Show How the Body Is i Warmed IN I N ALL probability the reader on see I that he keep warm amid only that he keep kep warm and only wishes he could However with all due deference to his opinion h he is warm and fortunately will continue to keep so 50 Though he may feel cold his tempera temperature Lure turo inside is 15 maintained at a constant level evel by b one of or the most ingenious and complicated devices known to man His normal degree remains steady stead despite all sorts of climatic variations This permanence of or our animal heat re required required required many centuries of investigation inv before its explanation was found There was vaa this striking appearance when com corn compared compared pared with hot inanimate bodies that a livIng body does not gradually grow cool coot cooler er r With AVith other substances the happens Throughout the world there Is one ever eer listing exchange of heat all matter mattOr matt r whether it is liquid solid saUd or gaseous possessing more than the average degree of heat is forced to part with its surplus to Its poorer brethren Nature is inflexibly bringing not anly anty the thc earth but the whole universe to one common level leel of temperature At first firs sight living organ organisms organIsms organisms isms seem to be exempt from this per perpetual perpetual perpetual law but in reality we do not escape Our warmth rises from the actual com corn combustion combustion bustion bastion of our food but strictly speak speaking speakIng ing lag the air we Inhale is the real cause Our lungs are the flues which create the necessary draught drau ht and olur blood is the furnace where the combustion occurs while the food we eat keeps up the pro proper proper proper per supply of fuel But combustion itself is not quite such sucha a simple thing aa as It appears app ars at first sight It is so common an event that we overlook it and never even men trouble to wonder r where wh re the heat of burning coal comes from Yet just think for tor a moment A pound of a coal is as cold as anything n else You can con handle han leoo It with impunity and it cannot c send the timer ther thermometer up a solitary degree If It you grind It Into powder the same results continue Apparently It has no secret hoard of heat stored somewhere away inside It The Time air all proves equally barren Yet we all know that when the tho coal burns a marked change takes place The question Is where was Its heat con concealed where has It come pome ome from When the coal is being burnt it means that t at a chemical ch mical combination of Q the atoms The Tha carbon caroon and ana gen atoms which principally I constitute the coal are arc vigorously uniting with the oxygen atoms from our atmosphere At each conjunction occurs the atomic heat intensifies in degree and Is eagerly ab absorbed absorbed absorbed by b the cooler air When one recollects recollects the hordes of atoms that exist in a pound of ot coal it no longer remains a puzzle uzzle to say sav where the heat comes from That It Is due to chemical combination Is proved by examining the products of combustion These are found to be carbonic acid gas jas and water va vapor vapor Vapor por showing that both the hydrogen and carbon atoms entered into alliances with those of the oxygen What we call burning Is nothing but an atomic mar marriage marriage marriage When we now turn to our own bodies we discover the somewhat astounding fact that our lungs are solely designed to keep us warm The Th food we eat be being ing always of organic or c structure fe Is con consequently very ery rich In carbon and Is I reduced by our digestive organs or s into a liquid condition The bulk of this is poured through the thoracic duct Into the blood All Al through our system runs runa a great g tat at network of ot veins piercing to overs emm part pait and penetrating every tissue tissue tissue sue through which the blood sc Kept in continual circulation 1 by b the tho heart it means that the liquefied food is distributed by b the blood bloodstream stream to every eve part and Is In into ourselves But no warmth can occur yet et These billions of carbon atoms are awaiting the arrival of or their mates the oxygen atoms before they will con consent consent sent seat to Iel dup their store of latent heat In a marvelous wa way ay Nature has con cont t a 4 scheme so o that the union be becomes comes possible She fits a second branch branchIng Ing system s of pipes and tubes into our body bod which we e will call our lungs These ramify downward growing finer and finer till they end in a mash of minute little air cells eells At this place I the veins arc are equally subdivided and form forum bunches of tubes called s which ethe the little air I cells 4 1 Though time the two systems Sst ms arc are Inextricably entangled they are Q separated d by extraordinarily thin which however have hawe the strange property ert of ot allowing the oxygen to t pass ass through but which do not allow the blood to o come out Here Hr It Is that the oxygen out t to of o the air which we have hae Inhaled d passes into the bloodstream blood stream The atoms are arc swept along to the t carbon cat and aid andall all over the body bo a partner partnership partnership partnership ship is contracted in each case CaJe ny the tha in relinquishing ln of ot some of the l latent t nt heat Ms by b the atoms when separated By B this ingeni ingenious ous arrangement our entire body is equally warmed warm cd In one pue sense we do donot donot donot not keep ourselves warm at all It Is e done dope for us by millions ot t atoms We Weare Weare Weare are simply a office where hc e countless al ai Bunions are formed d the t e atoms paying p us toS a iL precise amount of oft their t heat as a t e But Sut thereS there Is stilt still work to do 00 10 Now that the atom he y parted with wilh their wealth they are areu ne longer needed It would never nover do clo to allow the molecules formed to c c else the system stem would soon oon thc th d So they thoy are arc swept round the tho blood channels tilt till they the come back to he the the meshwork of air alt cells and capillaries There h re as athe the new o oxy nay oxygen Y gen atoms pour tn rt the united couples are passed out Into fato the lungs and we breathe them Into Int the air r rhen When hen we examine our breath wr Wf f find nd there precisely pr the th same products of com combustion bustion that We found when the coal burnt showing lj similar process has been followed The Carbonic acid gas cas casIs gasIs Is easily detected detect d by the school boys bo s dodge of breathing h a tub tube dipping hipping into lime time water when the carbonic acid gas further combines es with the lime am m h h Ifa T l H the water vapor in our breath Is readily seen se n by breathing upon a cold mirror which condenses It Into moisture It is a literal fact that an actual combustion ha has Iwen en finished We are kept warm because a billion fires are incessantly burn burning ing in every ee part of ot us ts The necessity of a proper food supply Is of course obvious but it not essential that the food should be hot Cooking Co kinS helps the process of digestion but is use useless use useless useless less as far as the keeping up of our nor normal normal mal mat 9 degrees Fahrenheit Is concerned Our animal heat beat does not depend upon the hotness of ot our food tood but upon the latent stores which are Impressed Into every everyone everyone everyone one of ot Its atoms Still me meI may go without With out toed food for one or two days ando an do yet not grow colder This is true I hut but If no food tood IK iH assimilated as the days dag pass by the drops from S degrees d grees to 70 O degrees and the miserable miser Je victim dies Jn In a dreadful state stale of He Ho has haa wasted wat d away simply because the Invading oxygen o gen atoms finding no roM carbon to amal amalgamate amalgamate with seize upon n those in his adi adipose adipose adipose pose tissue and take them a away way Instead His animal heat has been kept up at his own expense He has actually been burn burning burning ing InS himself up In desperate attempt to preserve the vital warmth London An Answers Answers Answers I |