Larry Rinehart, age 13, of Oak Hill, W

The rich red blood that flows through our veins is a complex fluid containing an assortment of cells and countless special chemicals, Each precious ingredient is made in some special part of the body, And each is made by a series of complicated chemical stages  The body also has checks and balances to keep the ingredients in the right proportion and at the right temperature,' The blood cells and many of these chemicals do their work and wear out, Waste ingredients are disposed of and new ones made and added 

The body performs all these secret marvels automatically, with no orders or directions from our conscious minds  However, it is our conscious minds which give it the materials and the tools with which to make its precious blood supply  The life story of your blood begins at the table, for its basic ingredients coma from the food we eat and drink  It is only fair to supply the body with a balanced diet of regular meals,

The blood is a soupy mixture of liquid plasma and floating cells, The plasma without the cells is a pale, thin fluid made from 90 per cent plain water, Much of this water comes from our solid food which contains more water than most of us realize, The rest comes from the liquids we drink, It is taken in through tiny channels in the lower intestine 

The remaining ten per cent of the plasma is composed of tiny traces of vital chemicals  Proteins, sugars, salts, nitrogen compounds and many other substances are taken from food digesting in the intestines, Hormones are poured into the blood from various glands, Certain antibodies 3n the plasma were made to attack an old infection and remain there on duty 

The most plentiful cells in the blood are the red corpuscles which tote oxygen around the body 

These flat, thick‑rimmed saucers wear themselves out with work in about four and a half months, They are then broken down by the spleen and their iron sent to the liver  From there it is carried to the red marrow inside the bones  This is the factory where new red cells are constantly being made and sent out into the blood stream,

The blood carries an assortment of white cells with different duties  Some devour bacteria, swallow these invaders whole before they can attack the body  Some latch onto unwanted chemicals and help to free the blood stream of wastes and foreign materials  Others help to repair damaged tissues and aid in the healing processes  The tiny platelet blood cells work with some of these white cells to clot the blood when it breaks through a broken blood vessel 

We are learning more and more about the various white cells, but so far the body has managed to keep some of their life stories secret from our curious scientists  Some, we know, are made 3n the red bone marrow along with the red sells  Some are made in the lymph nodes which are small bumps along the channels and canals of the lymphatic system  This system keeps the body’s cells bathed in warm, watery liquid and works very closely with the blood stream