Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-06-16
THE HUMAN MACHINE
MANS BODY AND IT'S WONDERS OF
MECHANICAL DEVICES.

Nany of the Inventions of the Day
Are heterogeneous on tho CIcvcr
! aud Ingenious Devices Rcgistcrcd
In Natures Patent once.
So fearfTlly and wonderfully Is the
human body made that scientists arc
beginning TO realize that many OF the
inventions OF the day are infringe
good deal of trouble and worry In tho
past could have been avoided had In
.yentors made n careful study of tho
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
Dulleys in the body, notably the ono
which moves the eyeball inward to-
ward the nose.
Engineers made exhaustive tests and
experiments before they discovered
that Il hollow shaft or rod OF iron or
steel is about twice rs strong MS
solid one. Yet nature had patented
this device in our bones since the birth
of Adam and Eve, and every impor-
tant bone Is practically constructed on
this principle. The ball and socket of
the hip bones We're the forcrunncrs OF
the modern ball bearings, and 1t was
the first automatic olling machine used
In the world. The value of air pres.
sure and vacuum was unknown to
man until the last century. but every
one of lis carried the secret In tho air
tight hip joint which nature had as.
Bigned to lessen the muscular effort to
hold our legs upright In position.
Engineers have made wonderful
progress i'll developing compound sue
ton and circular pumps, but all of tho
principles contained in them are found
In the heart. and this little pumping
machine is still without rival In the
mechanical world
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 up.
ward of 100000 of them. We cali
them by the common name OF sweat
glands. Each such little gland has
safety valve which lets off heat from
the body whea it gets beyond safe
temperature. We cannot stand rise
of more than 8 to 10 degrees of TEN.
perature and live. If therefore the
100000 safety valves were closed for
twenty-four hours, death would super.
vene.
Adams apple was the first storage
cistern ever built, and 1t works with
automatic regularity through health
and sickness. 1t Is most Important
organ OF the body. although for cen
turtles 1t was considered Il supernuous
attachment. 1t regulates the flow of
blood between the heart and the brain.
When 1t ceases to operate, somebody
dies OF apopleXy or rush OF blood to
the brain. When the heart sends up
too much blood to the head the Adams
apple steps In to check tho flow and
store 1t up for future emergencies. II
the heart Is temporarily weakened or
put out OF good running order. the
blood stored In this cistern is given zip
and sent TO the brain. The perfect
working of this little device Is nppar-
ent when we consider how compare
lively few die of rush of blood to the
brain or from deficiency OF supply.
The eye has score of small inven-
lions worthy OF recording. the ear
nearly as many more and the vital
organs an equal number. There Is the
liver with its quarantine station. Let
any polsons enter our systems with
food and they are Immediately held up
at this quarantine station and destroy
ed by secret process. It Is only
when polsons enter IN largo quantities
that the station cannot handle them.
But the stomach co-operates with tho
liver and intercepts some of the poi.
sons. There are small machines there
which manufacture minute quantities
OF hydrochloric acid from the salta
eaten. This acid Is made In exact pro-
portion to the amount of food consum.
ed and sui.ices to destroy the microbes
which we swallow. But there Is even
third quarantine sta ton located in
the mouth. Millions OF microbes arc
destroyed I'm the mouth daily by the
Juices elaborated there for this very
purpose. If it was not for these three
quarantine stations working continu
ously night and day, we should be kill
ed off by microbes within an hour aft
er eating meal.
In the ear there is little device
which might have been the original of
our modern compressed mir inventions.
The delicate drum OF the ear must have
an equal pressure from tho outside and
inside to receive and transmit the
sound vibrations To make this pos
slble the eustachian tube was devised.
It's function is to regulate the air pres
sure inside the ear. Let 1t fail to work,
and one becomes stone deaf