Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-08-05


The question Of this old and good
mans life and death was, as it is with all OF us,
question of the continued action Of the heart.
Did you ever think of the wonderful power, the
steady, ceaseless work and energy Of that living
pumping muscle which we call the heart, upon
which our life dependsf
Statistics are usually dull, but when they give Us
very big figures they fix attention and our i'm
aeinatiOn upon important truths. Consider some
figures in connection with the life Of man who
reaches the Pope's age-ninety- three years.
The human heart beats average seventy
FIVE times a minute. This would mean four thOus
and FIVE hundred times an hour, one hundred and
eight thousand times day. 1t would mean in the
case Of man ninety-three years old three billion
six hundred and sixty-eight million five hundred
and iOrty-fOu thousand heart beats. Remember
that even a million is a number nconceivabe to us
1t is mere word: Our minds do not accept such
figures A billion is thousand Millions and the
heart of man of ninety three has pumped steadily
three billion six hundred and sixty-e million
FIVE hundred and forty-four thousand times, or
three thousand millions of times and six hundred
and sixty eight millions more.
How imperfect do all other machines seem IN
comparison with this wonderful machines put into
us at BIRTH capable OF running on for a century or
more, with repairs, invisible to every eye and to
every force save the wise forces Of nature which
created it.
The most perfect engine breaks down, the most
perfect watch must be repaired at intervals. The
human heart goes on without single break, pump
ing the life-glving blood throughout the body more
than three billion OF times without single slip.
Marvellous is this wonderful regularity, this per
feet mechanical arrangement, and wonderful is the
force which the small red heart exercises
In an admirable article which he recently pre-
pared for the Sunday edition OF this newspaper
Garrett P. Serviss dwct opon the power of the
heart. The energy which the human heart develops
in one day is equivalent to hundred and twenty
foot tOus, which means that the hearts work in one
day. the power which it uses up, would lift 100 tons
or 240, 900 pounds, one foot into the air.
How inconceivabe is the amount OF energy pu
forth by the heart OF man during ninety-threC
years of life. It would amount in all to 4073 400
TONS That means that the human heart that hal
lived ninetythree years has developed in its cease
less energy sufficient to raise one foot above the
ground 8, LAG, 500, 900 pounds
Little do we imagine the wonderful power within
us, the marvellous conditions under which we live
We look at the fish that live in the water or The
worm that burrows under ground. We wonder
that they not crushed.
Do you know that the atmospheric force pressing
upon your skull alone amounts to pressure of ont
ton and hallf
Your entire body sustains atmospheric press
ure of twenty TONS or forty thousand pounds. Th
pressure is cOunterbalanced bya counter -pressur
OF the air in the cavities and tissues of the body
II it we're not for that our bodies, and even Ou
bones, would be crushed fiat by the weight of th,
air pressing down upon us. The invisible partele
OF air scattered through the tissues of your bod!
alone preserve you from instant destruction
You are much more extraordinary creature thai
the fish the earthwOrm that astOnishes you, ant
it is worth your while occasionally to study th
most extraordinary piece of mechanism in the worl'
yourself.