ASK JiMMY + ThE BuG?

Some people say that they feel their heart flutter when they fall in love, or that it feels like their heart is breaking when they lose their loved one. Ancient people, however, didn't associate the heart with love. The Egyptians thought the heart was the source of intelligence. The Greeks believed that courage came from the heart. Love, they thought, came from the liver!

A human heart doesn't look like ther [hearts] symbol on Valentine's Day cards. A real heart is the size and shape of a clenched fist. Some believe the symbol for the heart looks the way it does because artists in the Middle Ages, who used hearts to represent Christian love in stained-glass windows, could only guess what a heart looked like. Back then, even doctors were uncertain about the shape and function of internal human organs.

Your heart does have a left side and a right side, like the symbol. The right side circulates blood to your lungs to get oxygen, and the left side pumps the oxygen-rich blood through your body. Your heart may not be where love comes from, but it is a very powerful muscle. In a year, your heart beats about 40 million times, without ever stopping to rest. It probably does beat just a little faster when you're excited to see someone you love.

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Copyright Carus Publishing Company Feb 2005
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