From: Osher Doctorow [log in to unmask], Sat. Sept. 29, 2001 10:32PM
In my previous contribution, it should be noted that if a hole tunnels
through a solid ball, it would be counted as one hole even though it has one
entrance and one exit. On the other hand, if the hole is the same tunnel
but is considered only to tunnel through the spherical outer shell of the
solid ball, then the spherical outer shell is considered to have two holes
period since they are not connected on the sphere itself (the sphere is
usually defined as only the outer surface, just as the circle is usually
defined as only the outer boundary of a filled-in disk).
Should we regard the sequence from the digestive tract to the excretory
system as one hole through a solid person, and if so how do older and
younger people differ in this? In younger people, the various sphincters
are usually closed, while for older people they are more often open so that
for them a continuous hole may be approximately accurate at least during
various times.
There are also much clearer holes which are of the *spherical shell* type,
namely ulcers in the stomach and duodenum and so on. So we have both solid
three-dimension holes and two-dimension surface type holes on the walls of
the stomach, duodenum, etc.
Osher Doctorow
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