
the eyelids were it not that along the
edges of them there are little oil manu-
factories, which spread over their surface
coating as impervious to the liquids
necessary for keeping the eyeball washed
clean, as the best varnish is impervious
to water.
The breath which leaves the lurg has
been so perfectly divested, ofits life giving
properties, that to re-breath it, unmixed
with other air. the moment it escapes from
the mouth would cause immediate death
by suffocation, while if it hovered about
us, a more or less destructive influence
over health and life would be occasioned; /;
but it is made of nature so much lighter
than the common air, that the instant
that it escapes the lips and nostrils, it as
cends to the higher regions, above the
breathing point. there to be rectitied;
renovated, and sent back again, replete
with purity and life. How rapidly it
ascends, is beautifully exhibited any fros-
tv morning.
But foul and deadly as the expired air
is, Nature. wisely, economical in all her
works and ways, turns it to good account
in its outward passage through the organs
of voice. and makes Of it the whisper Of
love. the soft word Of affection, thetender
tones of human symprthy, the sweetest
strains of ravishing music, the persuasive
eloquence of the finished orator.
If wellmade man be extended on the
ground. his arms at right angles with the
body, circle, making the naval its CEN
tire, will just take in the head, the finger
ends, and feet.
The distance from stop to toe is pre-.
cisely the same as that between the tips
of the fingers when the arms are extended.
The length of the body is Just six times
that of the foot; while the distance from
the edge of the hair on the forehead, to
the end of the chin, is one tenth of the
length Of the whole stature.
OF the siXty-two primary elements
known in nature, onl " eighteen are found
in the human body, and of these, seven
are metallic. Iron is found in the blood f;
phosphorus in the brain; limestone in the
! bile lime in the bones; dust and ashes in
| all Not only these eighteen human
elements, but the whole siXty-two of which
the universe is made. have their essential
/ basis in the four substances-oxygen, hy
drogen, nitrogen, carbon, representing the
more familiar names of fire, water, saltpe
tire, and charcoal; and such is man, the
, lord of earth! spark of fire, drop of
water, grain of gun powder, an atom Of
/ charcoal But looking at him in another
direction, these elements shadow forth the
/ higher qualities of a divine nature, Of an
/ immortal existence In that part is the
caloric which speaks of irreplessibIe ao-
tivity; in that drop Is the water which
speaks of purity; i'll that grain is the force
by which he subdues all thing to himself
makes the wide creation the supplier of hi,
wants, and the servitor of his pleasure
while in that atom Of charcoal, there l.
/ the diamond, which speaks at once Of ligh
and purity, of inieNtru 'tibiliry and o
resistless progress, for there is nothing
which outshines it; it is purer than the
dew drop; "moth and rust corrupt" j
not. nor can ordinary fires destroy it;
while it cuts its way alike through brass
and adamant and hardest steel. In that
light we see an eternal progression toward
omniSci-nce, in tha purity the goodness
of divine nature; in that indestructlblilty
an Immortal existence; in that progress,
a steady accession toward the home and
bosom of God.