Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-12-26
NATURES PATENT OFFICE
Notable InventionlAq Biased ON the
Principles Of tKe Hupnan
HOdy

So fearfully and wonderfuIfy IS the human
body made that scientists are beginning to
realize that many of the inventions Of the
day are infringements on Natures patent
office. A good deal of trouble and worry
in the past could have been avoided had
inventors made a careful study of the de-
vices employed in making these human
bodies of ours the useful things they are,
The principles OF the block and pulley or
the tackle could have been discovered ages
before had the files of Natures patent ofiice
been ransacked; for there are several COM
plete pulleys in the body, notably the one
which moves the eyeball inward toward the
nose.
Engineers made exhaustive ties 3 and ex-
periments before they discovered that a
hollow shaft or rod OF iron or steel is
about twice as strong as a solid one Yet
Nature had patented this device in our
bones since the birth of Adam and Eve,
and every important bone is practically
constructed on this principle. The ball and
socket Of the hip bones were the fore
runner Of the modern ball-bearings, and
it was the first automatic oiling machine
used in the world. The valve or air pres
sure and a vacuum was unknown to man
until the last century, hut every one Of
us carried the secret in the air-tight hip
the muscular effort to hold our legs up
right in position. .. .-
Engineers have made wonderful progress
! in developing compound suction and cIrcu-
/ lar pumps; but all OF the principles con-
tanned in them are found in the heart
and this little pumping machine is still
without a rival in the mechanical world.
! Nature had patented nearly every one Of
/ the devices which have since been regis
/ tered at Washington.
! The principles OF the safety valve for
/ steam engines are not so new as they seem.
/ Our human bodies carry with them the first
automatic safety valves ever designed.
] There are upward OF 10000 Of them.
! We call them by the common name
! OF sweat glands. Each such little gland
has safety valve which let's on heat from
the body when II gets beyond a safe tenn
perature We cannot stand rise Of more
than eight to ten degrees Of tempera ture
and live. II, therefore, the. 10000 safety
valves were closed for twenty-four hours
death would supervene.
Adams apple was the FIRST storage els
tern ever built, and u works with auto
matte regularity through health and sick.
ness. 1t is a most important organ OF the
body, although for centuries It was con.
sidered a superhuous attachment. II regu-
iates the row Of blood between the heart
and the brain. When Il ceases to operate
somebody dies OF apoplexy or a rush Of
blood to the brain. When the heart sendi
up too much blood to the head. the Adam
apple steps in to check the flow and store
It up for future emergencies. II the hear
is temporarily weakened or put out Of
good running order. the blood stored iI
this clstem is given up and sent TO tn,
brain The perfect working OF this device
is apparent when we consider how com
paratively few die Of rush OF blood TO tn,
brain or from a deficiency OF supply.
The eye has a score OF small inventions
worthy OF recording. the ear nearly a.
many mere, and the vital organs an equa
number There Is the liver with it's quar-
antine station. Let any poisons enter ou
system With food, and they are immediatel!
held up at this quarantine station an,
destroyed by a secret process. II Is onl!
when p0isOns enter In large quantities. tina
the station cannot handle them.
But the stomach cO-operates with IN
liver and intercepts some OF the pOisona
There are small machines there which man
ufacture minute quantities OF hydrOchlori
acid from the Ealts eaten. This aoid 4
made In exact proportion 70 the amour