Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-02-05
THE HUMAN BODY.
The Most Wonderful Piece of Mech
anism Conceivable.


anfsm Conceivable.
In the absolutely healthy man or wo.
man the great organs Of the body dc
their work imperceptibly; in Other
words, a healthy human being ought
not to know that it has heart, lungs
stomach, liver, or anything Of thai
sort; and yet their working depend:
on some Of the merest trihes-if sucf
a word can be used in connection with
natures workings-and the absence Of
any one Of them would mean the stop.
page of the whole vital machinery.
For instance, to begin at the top;
When you swing your head from side
to side, or bend it backward or for.
ward, you have only a little cord Of
ligament between you and death. The
head is balanced on q double joint, 6
pivot on which it turns from side t.
side, and sort of swing joint, moi
exactly a hinge, on which 1t swings
backward and forward. It Is this
check-ligament. as 1t is called, which
prevents it from going too far either
way.
The reason Is this: Immediately ir
front Of the peg Of the pivot-joint Il
the channel Of the spine through
which the spinal cord passes to the
brain, and If 1t were not for this vita
check-string the head, which is bull
for bulk, the heaviest part of the body
would fall too far backward or for.
ward and crush the spinal cord.
Here is another vital trife which
perhaps, you have never considered
Bare your arms and press your finger
hard on the upper part Of one Of the
veins and pass 1t slowly down. Yor
will see the vein swell up into little
knots; take your finger away and they
will vanish. The reason for this 1:
that nearly all the veins have little
cups in them. The cups open towart
the heart, and thus, when the blood /:
flowing in the right direction they folt
back and offer no resistance. But they
prevent any fluid flowing In the oppo
| site direction.
During waking life many Of the long
viens are more or less perpendicular
and but for these cups. or valves, thu
blood would naturally tend to flow
down the vein. This would partially
| If not entirely, arrest the circulation
the heart would be unable to pumI
the poisoned blood into the lungs, t.
be renewed by contact with the air
and suffocation would follow in few
minutes. Wherefore, without these in
significant little cups. none of which
hold a quarter of thimbleful, no hu
man could live.
The blood is composed of a gray f1uit
in which myriads of tiny little bodies
some white and some red, are floating
they are about a 3,2OOth part of an incl
in diameter. They are inclosed in az
envelope which has the peculiar prop
erty Of permitting gases, but not Ii
guilds. to pass through 1t. 1t is thi:
which enables them to take up tht
oxygen of the air as it goes into tht
lungs and to convey it to all parts o.
the body. Oxygen is, Of course, a:
necessary to the body as air is to E
fire.
Now, if liquids could pass through
these tiny envelopes the fluid in which
they float would enter them, crowt
out the oxygen and put out the vita
flame just as surely as a flood of wa
ter would put out fire. In fact, il
this property of admitting gases ant
excluding fluids were to be reversed
the human race would cease to exist
inside a minute, because the time TAX.