The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-04-08

anu the Toe Nails Are more Orna
mental Than serviceabIe.
Has any one ever complimented yoJ
on the beauty OF your upper eye or In
Gulred after your gills? For. thougl
you may not know II, you number
these among the dlsused features OF
your body.
In the center OF your brain, looking
vaguely skyward, lie the atrophied re
mains OF third eye, which, IL Is sup
posed, was actually one OF mans use
ful features at some previous state Of
development II is known as the pineal
gland. though covered by skin, and Is
formed In an almost perfect condition
in certain lizards.
You have four gills, or bronchial
.lcfts. which. however, are now closed
up and useless. You originally had
,lx, but two Of them, by forming into
! your ear and mouth, respectively.
turned themselves to some account.
! However, before your lungs developed
and became fitted 10 carry on your
breathing system. the work was done
! by the four gills which have since
! childhood ceased TO develop and be
come closed up.
Your ears-that Is, the outer ones
! are quite useless save as ornaments.
| You could hear just as well without
| them. All the work OF hearing IL done
by the middle ear, or tympanum, and
| the internal ear. The outer feature Is
purely n pleasant sort OF finishing
! touch 10 your hearing system. The
muscles Of the outer ear are powerless
and not under our control.
Are you aware that you have mini
ature grand piano In your auditory
nerve, which IL tuned up to every note
in muslcf This Is known as CortPs
organ and consists Of series OF tiny
hairs which vibrate on the drum OF
your ear and enable you to distinguish
the differences of sounds.
As sometimes when you strike n note
on the piano some ornament I'm the
room Will be found to sing with II, so
each Of these hairs inside your ear vi
brntes In sympathy with the musical
sound corresponding with 1t.
An appendix Is generally n useful
thing when applied to books, but mans
appendix Is not only useless but very
troublesome. This Is the remains OF
an intestine supposed to have formed
part Of olr ancestors. Though many
other parts OF the body are practically
useless they are supposed to have
been useful at some time, but sclcn-
lists cannot trace that the vermiform
appendix was ever OF any service 10
man.
Toe nails nre entirely useless and
toes are quite supcriluous. A man
could get along as well without toes.
In fact. n doctor removed eight OF n
mans toes without any Inconvenience
being suffered and the loser got along
quite as well without them.
The teeth are rapidly becoming quite
useless. Now that nearly all our food
is chopped up for us and we do not
have to bite through hard substances
teeth are gradually decaying.
The fact that the teeth of our an
cestors 400 or 500 years ago were in
tnltely bigger than our own shows
that nature Is gradually taking away
these organs.
Tonsils. too, are almost useless and
fulfill no servlceable object TO the body.
People can get along quite well with
out them, and very large proportion
Of the population have had them re.
moved.
Both the hair and the skin have end
cd their days of usefulness TO the hui
man race. The hair was intended TO
cover our heads from the heat of the
sun. We cover up the hair, and by
shutting IL off from the exposure which
nature intended il to have we are
gradually but surely losing this adorn-
ment, and 1t Is estimated that In time
we shall cease TO grow II.
As to the skin, II was given us to
protect our bodies from the elements.
by covering It up with clothing and
preventing 1t getting proper respira-
ton we deprive ourselves OF It's use.
1t Is not inconceivable that the man Of
very remote future period may be
not only hairless and toothless, but
skinlcss as well.
The most extraordinary thing to be
noted about all this Is that those parts
of the body which are useless give us
the most trouble. while those In con.
slant activity remain qulescent. The
teeth. through lack of work, get lazy.
as II were, and decay.
The tonsils, having nothing TO do,
u,ply A. Vnur Iifn n t,isnry tn vou tbrnuuh
continually swelling until they are re-
moved. The skin, which Is useless to
civilized man. has n large variety OF
diseases to vent on us, largely due to
its compressed condition.
The vermiform appendix, which Is
absolutely useless, has a nice little dis
ease OF its own, which Il develops with
often fatal results, known as append
Cts.
4 man can live without his frontal
bone At recent accident workman
was struck by crowbar. The only
possibility of saving his life was by
eXclsing the frontal bone. The result
was that the man survived. without Sc.
rious injury, though he was conscious
Of some mental defect
II is quite possible that an artist,
writer or musician would find the ef.
feet Of the removal 10 deprive him OF
the particular faculty for producing
his work. but otherwise his brain
would be unaffected for its ordinary
functions.