Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-05-14
Marvcls of Man.

While the gastric juice has n mild,
bland, sweetish taste, it possesses the
power OF dissolving the hardest food that
can he swallowed. 1t has no influence
whatever on the soft and delicate fibres
Of the living hand; but at the moment Of
death, it begins to eat them away with
the power Of the strongest acids.
There is dust on sea and land, in the
valley and on the mountain top--there is
dust always and everywhere. The at
mosphcre is full it. 1t penetratos the
noisome dungeon, and 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 fountain of the blandest fluid in ma
ture incessanty emptying itself under the
eyelid, which spreads it over the surface
Of the ball at every winging, and washes
every atom of dust away. But this liq-
uid, SO well adaped to the eye itself, has
some acridity, which, under certain cir
cumstances, becomes so decided as to be
scading 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 eycbail washed
clean as the best varnish is impervious to
water.
The breath which leaves the lungs has
been so perfectly divested Of its life Civ
/ ing properties, that to re-breathe it, un'
mixed with other air, the moment it es.
/ capes from the mouth, would cause i'm
mediate death by suifocation; while, if il
| hovered about us, more or less destruc
tive influence over health and life would
be occasioned. But it is made of ma
ture so much lighter than the common
air, that the instant it escapes the lip
and nostrils, i: ascends to the higher re
gions, above the breathing point, there
to be rectifed, renovated and sent bacl
again, replcte with purity and life. How
rapidly it ascends, is beautifully exhibit
ed any frosty morning.
But, foul and deadly as the expired all
is, nature, wisely economical in all hel
works and ways, turns it to good account
in its outward passage through the organ
of voice, and makes of it the whisper oi
love, the soft words of affection, the ten
der tones of human sympathy, the sweet
est strains of ravishing music, the per
suasive eloqnence Of the finished orator
If we'll made man be extended on tn
ground, his arms at right angles with tn
l. ,pr ba al
ter, will Just take in the head, the finge
ends and feet. The distance from to
, to toe is precisely the same as that be
tween the tips of the fingers when th
arms are extended. The length of tn
; body i, Just six times that Of the foo
while the distance from the edge Of tn
hair on the forehead to the end of tn
chin, is one tenth Of the length of Who'll
stature.
OF the sixty-two primary element
known in nature, only eighteen are founc
in the human body, and of these, sever
are metallic. Iron is found in the blood
PHOSPHORUS in the braid, limestone il
the bile. lime in the bones, dust ana ash
es in all. Not only these eighteen humal
elements, but the whole sixty-two, O
which the universe is made have their es
; sential basis in the four substances-oXy
gen, nitrogen, carbon-representing tn
more familiar names of fire, water, salt
peter, and charcoal. And such is man
the lord of earth-a spark of fire, a dro)
of water, a grain of gunpowder, aud al
atom Of charcoal.
But, looking at him in another drec
ton, these elements shadow forth tn
higher qualities Of divine nature. of a,
immortal existence. In that spark is tn
, caloric which speaks of irrepressble &C
tivity; in that drop is the water whic
speaks Of purity, in that grain is the fore
by which he subdues all things, himsel
makes the wide creation the supplier {
, his wants, and the servitor Of his plea:
ures while in that atom of charcoal thel
is diamond, which speaks at once of ligl
and purity, of indestructibility, and {
resistless progress. For there is nothin
which out shines it. 1t is purer than Il
: dew drop. Moth and rust corrupt
II II not, nor can ordinary fires destroy il
while it cuts its way alike through bras
: and adamant, and hardest steel. In tn
light we see an eternal progression t
: ward omniscience in that purity, t
goodness of divine nature; in that ind
: structibility an immortal existence;
o that progress, a steady accession towa
the home and bosom of God.-HaH
) Journal of Health.