The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-04-30
COM BUSTION.
A Little Talk with Frank on a Very In
teresting Subject.

A Little Talk with Frank on a Very In
teresting subject.
''Put on the blower, Frank; the room
is chilly-that coal refuses to burn"
''Why will the blower help it, Aunt
Mary?" said Frank, as he rose to get it,
''Only by bringing the air closer to
the COAL so that the two can more read
lily unite"
Does the coal burn up the air?" asked
Frank.
'Not that exactly, Frank, but parts
OF the coal and air unite, and, in doing
SO, throw of heat, and we call it burn
ing or combustion. Other substances
will do the same thing, but in differ
ent way"
ooh, yes, Aunt Mary, now know.
When was in Kansas City last winter
Invent, one cold day, on the cable car
to Westport, and was surprised to find
the car quite comfortable, although no
stove or sign of fire was visible. l
asked the conductor how the car was
heated and he showed me boxes under
the seats filed with chemicals. which
he said gave out heat as they united"
True, Frank, that was another form
of combustion. The union was not so
rapid or so noisy as this cracking coal
makes when it greedily swallows the
air you confined near it with the
blower"
"And, Aunt Mary" Frank went on,
growing more interested 81 saw Tom
this morning whitewashing the fence,
and as he poured water on some lime, it
smoked so that thought it was on fire."
$50 it was Frank, only in this case
the lime was uniting with water instead
of air. But it was surely a combustion
which gave out much heat. Had you
put your hand in, it would have burned
you severely, for the temperature is
said to be more than that of boiling
water. Sometimes, the burning is an
unseen process and the heat is given
out only in small quantities. That is
the way when you eat, Frank"
Frank looked up in surprise. "How,
Aunt Mary?"
"Well, Frank, the potatoes and beans
and bread and chicken, have all taken
in as they we're growing some heat from
the great red sun-latent heat we call
it-and it is stored up in the juicy
pulp OF your peach and pear and
apple; the sweet corn grains hold
it, the golden butter and Jersey
cream-yes, oven if you have frozen
it. But how shall you get out that
latent heat? The Indian knows how tc
bring it from the two dry sticks when he
needs a fire to cook his venison. He
rubs them together until the sparks fly
and kindle blaze on the dry leaves
But he knows no more than you do how
to get it from the food he swallows.
"You smack your lips over the good
things mamma has on her table, and
wonder why you grow warmer after eat
ing Meanwhile, the dinner you have
enjoyed passes down into that canal o.
yours, so fearfully and wonderfully
made. The canal is not straight, but
winds down and about from side to side
in strange fashion. You are little
boy, not four feet high. yet the cana
within your body is five times as many
feet long All canals have names
yours is called the alimentary. Ant
there, millions of tiny blood vessels
reach out their rootlets into the canal
bringing in their red stream, pure oxy
gen from the air, and pouring it int
the canal-a fresh supply with every
breath. There is no need of a blowe
upon your fire; just as surely as you ca
and breathe the fresh pure air, just 81
surely will the food and the air unite il
that canal. Combustion will 60 on ant
your body will be kept warm.
''The little rootlets of the blood yes
sells are constantly at work. They do
thriving business in the canal, exchang
ing oxygen from their crimson vessels
for nutritious food which they carry t
bone and muscle and tissue"
"But, Aunt Mary, how does the foo
pass into such tiny, thread-like tubes
have they any opening?"
"How, Frank, do the rootlets of tire
and plant take up from the earth tn
substance which, every year, make
new leaves, and flowers, and fruit, an
rrainP We do not know exactly, bu
~ see it is done, and when We Gu
through the branches the sap DRIP
down, IS did the blood from your fnge
It looks no more like the brown, dr.
earth than your blood looks like pot'
toea, or beans or chickens. There ha
been work going on in the canals of th
tree, and had changed what the roo
lets drew up from the earth into leave
flowers and fruit"
ibid the plant need air IS We do. ~
WAS there any combustion9"
Eyes, and the life Of the plant beaut
fully Ats into our lives. What we
net need the plant does, and what Il
plant throws away 10 our very life"
..How can that bef" asked Frank.
"You remember" said she, that
told you how your lung pump was Ike
busy throwing pure air in, and drawn
impure air cut Of Jour blood Tn