In fact, the human body is built up with 13 of the 70 elements, namely: oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, fluorine, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur, calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and iron. Besides these, a few of the other elements, as silicon, have been found; but they exist in extremely minute quantities.
The following table gives the proportion in which these various elements are present:
| Oxygen | 62.430 | per cent |
| Carbon | 21.150 | " " |
| Hydrogen | 9.865 | " " |
| Nitrogen | 3.100 | " " |
| Calcium | 1.900 | " " |
| Phosphorus | 0.946 | " " |
| Potassium | 0.230 | " " |
| Sulphur | 0.162 | " " |
| Chlorine | 0.081 | " " |
| Sodium | 0.081 | " " |
| Magnesium | 0.027 | " " |
| Iron | 0.014 | " " |
| Fluorine | 0.014 | " " |
| ----- | ||
| 100.000 |
As will be seen from this table, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, which are gases in their uncombined form, make up ¾ of the weight of the whole human body. Carbon, which exists in an impure state in charcoal, forms more than ⅕ of the weight of the body. Thus carbon and the three gases named, make up about 96 per cent of the total weight of the body.
7. Chemical Compounds in the Body. We must keep in mind that, with slight exceptions, none of these 13 elements exist in their elementary form in the animal economy. They are combined in various proportions, the results differing widely from the elements of which they consist. Oxygen and hydrogen unite to form water, and water forms more than ⅔ of the weight of the whole body. In all the fluids of the body, water acts as a solvent, and by this means alone the circulation of nutrient material is possible. All the various processes of secretion and nutrition depend on the presence of water for their activities.
8. Inorganic Salts. A large number of the elements of the body unite one with another by chemical affinity and form inorganic salts. Thus sodium and chlorine unite and form chloride of sodium, or common salt. This is found in all the tissues and fluids, and is one of the most important inorganic salts the body contains. It is absolutely necessary for continued existence. By a combination of phosphorus with sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, the various phosphates are formed.
The phosphates of lime and soda are the most abundant of the salts of the body. They form more than half the material of the bones, are found in the teeth and in other solids and in the fluids of the body. The special place of iron is in the coloring matter of the blood. Its various salts are traced in the ash of bones, in muscles, and in many other tissues and fluids. These compounds, forming salts or mineral matters that exist in the body, are estimated to amount to about 6 per cent of the entire weight.
9. Organic Compounds. Besides the inorganic materials, there exists in the human body a series of compound substances formed of the union of the elements just described, but which require the agency of living structures. They are built up from the elements by plants, and are called organic. Human beings and the lower animals take the organized materials they require, and build them up in their own bodies into still more highly organized forms.
The organic compounds found in the body are usually divided into three great classes:
1 Proteids, or albuminous substances.
2 Carbohydrates (starches, sugars, and gums).
3 Fats.
The extent to which these three great classes of organic materials of the body exist in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and are utilized for the food of man, will be discussed in the chapter on food (Chapter V.). The Proteids, because they contain the element nitrogen and the others do not, are frequently called nitrogenous, and the other two are known as non-nitrogenous substances. The proteids, the type of which is egg albumen, or the white of egg, are found in muscle and nerve, in glands, in blood, and in nearly all the fluids of the body. A human body is estimated to yield on an average about 18 per cent of albuminous substances. In the succeeding chapters we shall have occasion to refer to various and allied forms of proteids as they exist in muscle (myosin), coagulated blood (fibrin), and bones (gelatin).
The Carbohydrates are formed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the last two in the proportion to form water. Thus we have animal starch, or glycogen, stored up in the liver. Sugar, as grape sugar, is also found in the liver. The body of an average man contains about 10 per cent of Fats. These are formed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, in which the latter two are not in the proportion to form water. The fat of the body consists of a mixture which is liquid at the ordinary temperature.
Now it must not for one moment be supposed that the various chemical elements, as the proteids, the salts, the fats, etc., exist in the body in a condition to be easily separated one from another. Thus a piece of muscle contains all the various organic compounds just mentioned, but they are combined, and in different cases the amount will vary. Again, fat may exist in the muscles even though it is not visible to the naked eye, and a microscope is required to show the minute fat cells.
10. Protoplasm. The ultimate elements of which the body is composed consist of "masses of living matter," microscopic in size, of a material commonly called protoplasm.[2] In its simplest form protoplasm appears to be a homogeneous, structureless material, somewhat resembling the raw white of an egg. It is a mixture of several chemical substances and differs in appearance and composition in different parts of the body.
Protoplasm has the power of appropriating nutrient material, of dividing and subdividing, so as to form new masses like itself. When not built into a tissue, it has the power of changing its shape and of moving from place to place, by means of the delicate processes which it puts forth. Now, while there are found in the lowest realm of animal life, organisms like the amœba of stagnant pools, consisting of nothing more than minute masses of protoplasm, there are others like them which possess a small central body called a nucleus. This is known as nucleated protoplasm.
Fig. 1.--Diagram of a Cell.
A, nucleus;
B, nucleolus;
C, protoplasm. (Highly magnified)
11. Cells. When we carry back the analysis of an organized body as far as we can, we find every part