Page 79 - The Miracle of Hormones

he amount of calcium in the blood is a
very important factor in human survival.
T In order for a human to survive, he needs
to not only breathe and drink water, but he must
also have a certain amount of calcium in his
blood. If the level of calcium in the blood falls
below what is required, death will result. Now, let
us think of this hypothetical example: A container
in front of you contains one liter of blood. This
blood is to be transfused into a patient waiting for
an operation. It has been discovered that there is a
deficiency of calcium in this blood, but the
amount of the deficiency has not been deter-
mined. You are asked to make a guess and supply
the deficiency. You have been given a large con-
tainer of powdered calcium to use.
How would you make this decision?
First, you would have to measure the
amount of calcium in the blood in front of you.
But you would need such advanced technological
tools that you would have neither the time nor the
opportunity to do it. In this situation, you would
be completely helpless. The fact that you are una-
ble to measure the amount of calcium in the blood
in front of you may result in the patient's death.
Let us change our example slightly: Now
you are given one liter of blood which contains no
calcium, and you have to add the right amount of
it. How many spoonfuls of calcium would you
take from the container and add to the blood?
What is the correct amount of this vital substance
that must be added to one liter of blood?