Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-07-01
MECHANISM OF The HUMAN BODY.
ESSAY BY MISS CARLoTA G. PEREA.

Read at the commencement exercises,
Loretto Academy, Santa Fe, June, 1891. ]
On visiting some large manufacturing
establishment, and being conducted
through it by one of the mechanics, who
clearly explains to US the workings and
the utility of each part of the machinery,
our mind, absorbed with interest, rests in
admiration on the inventor whose skill
and ingenuity are here exhibited. But
how much more have We to admire the
perfection of skill, of ingenuity and wis
dom displayed by the first great cause, the
Creator, in the Wonderful Mechanism OF
the Human Body" that most compli-
Gated and intricate piece of machinery.
Well, the human body is the "house We
live in" it is the habitation OF the soul.
1t is well built and well-fnished house.
The skeleton is its framework, the bones
are its timbers, the flesh its walls and the
eyes it's windows. The skeleton or frame
work of this "house" is composed OF
about 200 bones, besides the teeth. These
bones are divided into four great groups
eight of them incose the brain there are
fourteen in the face. The bones of the
chest form conical, bony cage for inclos-
ing the heart and lungs. The bones
themselves are composed of ahimal and
mineral matter. By soaking bone in a
solution of muriatic acid, the mineral
matter is removed, so that knot can be
tied in the bone; by burning, the animal
matter is removed. The human body is
the only erect animal body; it is extreme
ly complex in the system OF organs that
operate in it; it is sometimes compared
to clock, with the heart as its pendu-
lum.
The hand is often called a wonderful
instrument; l would rather say wonder
full set of machinery. The very structure
of the hand is one Of the best illustrations
of the wonders of the human body. At
tached at the ends of the bony arms, they
command region OF six feet in diameter,
centered at the chest; the compound
joints at the wrist give universally of
motion. By muscular practice, in close
union with thought, the hand becomes
the forcible and significant instrument of
expression by gesture; the rapid writer of
words; the marvelously skillful organ OF
delicate touch by the musician. 1t is es-
tmated that, in the rapid playing of a
skillful pianist, no less than $50 move
ments of the fingers are made in min
ute.
In life, the skeleton or framework is
hidden by the flesh; this covering is a
mass of muscles which produce its varied
There are in all about 500,
each having its special use, and all
working in exquisite harmony and per-
lection. The muscles are arranged in
pairs, each with its antagonist, for their
peculiar properties are contraction and
relaxation. There are two kinds of
voluntary and involuntary
we may raise our arm or not as we wish,
hecansa the musclaa of tho arm are
but we can not stop the
beating of the heart. How wonderful is
the variety OF expression in the human
face, and yet all is caused by few
There are two above the
mouth which draw it up when we laugh,
and they are called laughing muscles
TWO below, which draw the mouth down
when we are sad, which gives rise to the
"down in the mouth" There
s one called the proud muscle.
The heart is hollow, pear shaped |
muscle, about six inches in length and
Jour in diameter, and is situated at the
eft of the center of the chest between the
fifth and sixth ribs.
Death is produced by the stoppage of
the actions of any one of the three vital
heart, the lungs and the
brain. These have heretofore been termed |
The "Tripod of Life"
The heart is the engine which propels
The blood, every drop OF which must pass
through the lungs and return to the
heart before it is sent out to nourish the |
system. The blood is no more red than
The water of stream would be if you |
were to ill it with small red fishes. Sup
pose the fishes to be quite small, as small |
IS grain of sand, and closely crowded |
together through the whole depth of the
stream, the water would certainly look |
quite red. This is the way in which the
blood looks red, only we must observe
one thing, that grain of sand is noun
,ain in comparison with the tiny fishes or
disks in our blood.
The organs of the special senses are the
nlets for knowledge; while each special
organ is very sensitive to the peculiar
irritation it receives, it is wholly lnsen-
3ible to the causes that excite the |
others; for instance, the eye may per-
,eive the most delicate shades of light,
out can in no way hear the loudest |
,ound; the tongue, though able to de-
ect the most delicate flavor, can neither
lear nor see.
The eyes, organs Of sight, are placed
,ery near the brain in the deep sockets
ust under the front part of tie cerebrum.
By this position the eyes are high, so
hat the person may see far, and, by free
movements OF the head, the eyes may be
urned quickly to see in any direction.
The bony orbits protect the eye so that
objects can not readily strike the ball.
The eyebrows are caves of the roof to
he eyes house; the eye-lashes are
he window curtains, and the eye-hds the
hutters.
The ears, the organs of hearing, are
ocated, for protection, at the base of the
kull. The ear has three parts, the ex-
ernal, middle and internal ear. There
IRE three small bones in the middle ear,
allied from their shape the hammer,
Invil and stirrup. The internal ear, or