Science - Zoology - Some Important and Interesting Facts

• For the first time the term physiology was introduced by Jean Fernel in 1542.

• The study of frog is called Batrecology.

• Frog, Toad, Salamander, Newts, Necturus (Mudpuppy) and Ichthyophis (limbless) are the few members of class Amphibia.

• In humans, daily secretion of saliva is more than one litre.

• Each day, the stomach wall secretes about 3 litres of gastric juice.

• About every 20 seconds, the stomach contents are mixed by the charming action of smooth muscles. When an empty stomach churns, hunger pangs are left.

• We take 600 million breathe during our life time.

• Opened out and laid flat, the lungs would cover an area of the size of a tennis court.

• On an average, we breathe roughly a litre of air every ten seconds.

• The total amount of blood pumped by the human heart each day is about 8000 litres.

• Since the entire blood volume of an average sized man is only 5 litres, the blood must be recirculated 1600 times a day.

• The heart beats rhythemically 72 times per minute in adult man at rest and a single heart beat lasts for 0.8 of a second.

• Average heart beat rate in new born is about 130 times per minutes.

• In an average life time of 70 years, the human heart beats about 2.5 billion times, pumping about 180 million litres of blood.

• Blood raises through the arteries upto 1 metre (3 feet) per second. There are over 60,000 Kilometres 37,000 miles of capillaries in the human body.

• The name hormone was first used by the English physiologists W.M. Bayliss and E.H. Starling in 1909.

• The thyroid is the largest of the endocrine glands, weighing about 20-25 g.

• The hormone adrenalin is excessively secreted into blood stream at the time of frightened state or panic state to keep the body in steady state. So it is called as emergency hormone or hormone of fear.

• Controlled dose of insulin and sugar free diet are best preventive measures for diabetes mellitus. Glucagon is secreted to increase sugar level in blood by breaking down the glycogen in the liver into glucose. Its action is opposite to that of insulin. Glucagon starts functioning when blood glucose level falls in blood.

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Indian Freedom Movement - Important Facts

The Congress tri-colour flag was hoisted on 26 January 1930. The people took pledge to fight for achieving complete independence. It became a red letter day for the Congress. To make this day memorable in our history, the Indian Constitution was formally adopted on 26 January 1950. This day is now celebrated as the Republic Day.

In The Salt Satyagraha of 1930 or The Civil Disobedience Movement, Gandhi covered the distance of 241 miles (about 400 K.M.) from Sabarmathi Ashram to Dandi on foot in 25 days with 78 chosen followers including Sarojini Naidu. The slogan Vande Matharam echoed everywhere.

Rash Behari Bose was an Indian who had settled in Japan since 1915. He organized a freedom conference in Tokyo in March 1942.

The Punjab tragedy (Jallianwalabagh Massacre, 13 April 1919) had a lasting impact on succeeding generations. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his Knighthood as a measure of protest. Gandhiji returned the Kaiser-i-Hind medal given to him by the South African Government. C.F. Andrews, a friend of Tagore, Gandhi and Nehru, wrote to Mahadev Desai, after a visit to Amritsar, “It was a massacre, a butchery.”

Gandhiji wrote a series of articles in the magazine, the Harijan. He explained his ideas which were soon to take shape as the historic Quit India Movement. He made it clear that he could no longer afford to wait. He said. “If I continue to wait I might have to wait till doomsday.” Gandhi was so impatient that he said, “Personally I am so sick of slavery that I am even prepared to take the risk of anarchy.”

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