Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-04-29

ed that they produce quantity equal
to one fifth OF one per cent. of the con-
tents Of the stomach. Experiment
shows that this is exactly the percen-
tage required to destroy the microbes
that we swallow in thousands in our
food. But for this thoughtful pro-
vision of Nature we would probably
get a new disease with every meal.
Most people know the use of the
epiglottis, which saves us from immi-
nent death every time we swallow a
bit OF food. At the back OF the mouth
the air passage and the food passage
cross each other, and, whenever we
swallow food, it would inevitably go
into the windpipe and choke us, only
that this little body pops down and
covers the entrance. 1t is like the
policeman who regulates the traffic
where streets cross.
The semlcircular canals, for centu-
ries a physiological puzzle, are an ex-
traordinary device for enabling US to
keep our balance. They are little
channels, followed out, In connection
with the ear, in the bones of the head,
and partly filled with fluid lymph.
AS our head or body sways the fluid
moves, acting like spirit level, and
informing the brain whether we are
standing in the perpendicular or at a
dangerous angle.
One of the IL ost valuable of all the
inventions made for our comfort and
safety is the perspirative gland. 1t
acts like the safety valve of boiler
letting off heat when we become
dangerously warm. If our tempera-
ture rose seven or eight degrees, we
would not have twenty. four hours to
live. The value of the sweat gland
is therefore obvious. In fact, with
out it football, or cricket, or rowing
match would be out of the question,
and we could not safely walk at speed
of more than a quarter of mile an
hour. Nature has taken good care
however, that we should not run short
of these useful organs, and has given
us no less than 100000 of them.
So inventive was Nature when
constructing our body that the diff
Guilty is to stop enumerating her clev-
er ideas. She saw that we would
very soon grow tired if we had to hold
up two heavy legs by means of mus
cular effort, SO she made the hip joint
and the pressure of the air
alone keeps the leg in its place.
At the same time, although she had
not discovered ball bearings, she made
a ball of the leg bone and the socket
of the hip so smooth, and oiled. the
joint so well, that the friction Is prac-
ticaily nothing.
When the spinal canal in the back
bone was made, great pains had to be
taken, for while it consists of many
pieces and is freely movable, it con-
tains the precious spinal cord, one nip
of which would be fatal. The meas.
urements are so accurate that there is
no danger of such an event. Wher-
ever there is much and free motion,
as in The neck, the canal is large and
open, and nip is impossible.
Again, the heart and lungs, are Of
course, the very basis of our life. They
are in constant motion, and if allowed
to rub against the chest walls around
them they would either get infamed
or wear away by friction. Nature has
therefore surrounded them with q
double sac, and between the outer and
inner layers of i: she las placed a
quantity Of lubricating fluid.
But the most remarkable of all de-
vices is that for splicing broken bones.
The moment a bone is broken, a
surgical genius is at once dispatched
from the brain to the spot. He pro-
ceeds to surround the broken ends
with ferrule of cartilage. This is
large and strong, and takes quite a
month to complete. When the two
ends are held firmly and immovably
in place by the ferrule, this mysteri-
ous surgeon begins to place layer of
bone between them and solder them
together.