The reason why : $b a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. A book of condensed scientific knowledge for the million
John Stuart Mill · en
This brings us to another reflection. Our arms get weary, our
legs falter from fatigue, the mind itself becomes overtaxed,
and all our senses fall to sleep. The eye sees not, the ear is
deaf to sound, the sentinels that surround the body, the nerves
of touch, are all asleep--you may place your hand upon the brow
of the sleeping man, and he feels it not. Yet, unseen, unheard,
without perceptible motion, or the slightest jar to mar the rest
of the sleeper, the heart beats on, and on, and on. As his sleep
deepens, the heart slackens its speed, that his rest may be the
more sound. He has slept for eight hours, and the time approaches
for his awakening. But is the heart weary--that heart which has
toiled through the long and sluggard night? No! The moment the
waking sleeper moves his arm, the heart is aware that a motion has
been made, that effort and exercise are about to begin. The nerves
are all arousing to action; the eyes turn in their sockets, the
head moves upon the neck; the sleeper leaves his couch, and the
legs are once more called upon to bear the weight of the body.
Blood is the food of the eye, the food of the ear, of the foot,
the hand, and every member of the frame. While they labour they
must be fed--that is the condition of their life, the source of
their strength. The heart, therefore, so far from seeking rest, is
all fresh and vigorous for the labours of the day, and proceeds to
discharge its duty so willingly, that we do not even know of the
movements that are going on within us.
[Verse: "Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will
awake early."--PSALM LVII.]
Thus we have seen the difference between the voluntary and the
involuntary muscles, and we have perceived the goodness of our
Creator in not entrusting to our keeping the controul of an organ
so vital to life, as the heart.
But the heart is not the only organ which thus works unseen and
unfelt. There are the lungs and the muscles of the chest, the
stomach, and other parts occupying the abdomen, together with all
those muscular filaments which enter into the structure of the
coats and valves of the blood-vessels, and which assist to propel
the blood through the system. All these are at work at every
moment of man's life; and yet, so perfect is this complicated
machinery, that we really do not know, except by theory, what is
going on within us.