Litchfield enquirer., 1862-07-24
MARyELs OF NAN.

While the gastric juice has mild. bland,
sweetish taste, it possesses the power OF DIS
solving the hardest food that can be swallowed
Il has no influence whatever on the soft and del
icate fbres of the living stomach, nor has itany
upon the living hand but at the moment OF
death, it begins to eat them away with the pow
or of the strongest acids.
There is dust on sea and land, in the valley,
and on the mountain top there is dust al
ways and everywhere. The atmosphere is full
of It. II penetrates the noisome dungeon, and
visits the deepest. darkest caves of the earth
No palace can shut it out no drawer 80 secret
as to escape its presence. Every breath Of wind
dashes it upon the open earth and yet that eye
10 not blinded, because there is fountain Of the
blandest fluid In nature necessarily emptying it.
self under the eyelid, which spreads it over the
surface of the ball, at every winking, and washes
every atom Of dust away. But this liquid, 90
well adapted 10 the eye itself, has somnR cridity
which under certain circumstances, becomes 90
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 manufactures
which spread over their service coating as i'm
pervious to the liquids necessary for keeping the
eyeball washed clean, a. the best varnish is inn
pervious to water.
The breath which leaves the lungs has been
90 perfectly Invested Of its lifegiving properties
that to re-breathe it, unmixed with other ar, the
moment il escapes from the mouth. would cause
immediate death by sufocation while il IT how
cred about u.s. o more or less destructive lnnu-
ence over health and life would be 0ccasioned.
But it 10 made Of Q nature % much lighter than
the common cir, that the instant it escapes the
bps and nostrils, il ascends to the higher re-
gions, above the breathing point there to be rec
5iied, renovated and sent back again, repleta
with purity and life. How rapidly it ascends, il
beautifully exhibited any frosty morning.
But foul and deadly a. the expired air il, ma
sure, 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 words OF afec-
ton, the tender. tones Of human sympathy, the
sweetest strains of ravishing music, the persua
siye eloquence of the finished orator. s"s
If well made man be extended on the ground,
his arms at right angles with the body, circle,
making the navel its center, will just take in the
head, the finger ends and feet. The distance
from top to toe" is precisely the same as that
between the tips of the fingers, when the arms
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 the length Of the
whole stature.
OF the sixty-two primary elements known in
nature, only eighteen are found in the human
body, and Of these, seven are metallic. Iron is
found in the blood, 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, hydrogen, nitrogen,
carbon-representing the more familiar names
Of fire, water, saltpetre and charcoal. And such
is man, the lord of earth-a spark Ofaire, drop
Of water, grain of gunpowder, an atom OF
Charcoal! III
But, looking at him in another direction, these
elements shadow forth the higher qualities of a
divine nature, of an immortal existence. In
that spark is the caloric which speaks of ire.
pressible activity; in that drop is the water
which speaks of purity; in that grain is the force
by which he subdues all things to himself, makes
the wide creation the supplier of his wants, and
the servitor OF his pleasures: while in that atom
of charcoal there is the diamond, which speaks
at once Of light and purity, Of indestructbility
and of resistless progress. For there is nothing
which outshines it. 1t is purer than the dew
drop. "Moth and rust" corrupt it not, nor can
ordinary fires destroy it while it cuts away alike
through brass, and adamant, and hardest steel
In that light we see an eternal progression to
wards omniscience; in that purity the goodness
of divine nature in that indestructibility, ar
immortal existence /; in that progress, q steady
accession toward the home and bosom Of God
Halls Journal of Health.