The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-04-06
NATURES WONDERFUL WORK.
Queer Things About Mankind.


Few people are aware Of the wonder
full engineering skill and ingenuity |
with which their bodies are construct
ed. II patents were taken out for all
the clever contrivances to be found |
there they would probably keep the |
staff Of the Patent office going for three
months.
Who would think that in his eye
there is block and pulley, or tackle"
as the sailors call It, as complete ana
efficient as that with which ship
hoists her mainsail? There it is how
ever; and whenever you look at the tip
of your nose the muscle that moves
your eyeball works in it. There are
several of these pulleys in the body.
Another clever dodge of nature is
shown in the bones of the face. Ac-
complished engineer that she is, she al
ways uses the smallest quantity of ma
terial sufficient for strength. In max
ing the bones of the face she wanted
large surface to which to attach the
muscles; but, as she didn't wish to en-
cumber us with heads as heavy as an
elephants, she burrowed hundreds or
little holes in the bones, called air-cells,
and thus secured strength, large sur
face and lightness.
In the same way she made the long
bones of the legs and arms hollow in
the middle. What saving this is may
be understood from the fact that
hollow shaft of bone or iron--or any
other substance-is about twice as
strong as a solid shaft containing the
same quantity of material
When you get a severe cold you are
nf
c1te deyice-the Eustachian TUBE.
This tube is two inches long, and pass
es from the inside of the ear to the
hack of fine mouth. 1t was put there to
keep the air at the same pressure IN
side the drum as outside. Otherwise
there would be no vibration OF the
drum. and you would be almost stone
deaf. When you get bad cold TINS
+,,he sometimes becomes intamed ana
11ool,ed and YOU are made quite deaf.
Adams apple, If it was once that
fruit that brought into the world all
our woe is now a useful organ. 1t
serves as a sort of storage cistern Oh
The blood for the supply of the brain.
When the heart sends up too much
blood Adams apple intercepts 1t, or
Mart Of it: and when the direct supply
Adams apple gives up its store.
The liver is a more wonderful organ,
containing facilities of several kinds.
B1,t perhaps the most wonderful thing
IN If is that part set aside to look out
for and arrest poisons.
All the food that you eat, except the
fat. has to pass through the liver be-
fore going to the heart and body gene
rally: and in the liver there appear te
he stationed something of the nature OF
custons officers, who examine every
1;+ If food and remove from it all sub
stances dangerous to the body. But
fhev are only capable Of dealing with
the small quantities in ordinary food
and when YOU are so foolish as to cal
poisonous mushrooms OF h1usoeAs 'neS
are quite overpowered-
Another protection from danger is al
forded YOU by the supply of a SINAI
cran+itv of hydrochlorIc acid to the
stomach. There are little machines II
tba stomach specially designed for the
manufacture of this acid from the sal
-7ou cat and they are so regulated thai
thew produce a quantity equal to one
ff+b If one per cent. of the contents Of
the stomach. Experiment shows tina
10 destroy the microbes that we sWal
low in thousands in our food But fo1
This thoughtful provision of nature WI
,uo,,ld nrobabIy get a new disease will
every meal.
Most people know the use of the cpl
r,ottis which saves us from imrn1nen
death every time we swallow DIT 0
food. At the back of the mouth the al
no
zach other, and, whenever we sWallov
food. it would inevitable go into tn
windpipe and choke us, only that thi
,ittle body pops down and covers tn
entrance. It is like the policeman Wh
regulates the traffic where street
cross
The semi-circular canals, for centu
r;es a physiological puzzle, are an eS
4raordinary device for enabling us t
tyeen our balance They are little char
1nels. followed out, in connection VIII
+ha ear in the bones of the head, an
nartlv filled with fluid lymph. AS OF
head or body sways the fluid move
acting like a spirit-level, and 1nformln
fhe brain whether we are standing |
the perpendicular or at dangerot
angle.
-
inventions made for our comfort an
safety is the perspirative gland.
acts like the safety-valve of bolie
letting off heat when we are becomin
dangerously warm. If our temperatul
rose seven or eight degrees,
wouldn't have twenty-four hours
live. The value of the sweat-gland
therefore obvious, In fact, without 1t
football, or cricket, or rowing mate
would be out of the question, and v
could not safely walk at a speed
more than a quarter Of mile an hou
Mature has taken good care, howeVe
that we shouldn't run short of the
n1seful organs, and has given us no le
than 100000 of them.
So inventive was nature when col
structing our body that the difficulty
MM XKRET e.