AMBULANCE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 165, 30 July 1937, Page 12

AMBULANCE

"BIG SMOKE "

Here is more after last week froin •'Gilcraft's Talks on Ambulance." "A motor-oyole needs fuel — petroi — to keep the engine running, and the fuel of the body is the food we eat and drink. But just as petrol needs to be vaporised dn the carburettor before it wili explode in the cylinder, bo our food has to be alteved before it can be used to supply energy to the museles. i'his process starts in the mouth and is continued to the stomaeh and bowels. Eventually. in the form of blood it reaches and feeds the musclea and all cther parts of the b&dy. "In the cycle the fuel reaches the engine partly by the suction of the pistons and partly by gravity, but in the body the fuel (blood) is driven by a pump — the lieart — contained inside the rib cavity. The blood runs from the heart through pipes, but it difirers from petrol, for after it has been used in the body it goes baek again to be recharged with energy and to be purified. This takes place partly in the lungs, which are two air bags, one on each side of and contained in the xib cavity. "Oil is very important in a motoreycle, and every moving part must be kept lubrieated. If this is neglected, much friction oceurs and results in overheafcing of the metal parts. Tho body also has many joints, all of which are supplied with a fluid which aets as a lubricant and ensures smooth working. •'Now to complete the comparisou we uiust put a rider on the cycle. He sees the road, hears the trafiic, and then controls the moveinent of the cycle. lu the body the brain is the rider, It gets its messages from the eyes, the ears, the nose, the skin, and then directs the body as to how it shall go, and what it skall do. The brain is contained in the skuli. and its cables and wires ruu to all parts of the body. "You will notice that no mention has been mude of the skin, which is Ihe most obvious part of the body. Well, che motor-cycle has not got a skin, and does not need one. As you all know, a motor-engine wants to get rid of the heat caused by the using of its fuel; but here the body differs, for it wants to keep the heat caused by the action of the museles, and so the whole body is covered by a thiek substance — the sldn — which allows heat to escape when the body is getting too warm. "And so we have the skeleton keeping the body upright, surrounded by the fleshy museles, and covered by the ■skin. Fuel is formed from the food and is pumped along by the heart and purifled in the lungs— the whole governed by the brain. "A rather wonderful maehine, is it not, which never stops year after year until eompletely worn out; a maehine which mostly does its own repaiis while running, and which can even, within limits, xeplace parts which get lost or destroyed. Were it not so marvellous it would break down more often tlian it does, for no other maehine gets so badly used, overworlced, neglected, and Uncared for by its owner as our own human maehine — the body." "Rob'in Hood" is away on holiday so tli-cro is no *Commissioner 's letter this week.