Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-02-23
THE HUMAN MACHINE
MANS BODY AND ITS WONDERS or
MECHANICAL DEVICES.

Arc InfrlnEcmcnfs on the Clever
and Ingenious Devices Registered
In Natures Patent ONCE.
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
mcnts OIL natures patent office. A
good deal of trouble and worry In tho
past could have been avoided had In
ventors made careful study Of the
devices employed In making these hui
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 cyeball inward to.
ward the nose.
EngiIecrs made exhaustive tests and
experiments before they discovered
that 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 impor.
tant bone Is practically constructed Oh
this principle. The ball and socket OF
the hip bone, were the forcrunncrs OF
the modern bsll bearings. and it was
the first automatic oiling machine used
In tie world. The value OF mir pros.
sure and II 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 to
hold our legs upright In position.
Engineers have made wonderful
progress i'll 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 n 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 Ivy the common name of sweat
glands. Each such little gland has
safety valve which lets or heat from
the body whea 1t gets beyond safe
temperature. We cannot stand rise
OF more than to 10 degrees OF tenn
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 n most important
organ of the body, although for CEN
turtles 1t was considered superfluous
attachment. 1t regulates the flow of
blood between the heart and the brain,
When 1t ceases to operate. somebody
dies of apopleSy or n rush of blood to
the brain. When the heart sends up
too much blood to the head the Adams
apple steps in to check the flow and
store 1t up for future emergencies. II
the heart is.,tenporarily weakened or
put out of good running order. tho
blood stored In this cistern is given up
and sent to the brain The perfect
working of this little device Is appar.
ent when we consider how compare.
lively few die OF rush of blood to the
brain or from deficiency of supply
The eye has n score OF small inven-
lions worthy of recording, the sar
nearly as many more and the vital
organs an equal number. There Is the
liver with its quarantine station. Let
any poisons enter our systems with
foou and they are Immediately neld up
Mt this quarantine station and destroy
ed by II secret process. 1t Is only
when poisons enter in large quantities
that the station cannot handle them.
But the stomach co operates with tho
liver and intercepts some OF the pol.
sons. There are small machines there
which manufacture minute quantities
of hydrochloric acid from the salts
eaten. This acid is made in exact pro.
portion TO the amount of food consnm.
ed and sufiices to destroy the microbes
which VIC swallow. But there is even
third quarantine station located in
the mouth. Millions OF microbes are
destroyed in the mouth daily by the
juices elaborated there for this very
purpose. II II was not for these three
quarantine stations working continu.
Ously night ana day. we should he kill.
ed OF by microbes within an hour aft
er eating n meal.
In the car there Is little device
which might have been the original of
our modern compressed air inventions.
The delicate drum Of the ear must have
an equal pressure from the outside and
inside 90 receive and transmit the
sound Vibrations. To make this pos
siblc the eustachian tube was devised.
Its function is to regulate the air pres
sure inside the care Let 1t fail to work,
and one becomes stone deaf.