The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-07-28
WONDERFUL FACTORY
COMPLICATED PROCESSES CAR.
RIED ON IN MANS BODY.
Fourteen Elements Constantly Occu.
pied in the Intricate Work
of the Physical sys-
TEN,

You will probably be surprised. sal
wCllkn0wu professor of chemistry
when tell you that the most hcautI
fnl woman or the most intellectual
man that ever lived Is really nothing
more than animated white of egg, ant
yet It is perfectly true that. II yol
only knew how to do il. you could tax,
few hundreds of eggs you woul
want, well, over lOgO. by the way
and manufacture second Shakcspcar,
or a Helen of Troy from them.
Unfortunately or fortunately, rath
err although the materials Of whIcl
man is composed are common enough
the blending Of them to form Twins
being Is far beyond any human pow
ers But let MS just run through The
constituents we are made OF and SEE
OF what very ordinary materials the
best and clevcrest of us are composed
If we take n ISIS .pound man and de
priyc him of gas and carbon there vii
be only five pounds Of him left while
even the least oratorical man that ever
else Well may 1t be said I'VE are
such stun as dreams are made Of for
truly we are just as insubstantial.
In our subject We shall find no less
than rs pounds OF oxygen; he con.
tains as much, In fact, Of this vital
gas" as would I'll a room 10 feet long
ten feet wide and n shade over ten feet
high. If we proceed next to deprive
him of his by ,roEen he will only lose
little over II pounds Of his weight
by the process, but the gas we procure
will MI room more than twice the
size of our oxygen reservoir; for 1t
will be Is feet square and rs nearly
as possible IL feet high. and will have
such huoyanCy that it could carry our
patient up to the clouds.
Another essential gas Is nitrogen. Of
which our man has 6i cubic feet
slowed away in his body-sunicicnt TO
I'LL nice little box four feet long, wide
and high We have now deprived our
man of three of his II constituents;
have liberated gases sufficient to fiji a
room, roughly, 20 feet square and ten
feet high--in which, by the way. you
could pack 500 good.slzed men-and
nave reduced his weight by 139 pounds.
There is not much left OF him to ac-
count for, you see. now that the three
gases are ellmlnated-only % pounds.
in fact the weight Of an infant-and
OF this a single other constituent takes
the lions share of "a pounds. This
constituent is carbon, that curious Gle,
mcnt which takes such widely diverse
forms as common coal and the Kohl.
moor and Is not to be dpspised in the
lead pencil Just as coal keeps our
houses warm and gives motive power
10 the steam engine. so It supplies
energy and fuel to the human body
We have now only Ave pounds of
our man to account for, and this Is
distributed over nine most useful con.
stitnents. Two and n quarter pounds,
nearly half of It, consist OF calcium.
which will be more commonly recog,
ni2ed as lime. ana which plays a very
important part in the human mechan.
ism; and TO this we must add one
pound Ia ounces of phosphorus. The
remaining constituents OF our man
consist of aodium, sulphur, nuorine,
chlorine magnesium, potassium and
silicon; while In weight they range
from two to three grains to four and
onehalf ounces.
Naturally, these II elements form
combinations in the body in order to
discharge their duties properly. Thus
oxygen and hydrogen combine to form
in our subject 1875 pounds of water.
which serves an infinite number of
most necessary and useful Offices. The
chlorine and sodium unite to form
salt OF which we shall find about seven
ounces; and the sodium combines with |
carbon and oxygen to form the wash. |
ing soda" which has been called the |
scavonger of the body, and which fills |
in its time by playing useful part in |
building up our bones.
The body Is indeed most wonder. |
full factory, carrying on number OF |
useful and complicated processes at the |
same time. Thus 1t makes really first. |
class soap by the hundredweight for
It's own use, and glycerin, too, as by.
product; II manufactures sugar from |
starch, and II makes gum, pepsin, al.
cohol and other products more wonder.
full still.