The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-01-27
WHAT Is MAN
A spark or Fire, a Drop OF Water-Soms
Intereating Observations About the h"'
naan Anatomy.

New York NeWs.l
While the gastric juice has mild,
bland, swedish taste, it possesses the
power of dissolving the hardest food
that can be swallowed. 1t has no ntiu-
ence whatever on the soft and delicate
flbers of the living stomach, nor upon
the living hand, but at the moment OF
death it begins TO eat them away with
the power of the strongest acids.
There Is dust on sea, on land, In the
valley, and on the ponutain; there is
dust always and everywhere; the atmos-
phere is full of i; 1t penetrates the
noisome dungeon. and visits the deepest.
darkest caves OF the earth; no palace
door can shut ID out, no drawer so secret
as to escape its presence every breath
of wind dashes it upon the open eve.
yet that eye is not blinded. because
under the eyelid there is necessarily
emuting itself a fountain of blandest
fluid in nature, which spreads itself over
the surface of the eye at every winking,
aud washes every atom of dust away.
But this liquid is mild and so well
adapted to the eye, itself has some
acridity, which. under some circum-
stances, becomes so decided rs TO be
scalding to the skin, and would rot away
the eyelids, were 1t not that along the
edges of them are little oil manufac-
tories, which spread over their surface
a coating as impervious to the liquid
necessary for keeping the eyelids washed
clean as the best yarnish is impervious
/ to water.
The breath which leaves the lungs has
been so perfectly Invested of its life
/ giving properties, that to rebreathe it
unmixed with other air the moment it
escapes from the mouth, would cause
| immediate death by suffocation; while
if it hover about us, more or less de-
4 structive influence over health and life
would be occasioned. But it Is made of
a nature so much lighter than the COM
mon air, that the instant that it escapes
( the lips and nostrils 1t Rscends to the
/ higher regions above the breathing point,
/ there TO be rectifed, renovated, and sent
back again, replete with purity and life.
How rapidly it ascends is fully exhibited
on frosty mornings.
But, foul and deadly as the expired air
is, nature, wisely economical in all her
works and ways, turns IL to good account
in its outward passage through the or
gans of the voice, making of 1t the
whispers of love, the soft words of affec-
ton, the sweetest strains of ravishing
music, the persuasive eloquence of the
finished orator.
If a well-made man be extended on
the ground, his arms at right angles
with the body, circle making the navel
its center will just take IN his head, the
fingers ends, and the ieet The distance
from top to toe is precisely the same as
that between the tips Of the fingers
when the arms are extended. The length
of the body is just six times that of the
foot, while the distance from the edge of
the hair on the forehead to the edge of
the chin is one-tenth the length of the
whole stature.
OF the siXty-two primary elements
known in nature, only eighteen are known
to the human body, and of these seven
are metallic. Iron is found in the blood.
phosphorus in the brain, limestone in
the bile, lime in the bones, and dust and
ashes In all.
Not only these eighteen human ele-
ments, but the whole sixty-two of which
the universe rs made, have their essen
tial basis in the four substances of oxv-
gen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon.
representing the more familiar names of
fire, water, saltpeter, and charcoal.
And such is man, the lord of the earth :
"a spark of fire, drop of water, a grain
of powder. an atom of charcoal.