Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-01-27
The Property of Elasticity

Elasticity Is property which app ears
universally in the mechanism and ADJUST
ments of nature. 1t is actually essential to
the operation of some organisms, 1t con-
tributes to endurance in others, but, most
strikingly, and in all, it gives grace and
symmetry to motion of every kind, as If it
were the finishing touch in the perfect
works Of the Creator. In attempting 20
initiate this property, man finds his Own
impotence perhaps more clearly shown
than through any Other comparison with
nature The iris, the curtain of the eye,
responds, through the elasticity of its It's
sues, with the most exquisite delIcacy, to
every variation Of hight, opening or closing
the pupil in the centre. Man, needing just
such a diaphragm for his optical expert
ments, and capable of shaping lens OF
microscopic size to given curves with ex-
trao-dinary exactness. still cannot even re-
motely initiate the iris.
The joints of the human body are so ad-
justed in shape and with interposed tissues
as to give not only facility, but elegance to
each movement. As whole, the body is o
marvel of elasticity throughout, which adds
to precision in the use of ths limbs, and
enables them to receive heavy blows with
out injury. Artificial machines, while they
may copy the form of joints, and may be
adapted to bestow power upon work with
an exactness of which we delight to boast,
fail in securing elasticity with precision. A
steam engine, or a loom, or railway coach
all come short in this particular, when we
compare them with the human frame. A
striking illustration was given of the con-
trast in an accident with which we were
conversant- A car was whirled from the
track, with some thirty or forty people in it.
Every seat was torn up aud broken,
SO that when search was made for a
seat-back on which to carry an injured lady.
not a whole one could be found. Yet al
though the passengers were all thrown into
one end, together with all the other con-
tents of the Car, not bone was broken,
nor was any one seriously injured But
for elasticity the bones must have shared
the fate of wood and iron when subjected
to the same conclusion. Perhaps sufficient
attention has not yet been given to this
requisite in machines. but there is certainly
great deficiency. For example: the blow
of q wave on the wheel of steamship car
ries its strain through the whole machinery
till IL reaches the piston, where it is met
by the elasticity of the steam, which will
yield before it, and then return the
blow. But the machinery, made with
mathematical precision in every part cam
not. yield anywhere without breaking, and
must therefore be disproportionately huge
in dimensions. as compared with the me-
chanisms of nature. In this connection
We may note a singular fact in naval archi-
lecture. The ribbed hull OF ship is usu-
ally made unyielding. for the sake OF
strength. But q ship will sail faster if it
has elasticity. So well has this been un-
derstood by come, that cases have been
known where yes sells have escaped capture
in war, distancing their pursaerss as soon
as every other rib of the frame was sawn
through. whereby elasticity was impaired
to the hull. i Christian Union.