Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1868-08-08
L INNER SELVES.

luis cAIIDlllDu "a y
formers in their way, but at this epoch OF
progress they have soon been dlstanced.
Swallowing a saber, at present, is moth
ing. The fashion now is to swallow a
lighted lantern and brilliantly illuminate
your inner man. You then become a
living and walking gaslight 4; that's all,
1t is evident that swallowing q lantern
is only one remove in advance OF swai-
lowing a sword, Now, there happen to
be little electric lanterns which give light
without burning. They are called Cess
ler's tubes, and are small glass cylinders,
either empty or filled with azote, hydro
gen or carbonic acid gas, through which
a v~oltaic current is made TO pass. The
tubes become sufficiently luminous to al.
low you to read printed letters at several
inches from them. When this miniature
lantern is introduced into a stomach the
skin is transparent enough to permit your
seeing the interior of the animal. There
is no need for people to live in glass
houses, for they are hereby transformed
into glass houses themselves. Their do
mestic secrets are divuIged, and Diogenes
would be delighted to find that, instead
of a mere superficial outside view of his
much desiderated honest man, he can no"
with the newly invented lantern, look a
person through and through.
The experiment, which may be consid-
cred exceedingly curious until something
still more strange is started, is only an
extended copy of what has been practis-
ed in medical art for some years past
For instance, there is the ophtalmoscope,
or eye Inspector, a small instrument, by
means of Which, the interior of the eye
being lighted up, it is possible to explore
successfully the deepest portion Of that
intricate organ. Other Instruments as
sist in the examination Of divers internal
parts of the human body. Not the least
remarkable Of these inquisitive apparat-
uses is the laryngoscope, invented by a
German physician named Czermack, for
the inspection of the respiratory passa.
ges, and the mechanism which produces
the voice.
The vocal organ in man (Which DR..
Tyndall truly describes as the most per-
feet Of reed Instruments is placed at the
windpipe, the head Of which is adjusted
for the attachment of certain elastic
bands called " vocal chords" which al
most close the, aperture. When the air
from the lungs is forced through the slit
which separates these vocal chords, they
are thrown into vibration. BY varying
their tension, the rate of vibration is
varied, and the sound changed in pitch.
The sweetness and smoothness Of the
voice depends ON the perfect closure of
the slit Of the CLOTHS at regular intervals
during the vibration.
The vocal chord may be Illuminated
and viewed in a mirror placed suitably at
the back of the mouth. DR.. Tyndall once
attempted to project NJ. Czermak's larynx
upon a screen in his lecture room, but
with only partial success. The organ
may, however, be viewed directly in the
aaryngoscope. Its motions, both in sing
ing, speaking and coughing, being strik-
ingly visible. The r~oughness Of the voice
IN colds is due, according to the aforesaid
Helmholz, Qearned in acoustics to mu.
cuous focculi, which get into the slit of
the CLOTHS, and are seen by means Of the
laryngoscope. The squeaking, falsetto
voice with which some persons are Attic
ted, the same Halmholz thinks may be
produced by the drawing aside of the
mucous layer which ordinarily lies under
and loads the vocal chords. Their edges
thus become sharper and their weight
less ; while their elasticity remaining the
same, they are shaken into more rapid
tremors. The promptness aud accuracy
with which the vocal chords can change
their tension, their fern and the width of
the slit between them, render the voice
the most perfect of musical instruments.
The order Of the day, therefore, is that
we should be able to see everything, with
out exception. If we Can look an animal,
Guile through and through by means Of
transmitted light ; if, in the same way,
we can behold the blood circulating in the
tail of a tadpole or the foot of a frog,
with all the minute vessels thereto per.
tanning, why should we not do so with
larger animals, with our proper selves
1t is merely a question of degree. With
a sufficient intensity of Illuminating pow
or, there is no knowing what may not be-
come transparent. And, 10 fact, a distin.
guished hygicnist, M. Foussagrieves, Of
Montpelier, attempted to render the int.
rior viscera Of our body visible by a
transmitted IiUht Thov woro IN bo ox