Delaware State journal and statesman., 1863-08-21
Marvels of Man.

While the gastric juice has q mild bland,
sweetish taste il possesses the powers of digest
ing the hardest food that can be- swallowed 1t
has no influence whatever on the iibres of the
living animal, but Mt the moment of death, it
begins to eat them away with The power of the
strongest acid.
There is dust on sea and land-in the valley
md on the mountain tnp-there is dust always
and everywh. 70. The atmosphere is full of it,
1t penetrates the noisome dungeon, and visits
the deepest and dark 1t caves of the earth. No
palace door can shut it out ny drawer is so Sc
cret as TO CSC .pe its pr euce. Every breath of
wind dashes it upon the open eye which yet
is not blinded, because there is fountain of
the blandCst fluid in nature incesslnty empty
ing itself under the eyelid, which spreads itself
over the surface of the eychal, at every wink
ing, and washt every atom Of dust away This
liquid, SO well adapted to the eye itself, has
some acridity, which, under certain circum-
sIancos becomes decided as To be scadng to
the skin, and would rot away the eyelds, were
it not that along the edges of them there are
little oil manufactures, which spread over
their surface coating as impervious to the
liquids necessary for keeping the eyeballs
washed clean, as the best yarnish is impervOus
to water.
The breath which leaves the lungs has been
so perfectly divesed of its life giving proper
ties, that to re'breAlhe it, unmixed with other
air, the moment it escapes from the mouth,
would cause immediate death by sulFocation
while, if it hovered about us, more or less
destructive influence over health would be oe-
casioned But it is made of Il nature so much
lighter than the common mir, that the moment
it escapes the lips and nosrils it ascends to
higher regions, above the breathing point there
to be rectfed, renovated and sent back again.
replete with purity aud life How rapidly it
Ascends is beautifully exhibited any frosty
morning.
But foul and deadly as the expired air is, ma
ture-wisely economical in all her works and
ways-turns it to good account iu the outward
passage through the organs Of voice, and makes
of it the whisper Of love, the soft words of
affection, the tende' tones of human sym
pathy, the sweet strains of ravishing music,
and the persuasive eloquence Of the finished
orator.
If a well made man lie ex tended on the ground
his arms at right nngl, 3 with his body, circle
making the navel the centre, will just take in tho
head, the finger ends and the feet. The dis
tance from "toc to toe" is precisely tho same as
that between the tips OF the fingers when the
arms are extended. Tho length Of the b, ly is
Just six times that Of the foOt while The distance
from the edge of the hair on tho forehead to the
end of the chin is one tenth Of the length Of the
whole stature.
OF the sixy.two primary elements known in
nature, only eighteen arc 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 drst
aud ashes in all. Not only these eighteen human
elements, but the whole sxty-two, of which the
universe is made, have the essential basis in the
four substances hydrogen, nitrogen and
caibon-represen.ing the more familiar uames OF
fire, water, satpetre and charcoal, And such is
man, the lord of the eHrih-a spark Of firc-a
drop of water-a grain of gunpowder-an atom
of charcoal
But, looking at him in another direction, these
elements shadow forth the higher qualities of
dViner nature, Of an immortal existence In that
spark is the caloric which speaks of rrepressible
activity; in that drop is the water which speaks
of purity in that grain is tho force by which he
subdues all things to hmself-mades the wide
creation the supplier of his wants, and the servi-
tor of his pleasures while in that atom of
charcoal there is diamond, which speaks at
once of light and purty--of indtstructible and
resistess progress There is nothing which out
shines it; it is purer than the dew drop, "Moth
and rust" corrupt it not; nor can ordinary fires
destroy il; while it cuts its way alike through
brass and adamant, and hardest steel. = 4 that
light we see an eternal progression towards
omniscience in that purity, the good of divine
natures in that indestructibility an immortal
existence in that progrs ss steady ascension
towards the home and bosom Of God.-ScieRhifc
american,