Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1907-03-14
The Human Machine.


So fearfully and wonderfully is the
human body made that scientists are
beginning to realize that many OF the
inventions of the day are infringe
ments on natures patent office. A
good deal of trouble and worry in the
pasr could have been avoided had in.
ventors made careful study of the
devices employed in making these hu-
man 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 Office been ran
sacked, for there are several complete
pulleys in the body, notably the one
which moves the eyeball inward to-
ward the nose.
Engineers made exhaustive tests and
experiments before they discovered
that hollow shaft or rod Of iron or
steel is about twice as strong as solid
one. Yet nature had patented this
device in our homes since the birth Of
Adam and Eve, ard every important
bone is practically constructed on this
principle. The ball and socket Of the
hip bones were the forerunners Of the
modern ball bearings, and it was the
first automatic olllng machine used IN
the world. The value of air pressure
| and a vacuum was unknown to man
until the last century, but every one
OF Us carried the secret in the air
tight hip JOINT which nature had as
signed 10 lessen the muscular effort to
hold our legs upright in position.
Engineers have made wonderful
progress in developing compound sue
ton and circular pumps, but all of the
principles contained in them are found
In the heart, and this little pumping
machine is still without rival in the
mechanical world.
The principles VI the safety valve
for steam engines are not 30 new as
they seem. Our human bodies carry
with them the first automatic safety
valves ever designed. There are up
ward of 2, 10000 OIL them. We call
them by the common name of sweat
glands. Each such little gland has a
-afety valve which let's off heat from
the body when it gets beyond safe
temperature. We cannot stand rise
OF more than s to 10 degrees OF tenn
perature and live. If therefore the
2 500, 900 safety valves were closed
for twenty-four hours, death would
supervene.
Adams apple was the first storage
cistern ever built, and it works with
automatic regularity through health
and sickness. 1t is most important
organ of the body, although for Gen.
turtles it was considered superAuous
attachment. 1t regulates the flow Of
blood between the heart and the brain
When it ceases to operate, somebo iy
dies of apoplexy or a rush of blood to
the brain. When the heart sends up
too much blood to the head, the Adam
apple steps in to check the flow and
store it up for future emergencies. If
the heart is temporarily weakened or
put out of good running order, the
blood stored in this cistern is given up
and sent to the brain. The perfect
working OF this little device is app4r-
ent when We consider how compare.
lively few die of rush of blood to the
brain or from a deficiency of supply.
The eye has score Of small inven.
tions worthy Of recording, the ear
nearly az many more and the vital
organs an equal number. There is the
liver with its quarantine station. Let
any poisons enter our systems with
food and they are Immediately held
up at this quarantine station and d..
stroyed by secret process. 1t is only
when poisous enter in large quantities