The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-01-12
The Alimentary Organs.


straight. if narrow way, into the
stomach. and If there we're no other
travellers that took the same course il
would be. But there are two. Just as
Tennyson says there are
Two heads in council two beside the hearth,
Two in the tangled business OF the world,
Two in the liberal Offices of life,
Two plummets dropped for one to sound the
OF sc ence. and the secrets of the mind"
The other one of the two in this case
is the air we breathe, and none but wise
Mother Nature could have made 80 per-
feet an arrangementtO prevent clashing
in their passage way, every time We eat
In the back part of the mouth, that
may be called the ante-chamber, hangs
the palate which makes. almost q COM
plete separation between the front and
back. In this space are the doors or
openings. one leading into the stomach
for the food; another opens toward the
nose, and the third toward the lungs.
The two latter are for the passage of
the air we breathe, and no morsel OF food
must enter therein. The architect has
SO constructed all of these to prevent
this. that only under certain circum-
stances, which l shall speak of here
after, does it ever happen.
When the bel is ready to descend,
there Is sort of involuntary movement
in this ante-chamber as if some sudden
motion was made. And so there is
Swallow with nothing in the mouth and
you will readily perceive it This mo-
ton throws the palate over the opening
leading into the nose and summarily
shuts that of. 1t contracts the tube,
called the larynx, until it is quite small,
and at the same moment q little valve
like trap-door is pushed up and most
effectually closes the entrance to that,
so there is nothing left for the food but
to go its own way down. not exactly a
winding stair, but through q cylindrical
passage-way into the stomach.
This tube. called the RsOphagus, is q
curious sort of thing. If it were quite
large the ball might be expected to drop
down without any other help than its
own weight; but it is small, and often
the masticated mass is entirely too
bulky not to require some urging for
forward. "Barkls'' might be .'willin'. ;"
but circumstances would interfere with
its free action. The esophagus is made.
therefore, of circular fibers or rings
which have the power of contraction
and expansion. and this power does not
depend upon the will at all. After the
food passes the first one, that contracts
against it. forcing it against the next.
which opens and lets it through in the
same way. until the last one pushes it
into the stomach. This opening and
closing of the rings gives peculiar
worm like motion to the tube, which does
not cease until the ball is safely landed
at its destination.
1 said this contraction and expansion
did not depend upon the will, and lit
tie thought will show you that it does
not When the food is only in the ante
chamber, called, by the way. the pha-
rynx, you can recall it into the mouth.
but after the asophagus has fairly seized
the same it journeys on, without paying
the least attention to your wishes. 1t is
utterly beyond your reach, beyond re-
call, except by force artiticially applied.
Sometimes people say they swallow
the wrong way, and they are choked.
In reality they have attempted to talk
or laugh while trying to swallow. and
the r. which necessarily was forced
out of the lungs by this action, opened
the valve, and a crumb dropped in the
wrong place. Or perhaps they swal-
lowed in hurry so great that the air
which had already started out had not
quite time to escape and let the trap
door down. In either case the result is
the same, and unless the convulsive
coughing which always follows the en-
trance of substance into those passages
intended only for the air, elects it,
death must ensue. This has nothing to
do with digestion, but it has with the
miserable habit of talking when the
mouth is full of food. That is not only
ill-bred. Tut it is absolutely dangerous.
The last ring of the asophagus safe
ly passed, it contracts and shuts the
food into the bag called the stomach.
This is an organ in the shape of bent
pear with the larger part uppermost.
Its size depends almost entirely upon
what is put into it. Usually. or when
it is properly filled. the space it occu-
pies can be covered BY the hand. When
more food is needed it begins to con-
tract. and the parts surrounded and sup
ported by it d ag upon their ligaments.
and this gives that sensation We call
hunger. Ii this call is not needed. it
contracts more and more until it be-
comes finally not larger around than a
thimbie and only two or three inches
long. People whose stomachs get into
this condition are said to have died of
On the other hand. it is so
elastic as to receive wonderful quap-
tity of food, and it might be crowded
so as to press upon the other organs in
a way to cause suffocation. 1t lies in an
inclined position with the larger round
ed end near the heart and the smaller
end pointing downwards toward the
At this small end is the
pyloric orifice, or the door through
which the food that came in through the
must 90 out when it is ready
to bid farewell to the stomach.
The work which this organ does, or
the transformation rather which it eff
fleets upon the hall that enters it. Is
thought by many to be the most i'm
portant part of digestion, so that it can
readily be seen that it is of the utmost
TO keep it in the best of or
order all through life, and vet there is
no part of the body that people so per-
abuse They treat it as some
persons do geatle-tempered animal
which will 60 on year after year suffer-
ing from overwork and lack of care,
until finally, goaded to desperation. it
turns and rends its master, or, over
whelmed with fatigue and despair, re-
fuses its task. and les down to die. The
is wonderfully patient AMI
long-endming. but there comes q day
when it enters into open rebellion, and
hen woe betides its possessor. T1sedo
Blade.