Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-02-09
THE HUMAN MACHINE
MANS BODY AND ITS WONDERS OF
MECHANICAL DEVICES.
Many of the Inventions of the Day
Are Infringements on the Clever
and Ingenious Devices Registered
In Natures Patent once.

So fearfully and wonderfully is tne
human body made that scientists are
beginning to realize that many Of the
inventions Of the day are infringe
ments ON natures patent office.
good deal of trouble and worry In the
mast could have been avoided had In
yentors made a 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 ana
experlments before they discovered
that a hollow shaft or rod OF iron or
steel Is about twice as strong as
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 were the forerunners Oh
the modern ball bearings, and 1t was
the first automatic olling machine USED
In the world. The value OF air pres
aure md 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 to lessen the muscular effort 10
hold our legs upright In position.
Engineers have made wonderful
progress in developing compound sue
ton and circular pumps, but all OF the
nrIncIples 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 2,bOO,OO0 Of them. We call
them by the common name OF sweat
glands. Each such little gland has q
safety valve which lets off heat from
the body when 1t gets beyond sate
temperature. We cannot stand rise
NJ more than 8 to 10 degrees OF tenn
perature and live. II therefore the
100000 safety valves were closed roi
twenty-four hours, death would super
vene.
Adams apple was the first storage
clstern ever built, and 1t works with
automatic regularity through heaitl
and sickness. 1t Is a most important
organ of the body. although for cen
turtles II was considered a supernuoui
attachment. 1t regulates the how o.
blood between the heart and the brain
When II ceases to operate, somebody
dies of apoplexy or a rush OF blood u
the brain. When the heart sends VI
; too much blood to the head, the Adam
apple steps In to check the now AM
store It up for future emergencies.
the heart Is temporarily weakened o
nut out of good running ORDER IN
blood stored In this clstern Is given u
and sent to the brain. The perfec
working. of this little device Is appar
ont when we consider how compara
tiyely few die of rush OF blood 10 tn
brain or from deficiency of supply
> The eye has a score Of small inver
: tions worthy of recording. the ca
nearly as many more and the vits
organs an equal number There Is IN
liver with its quarantine station. lie
any poisons enter our systems VIII
l fool and they are Immediately neld u
I at this quarantine station and oestro.
J. cd by a secret process. 1t Is oni
8 when poisons enter in large quantiue
/, that tho station cannot handle them.
o Rut the stomach co-operates Win u
b liver and intercepts some OF the pc
:, SONS There are small machines tnei
r which manufacture minute quanttl'
l. NJ bvdrochloric acid from the sal
d eaten. This acid Is made In exact pr
t norton to the amount Of food consun
n Cd and suflces to destroy the mlcroo'
l. which we swallow. But there Is eve
t third quarantine station located
the mouth. Millions OF microbes a
DESTROYED In the mouth daily by u
4uices elaborated there for this vel
m nurnose. IL It was not for these thr'
quarantine stations working contin
II ously night and day, we should be XII
If ed off by microbes within an hour al
t. er eating a meal.
IN In the ear there Is little dew
I which might have been the original
h. DIR modern compressed air inventor
n. The delicate drum Of the ear must ma
Vi an equal pressure from the outside al
=. inside to receive and transmit I
40 sound vibrations. To make this p'
q sible the eustachian tube was devise
"A Ire function is to regulate the air pre-
ID sure inside the ear. Let 1t fall to VOL
and one becomes stone deaf.
~ Tn the bones of the head there
v many little channels followed
a.. which are called the semicircular
20 nails. These canals are filed with III
no lymph. For centuries no one could
90 derstand their meaning. Some pf
a. sicians considered them OF no u
~ This tendency to belittle organs In
or human body whose functions could
d. be explained has characterized M
n than one generation Of savants. N
49, these peculiar semicircular canals
=, known to be wonderful little devices
20 assist us In keeping our balance. III
act a good deal as the ballast does
- a ship, or, more properly speaking,
40 the fluid In a spirit level. The DR.
~ keeps an eye on this spirit level and
~, made conscious Of the body's relat
IN position. The fluid flows back
a, forth In the canals, and when we
40 1t at dangerous angle the DR.
knows it.-New York Tribune.