The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-04-04
Marvels of the Human Body.

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 influence
whatever on the soft and delicate fbres
of the living stomach, nor upon the liv-
ing 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 mountain top; there is
dust always and everywhere the atmos-
phere is full of it; it penetrates the moi
some dungeon, and visits the deepest
darkest caves of the earth no palace.
door can shut it out, no drawer so secret
as to escape its presence every breath OF
wind dashes it upon the open eye, vet
that eye is not blinded, because under
the eyelid there is necessarily emptying
itself fountain of the blandest fluid in
nature, which spreads itself over the sur
face of the eye at every winking and
washes every atom of dust away But
this liquid, so mild and so well adapted
to the eye, itself has some acridity,
which, under certain circumstances, be-
comes so decided as to be scalding to the
skin, and would rot away the eyelids.
were it not that along the edges of them
are little oil manufactures, which spread
over their surface a coating as imper-
vious to the liquids necessary for keep
ing the eyelids washed clean as the best
varnish is impervious to water.
The breath which leaves the lungs has
been so perfectly Invested of its life-giv-
ing properties, that to rebreathe it un-
mixed with other air, the moment it es-
capes from the mouth would cause i'm
mediate death by sufocation while if it
lowered about us, more or less destruc-
tive influence over health and life would
be occasioned. But it is made of a nature
so much lighter than the common air,
that the instant that it escapes the lips
and nostrils it ascends 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 every
frosty morning
But, foul and deadly as the expired
air is, nature, wisely economical in all
her works and ways, turns it to good &C.
count, in its outward passage through the
organs Of the voice, making Of It the
whispers of love, the soft words of afFec-
ton, the tender tones of human sym
pathy, the sweetest strains of ravishing
music, the persuasive eloquence Of the
finished orator.
If well-made man be extended on the
ground, his arms at right angles with
the body, circle making the navel It's
centre will just take in the head, the
finger-ends and the feet. 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 oil
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 in the human body, and of these
seven are metallic. Iron is found in the
blood, phosphorus in the brain, lime
stone in the bile, lime in the bones, and
dust and ashes in all Not only these
eighteen human elements, but the whole
sixty-two Of which the universe is made
have their essential basis in the four sub.
stances Of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
and carbon, representing the more famil.
lar names Of fire, water, saltpetre, and
charcoal. And such is man, the lord OF
earth Ia spark Of fire, drop Of water,
grain of powder, and atom of charcoal.
FRANK LesLie's Margarine.