The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-29
MI(lliE Eagle
MYSTERIES OFTHE BODY.
THE MINUTE WORKERS THAT PRO-
DUcE VITAL ACTIVITY.

Man q World Within HimseIf-Forma-
ton of the Cells and Their Physiologi-
cal Duttes-The Democrats and Aristo-
crats-A Story Of Mankind.
Some days ago person remarked in nv
hearing that, while science dealt with both
the big things and the little things Of life
and nature, It had In reality thrown very
little Light indeed on the more intricate
bodily proceSses in virtue Of which life is
carried on The plant Of my friend was
that science knew about things Gin the
rough, " but could not descend to take cog
nizance in the same degree Of things Of
minute estate. go much the worse for
science and mankind at large" replied,
were your assertiontrue. As a matter
Of fact, there is no field of inquiry which
has yialdedsuch large harvest to the truth
seeker of late years as that of microscopic
research. There is scarcely a great discov-
ery which has been made within the past
decade in which our knowledge of the in
Enite1y little, as shown forth by the micro
scope, has not figured most prominently.
Disease germs and countless other lower
forms of life have been traced out in their
development and tracked to their origin.
Living things whose dimensions are to be
estimated By the thousandth parts Of inches
are as well known to Us today as is the Os-
trich or the elephant. So far from the
little things of the universe escaping our
attention, l should be inclined to maintain
that they largely monOpolize science to the
exclusion of big things We are beginning
to find out, in fact, that only by knowing
, something Of the actions which proceed in
the lower byway of life can existence in the
main be understood at all. Hence, if any
preparation for a knowledge of humanity
be required, I should say one would find it
in microscopic study of what the bitches
contain and Of what leaf harbors. "The
proper study Of mankind is man." said
the poet of Twickenham. To this very
proper aphorism On its way science adds
that the only safe preparation for the study
Of mankind is the knowledge of what lower
life is and what lower life does.
MAN a WORLD WITHIN HIMSELF.
The remark Of my friGnd suggested that
within the compass even Of human struct-
ures land that strictly following out Pope's
aphorism) one may find many phases Of
life such as viii warrant the declaration
that to the microscope we owe a vast
amount Of knowledge Of ourselves. 1t has
often been asserted that man is micro
cosm-a world within himself; and this is
highly true if we apply the saying to the
microscopic structures of his frame. No
sooner do we begin to investigate the COM
position of mans tissues than we discover
that, so far from a human being having
any right to be regarded as a single entity,
he might claim title to be considered a
compound or colonial organism. One man
IN his time IS said to play many parts, ac-
cOrding to the Bard Of Avon; physiolOgic-
ally, it may be said, one man is very many
parts or entities working together to form
and to maintain an harmonious whole.
This statement Is easily proved. We do
not speak without knowing when we make
such an assertion.
Glance through the body's constitution,
and you viii ind, first of all, that, wher-
ever you have lie and vital activity it re
SIDES in a particular kind Of living jelly
which everybody knows 10y name, at least)
IS 'pr0toplasm." This is the matter of
life''-it is life stui, in the truest sense;
since no other matter Ga Jle lace of this
earth, save prOtopiasm, shows the phenOm-
ena or actions of life. Now, what is true
of mans body in this respect is equally
true OF the body Of every other living
Jhing-aninal or plant. When we come
to investigate how TINS protopIasm Tor a
speck of which the whole body IN its germ
state onco consisted is disposed in our
frames, we discover thaV it IS represented
in its most active state by microscopic bod
ias to which the name of coils is given.
WORKS OF TIE BODY.
These cells, then, arc the workers of the
body. They are the population Of the vital
kingdom. The democrats are the cells
useful and necessary and respectable mem
bers OF society-whinh toll and labor to
build up bones, 10 form muscles and to
make the various sejrsions. The aristo-
Gratis are the nerve cells, which are by no
means an idle ptutoCyacy, however, but
which work hard enough IN the ruling, di-
reCJiOn and gCyeTnEnce Of the frame. There
is perfect division Of labor in the living
state. One group Of cells does not interfere
with tho work of another group. Each
piece of labor, from the building OF bone TO
the making OF gastric Juice, i carried out
independently and thoroughly by workers
set apart for the given purpose. The econ
omy Of a bees hive Is not more Tigldly
ordered than is the work Of or own body
in respect 10 its labors and their specific
duties; and in the vast proportion OF their
affairs these workers of ours are self direc-
tive, even while they own thesupremacy Of
brain and nerves IS their controlling power
If we think of the countless operations
which have to be undertaken from hour to
hour to maintain our. bodies in action, we
may begin to realize what perfect co-opera-
ton really means, and what this colonial
constitution Of ours implies. For example,
saliva has to be socretcl, ior the purpose Of
digestion, in the mouth, and for other
functions is wen. This ll,li5 is supplied by
three pairs OF saliyaEy GLANDS. Now, the
working and essential parts Of these glands
are living cells, which. out of the blood las
the raw materially supplied to the glands,
seCrete saliva, which is the manufactured
product Again. tears have perpetually TO
ba made for washing the eyes. This secre-
ton Is supplied By couple of tear glands,
and making out Of the blood very differ
eot secretion 70 that of the mouth. The
cells of the gastric Glands Of the stomach
make, from the blood, gastric juice Again,
we see a chance OF duty IS we pass to diff