Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-12-24

Plainly Stated, with Practical Lessons
they Teach.
Under the above heading the American
Agriculturist for January gives a lengthy
and very practical article, which should be
generally read We make the following
brief extracts:
98l degress.-Al human beings are so
constituted that while some parts may be
temporarily benumbed with cold without
danger, the blood that circulates through
the heart and through the system generally,
must be maintained uniformly at Just about
98b degrees of temperature (9Ss degrees
Fahrenheit, or 81 degrees centigrade). If
the heat of the blood rises or falls only or
degrees from this normal point, and
continues so, fatal results are expected.
Every degree that disease eleyates the gen
eral internal heat above 100 degrees, is
rapid approach towards the danger point,
al when only 105 degrees is reached, the
most skillful efforts of physicians are usually
needed to save life. On the contrary, even
in the coolest regions where the thermome-
ter marks 600 or TOE, Or more, below the
/ freezing point, the internal heat must be
/ kept up, and if it falls only from go to "a
or $50, and continues thus, there is great
danger that the wheels of life will stop.
/ (Ihese are general statements, applicable to
healthy condition. Cases have been re-
ported where in tetanus or lockjaw the tenn
perature rose to nearly / lie, while in asth-
ma it sunk to 76o, and in cholera to 67S.
FIRE IN TEE BLOOD.
When the oxygen of the air unites with
the carbon of hard coal or charcoal, or of
wood, or of -four, meat or of any other
food a compound is formed, viz, a gas,
which we call carbonic acid. The process
of forming this compound sets at liberty
heat which Was before entirely concealed, or
which existed in another FORM and when
coal or wood is burned rapidly we have a
hot fire. The same process goes on when
wood rots away, but the heat is developed
SO slowly that We do not notice it.
Precisely the same thing is taking place
il the human body all the time. The food
we eat and digest, is in part absorbed into
the blood, and carried by it everywhere
throughout the body But at the same
time the blood passing through the lungs is
constantly picking up oxygen there from
the air which we breathe into the lungs
and this, too, goes all through the body,
and at millions of points one carbon atom
of the food is uniting with two atoms of
oxygen from the air, forming carbonie acid,
setting heat at liberty, precisely the same as
takes place in burning wood or coal in the
stove. There is only small product of
heat at any one point in the blood, but it
takes place at SO many points that there is
enough developed to keep up the gen
eral temperature. And wonderful pro
vision it is, that without our
supervision, or knowledge even, this
ever burning fire goes on within
us, just SO as to keep the whole body at
about SO deg.
eve speak only of the main source of ami
NAL heat. There are other combinations
going on in the body, which produce more
or less heat, such as the union of hydrogen
from food with oxygen, which escapes as
water; the union OF minute quantities of
sulphur and of phosphorus with oxygen,
etc. Most probably more or less heat Is al
SO derived from the mechanical movements
of the various organs
If the supply of food fails in the blood for
a time, from fasting Sickness then the
oxygen in the blood attacks any stored up
fuel, as fat, flesh and other organs of the
body, using their carbon to keep up the ever
necessary warmth. The weight of the body
grows less and when no more fat or flesh
can be found to make heat on, cold and
death come on. The same result follows if
furnish the air supplying oxygen fast enough
to keep up the internal fire. Stop the en-
| trance of air for a few minutes by closing
the windpipe with a cord, or by filling the
lungs with water, and heat production stops
IN the blood, the temperature falls below
80 deg, and the human machinery ceases
to work.
The carbolic acid produced is poisonous
In the stove it escapes through the pipe
That formed in the blood is carried to the
lungs and thrown out into the air Too
many persons breathing in close room I'LL
it with SO much carbohc acid that it be-
comes very unhealthy, if not dangerous
The blood carries the heat to the surface
of the body, as well as to all other parts,
and good deal of heat escapes off into the
air. If the air is cold this escape is more
rapid, and more heat must be produced
within to supply the waste That means
more fuel, that is more food, or more flesh
is consumed. that the blood
must be kept up to about 980 OF course,
then, in cold weather more food is neces-
sary or the body becomes emaciated and
anything that stops the escape of heat from
the surface of the body, saves food, or
saves using up the flesh Warm clothing,
warm air, warm dwellings,, warm stables
warm sheds, ali help to stop this waste of
heat.