Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-02-27
51istellaueuns Reading,
WHAT FOLKS ARE MADE OF.

The number of bones in human body is
generally estimated at 245, of which there
are reckoned in the skull, head and face, 81 |;
in the trunk, 81; in the arms and hands, CO.;
and in the legs and feet, so. The weight of
the skeleton is about one.tenth the weight Of
the whole body.
Bone, when used as lever, is % times as
strong as sandstone, 81 times as strong as
lead, nearly 2} times 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 the body upon an aver
age, is equal to cube of little more than
sixteen inches on a side, and the amount of
water equals cube little more than four
teen inches on side, or nearly three-fourths
of the body.
An adult drinks about fifteen hundred
pounds of water yearly, and throws offthrough
the various water gates, nineteen hundred
pounds. The difficulty Of accounting for the
four hundred pounds 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 sodium is found in
every fluid and solid, except enamel. The
whole amount in the human body is 277
grains. It serves many important cases.
Carbonic acid is found in the lungs, ali
mentary 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 dis
ease, development of the body, muscular ex-
ertion or repose. This gas (carbonic acid)
contains in every 100 pounds, % pounds Of
carbon (charcoaD and 72 pounds Of oxygen
(gas). Hence, the maximum weight of car.
bon which escapes in this form from the lungs
of full grown man is about fifteen ounces in
twenty-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 in twenty-four
hours is about $4,000 cubic inches, or, as
others estimate it, from 1000 to 5000 gallons
every day. This varies greatly. In the first
place, the lower the temperature the greater
the amount of animal heat to be generated,
and, consequently, the amount of air to be
consumed. Also, person laboring in the
open air breathes more deeply than one COIL
fined to the house. From series of 5000 OBJ
servations made by DR.. Hutchinson, the fol.
lowing principle is deducted: "For every inch
of stature from five to six feet, eight addition
al cubic inches of air are given out at a forced
expiration after full inspiration" That is,
if person five feet six inches in height can
expire 422 cubic inches, a person five feet
seven inches can expire 430 cubic inches.
The nails ofthe hand grow about two.6fths
of line per week, while those of the feet re-
quire four times that period for the same
amount of growth. Cases are on record
where the nails have been shed periodically.
The time necessary for mail to grow its whole
length varies from twelve to twenty weeks.
The nails are thickest at their most convex
portions, instead of their edges; they grow
only so 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