The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-10-04

The number of bones in o human
body is generally estimated ct 245. Of
which there are reckoned in the skull,
head and face, 81 in the trunk, "a; in
the arms and hands, 60; in the legs
and feet, 60. The weight Of the skele-
ton is about one-tenth the weight of
the whole body.
Bone, when used as q lever, is %
times as strong rs sandstone, 81 times
as strong as lead, nearly q times as
strong as Elm and Ash, and twice as
strong as Box, Yew and Oak timber.
The number of muscles in man Is
$40, being more than twice the number
of the bones. The bulk of body, upon
an average, is equal to cube Of little
more than sixteen inches on q side,
and the amount of water equals cube
| q little more than fourteen inches on
a side, or nearly three-fourths of the
body.
An adult drinks about fifteen hun
dred pounds of water yearly, and
throws off, through the waster-gates,
nineteen hundred pounds. The diff
Guilty of accounting for the four hum
dred p6 unds has led some to suppose
that the water Is formed in the system
by the union of oxygen and hydrogen.
The salts that have been enumerated
are found in almost every part of the
body. Common salt Chloride of sodi-
um) is found in every fluid and solid,
except enamel. The whole amount in
the human body is 27T grains. deserves
many important uses.
Carbonic acid is found i'm the lungs,
alimentary canal, the blood and urine.
The amount of carbonic acid, however,
varies, being from one TO three pounds
in twenty-fOur hours, and the causes of
variation are temperature, age, sex,
state of health or disease, development
of the body, muscular exertion or re-
pose. This gas (carbonic acid con-
tains in every 100 pounds % pounds of
carbon (charcoaD and ~ pounds of
oxygen (gas). Hence the maximum
weight of carbon which escapes in this
form from the lungs of full grown
man is about fifteen ounces in twen-
ty-four hours.
The average amount of air which
passes in and out of the lungs at each
Inspiration and expiration is about
20 cubic inches; the amount passed
through them i'm twenty-four hours is
about g., 900 cubic inches, or, as others
estimate it, from 5000 to 5000 gallons
every day. This varies greatly. In
the first place, the lower the tempera-
ture the greater the amount of animal
heat to be generated, and, consequent
ly, the greater the amount of air to he
consumed. Also. person laboring in
the open air breathes more deeply than
one confined to the house. From a
series of 5000 observations made by
DIR. Hutchinson, the following prin-
ciple is deduced =" For every inch of
stature from five tc six feet, additional
cubic inches of air are given out at
forced expiration after full inspirs-
ton" That is, if q person five feet
six inches in hight can expire 422 cubic
inches, a person five feet seven inches
can expire 400 cubic inches.
The nails of the hand grow about
two-fifths of a line per week, while
those of the feet require four times that
period for the same amount of growth.
Gases are on record where the nails
have been shed periodically. The
time necessary for a nail to grow its
whole length varies from twelve to
twenty weeks. The nails are thick at
their most convex portions, instead of
their edges they only grow 80 long as
they are cut, and among the literary |
class Of the Chinese, who never cut |
their nails, they are said to attain only |
length Of two inches.
In man the average weight of the |
brain is 54 ounces in females, As. The |
average capacity of the crania Of
Germans and Anglo SaxOns Is 80 cubic |
inches. Daniel Webster's Uranium |
contained Us cubic inches.
The amount of blood in a healthy |
body is about eighteen pounds, or ten |
quarts. The heart is Fix inches in |
length and four inches in diameter, |
and beats 20 per minute, 200 times,
per hour, 10O, $40 times per day, 36, 722,-
OO1 times per year, 2 SIS, 440,OO times |
i'm three-score and ten; at each beat
a ounces of blood are thrown out Of it
us ounces per minute, 656 pounds per
hour, 4 tons per day. In an ordinary
life OF q man, the heart beats at least
5000, 100000 times, and prOpels
through aorta /, 100000 tons of blood.
The amount Of gastric juice secreted
by the stomach of a well fed, grown
person has been estimated at from 60
to so ounces i'm twenty-four hours. A
healthy stomach contains no gas
trio juice except where food is taken,
and by its contact with the surface of
the mucous membrane excites the
secreting organs to pour out the gastric
fluid i'm the requisite quantity. If the
stomach is i'm healthy condition, and
the brain healthy, the quantity of
gastric juice generated or thrown ont
will be just sufficient for healthy di-
gestion. If the condition of either
organ be impaired, the gastric juice
secreted may be either deficient in
quantity or vitiated i'm quality.
Let us study ourselves, that we may
understand ourselves better. The