The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-05-15
The Circulation of the Blood.

FoR thousands of years, the hearts of
animals had been beating before 1t was dis
covered that the purpose of the continu-
ous action of that organ was to bring the
supplies required for interstitional repair
to the remOtest members of the animal
body. and at the same time to carry on
the waste which had been replaced by
fresh material. For thousands of years,
human hearts had been beating, and.
misled by superficial observation, the
heart was supposed to be the seat OF
thought and passion, the center OF good
and evil, devotion and love; and 1t was
even compared by poets to an altar on
which flames were burning, etc. -,
But modern biologists have changed all
this. The human heart is no longer the
seat of the noble feelings OF generosity,
charity, and of love; all these functions
have been transferred to the brain, while
the heart has been degraded to simple
hydraulic apparatus, in fact, to machine
to all intents and purposes equivalent 10
pump.
If, after having fully realized the stu
pendous change in our estimate OF this
noble organ, we make it our task TO IN
vestigate its operation, our admiration
and delight concerning its exquisite con-
struction compensates us fully for the dis
appointment which at first we may have
felt when poetry had to make room fol
reality. During the life of man, this
little pumping machine performs some
| 104, 900 pulsations every twenty-foul
hours, 1000, 900 per year, and, in a life OF
so years, nearly 5000, 900, 600 of pulsations
without ever stopping, as stoppagt
would be at once fatal to the individual
Every pulsation projects six ounces ol
blood with force which has, by expert
ment. been determined to be equivalent
to hydrostatic pressure of eight feet
which is equivalent to power of three
foot pounds for every pulsatlon, ant
~ X or PIG foot pounds per minute; es
timating the power of strong man a
1920 foot pounds per minute, it is seer
that the little muscle which we call thu
heart exerts at every contraction power
equal to one TWEEN ieth part of the powe
which his whole body is capable of exert
ing but then this power works night ant
day without his will, even without hi
knowledge, while man can only work on
third of the time. The whole amount o
blood propelled by the heart is p lbs. pc
minute, 1.G20 lbs. per hour, $4,000 lbs
per day, 1900, 900 lbs. per year, ,OOO, 600,
justified in asserting that there is nothin!
lost to the eyes of the intellect. by tn
transfer of the heart from the domain Q
Imagination and speculation to that c
positive science?
The heart, with the regular musica
rhythm of the contraction of its fou
chambers, the never falling opening an
closure of its admirably constructe
valves, sends the blood, which is mos
mysterious metamorphosis of the foo
consumed, through the arteries, .whic
by their elasticity equalize the rhythmicf
impulses into steady current, when tn
blood reaches the capillary vessels her
the blood is propelled further by capillar
action, by the forces of endosmose an
exosmose the blood thus reaches ever
recess, either in muscle, skin, nerve, G
even bone, and, replacing every organi
molecule which has become obsolete, ca
ries the latter through the veins TOWARD
the liver, kidneys, and spleen to be pur
fed, and lastly to the lungs to underg
the main publication, the throwing off (
all gaseous matter, especially carbon
acid and the absorption of the vital OK,
gen. Then it returns to the heart, to /
: again and again propelled through tn
body y.-Scientifc american.