Page 83 - The Miracle of Hormones

The Sensitive Calcium-Meters

If you placed the material seen
on the left in front of someone
and asked him what it was, he
would not be able to recognize
it unless he had special train-
ing. But the cells in our body
immediately recognize calci-
um atoms from among the
hundreds of materials in the
blood.

be able to succeed. Yet the tiny parathyroid can make a calculation that
humans cannot do except in a laboratory. The cells that compose the para-
thyroid gland not only produce a hormone, but they also make measure-
ments relative to the place where the hormone will be used.
How does a cell pick out the calcium atoms in the river of blood
flowing in front of it? How can cells without eyes, ears or hands recog-
nize calcium atoms among the millions of kinds of other substances in
the blood such as salt, glucose, fat, amino acids, proteins, hormones, en-
zymes, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, nitrogenous waste, sodium, potassi-

um, urea, uric acid, iron and sodium bicarbonate? How does a cell
recognize calcium? How does it know how much calcium there should
be in the blood? With what consciousness does it measure the calcium?
With what intelligence does it decide whether there is too much or too lit-
tle calcium present? Cells are tiny, only one percent of a millimeter in
size, without conscious intelligence. The fact that they can successfully
measure the amount of calcium in the blood is in itself a miracle.

Taking the Necessary Steps

Put yourself for a moment in the place of the cells that measure the
amount of calcium. Imagine that your only job throughout your whole
life, day and night, without stopping, sleeping or resting, is to calculate

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