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diff --git a/31616.txt b/31616.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce498a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/31616.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5346 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Health Lessons, by Alvin Davison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Health Lessons + Book 1 + +Author: Alvin Davison + +Release Date: March 13, 2010 [EBook #31616] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEALTH LESSONS *** + + + + +Produced by Larry B. Harrison, D. Alexander and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Book Cover] + + + + + HEALTH LESSONS + BOOK I + + BY + ALVIN DAVISON, M.S., A.M., PH.D. + PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY IN LAFAYETTE COLLEGE + + [Illustration: Publisher Symbol] + + NEW YORK . CINCINNATI . CHICAGO + AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY + ALVIN DAVISON. + + ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON. + + HEALTH LESSONS. BK. 1. + W. P. 6 + +[Illustration: Exercise, clean air, and well-chewed food make a strong +and healthy body.] + + + + +PREFACE + + +Scarcely one half of the children of our country continue in school +much beyond the fifth grade. It is important, therefore, that so far +as possible the knowledge which has most to do with human welfare +should be presented in the early years of school life. + +Fisher, Metchnikoff, Sedgwick, and others have shown that the health +of a people influences the prosperity and happiness of a nation more +than any other one thing. The highest patriotism is therefore the +conservation of health. The seven hundred thousand lives annually +destroyed by infectious diseases and the million other serious cases +of sickness from contagious maladies, with all their attendant +suffering, are largely sacrifices on the altar of ignorance. The +loving mother menaces the life of her babe by feeding it milk with a +germ content nearly half as great as that of sewage, the anemic girl +sleeps with fast-closed windows, wondering in the morning why she +feels so lifeless, and the one-time vigorous boy goes to a +consumptive's early grave, because they did not know (what every +school ought to teach) the way to health. + +Doctor Price, the Secretary of the State Board of Health of Maryland, +recently said before the American Public Health Association that the +text-books of our schools show a marked disregard for the urgent +problems which enter our daily life, such as the prevention of +tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and acute infectious diseases. + +Since the observing public have seen educated communities decrease +their death rate from typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and diphtheria from +one third to three fourths by heeding the health call, lawmakers are +becoming convinced that the needless waste of human life should be +stopped. Michigan has already decreed that every school child shall be +taught the cause and prevention of the communicable diseases, and +several other states are contemplating like action. This book meets +fully the demands of all such laws as are contemplated, and presents +the important truths not by dogmatic assertion, but by citing specific +facts appealing to the child mind in such a way as to make a lasting +impression. + +After the eleventh year of age, the first cause of death among school +children is tuberculosis. The chief aim of the author has been to show +the child the sure way of preventing this disease and others of like +nature, and to establish an undying faith in the motto of Pasteur, "It +is within the power of man to rid himself of every parasitic disease." + +Nearly all of the illustrations used are from photographs and drawings +specially prepared for this book. These, together with the large +amount of material gleaned from original sources and from the author's +experiments in the laboratory, will, it is hoped, make this little +volume worthy of the same generous welcome accorded the two earlier +books of this series. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. CARING FOR THE HEALTH 9 + + II. PARTS OF THE BODY 15 + + III. FEEDING THE BODY 21 + + IV. FOOD AND HEALTH 30 + + V. HOW PLANTS SOUR OR SPOIL FOOD 36 + + VI. MILK MAY BE A FOOD OR A POISON 41 + + VII. HOW THE BODY USES FOOD 47 + + VIII. THE CARE OF THE MOUTH 60 + + IX. ALCOHOLIC DRINKS 68 + + X. ALCOHOL AND HEALTH 74 + + XI. TOBACCO AND THE DRUGS WHICH INJURE THE + HEALTH 78 + + XII. THE SKIN AND BATHING 85 + + XIII. CLOTHING AND HOW TO USE IT 94 + + XIV. BREATHING 100 + + XV. FRESH AIR AND HEALTH 111 + + XVI. THE BLOOD AND HOW IT FLOWS THROUGH THE BODY 117 + + XVII. INSECTS AND HEALTH 127 + + XVIII. HOW THE BODY MOVES 135 + + XIX. THE MUSCLES AND HEALTH 144 + + XX. HOW THE BODY IS GOVERNED 149 + + XXI. HOW NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS AFFECT THE + BRAIN AND NERVES 158 + + XXII. THE SENSES, OR DOORS OF KNOWLEDGE 165 + + XXIII. KEEPING AWAY SICKNESS 174 + + XXIV. HELPING BEFORE THE DOCTOR COMES 183 + + INDEX 189 + + + + +HEALTH LESSONS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CARING FOR THE HEALTH + + +=Good Health better than Gold.=--Horses and houses, balls and dolls, +and much else that people think they want to make them happy can be +bought with money. The one thing which is worth more than all else +cannot be bought with even a houseful of gold. This thing is good +health. Over three million persons in our country are now sick, and +many of them are suffering much pain. Some of them would give all the +money they have to gain once more the good health which the poorest +may usually enjoy by right living day by day. + +=How long shall you live?=--In this country most of the persons born +live to be over forty years of age, and some live more than one +hundred years. A hundred years ago most persons died before the age of +thirty-five years. In London three hundred years ago only about one +half of those born reached the age of twenty-five years. Scarcely one +half of the people in India to-day live beyond the age of twenty-five +years. In fact, people in India are dying nearly twice as fast as in +our own country. This is because they have not learned how to take +care of the body in India so well as we have. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--By right living this woman remained in good +health for several years after she was a century old.] + +The study which tells how to keep well is _Hygiene_. Whether you keep +well and live long, or suffer much from headaches, cold, and other +sickness, depends largely on how you care for your body. + +=Working together for Health.=--One cannot always keep well and strong +by his own efforts. The grocer and milkman may sell to you bad food, the +town may furnish impure water, churches and schools may injure your +health by failing to supply fresh air in their buildings. More than a +hundred thousand people were made very sick last year through the use of +water poisoned by waste matter which other persons carelessly let reach +the streams and wells. Many of the sick died of the fever caused by this +water. Although it cannot be said that we are engaged in real war, yet +we are surely killing one another by our thoughtless habits in +scattering disease. We must therefore not only know how to care for our +own bodies, but teach all to help one another to keep well. + +=A Lesson from War.=--The mention of war makes those who know its +terrors shudder. Disease has caused more than ten times as much +suffering and death as war with its harvest of mangled bodies, +shattered limbs, and blinded eyes. In our four months' war with Spain +in 1898 only 268 soldiers were killed in battle, while nearly 4000 +brave men died from disease. We lost more than ten men by disease to +every one killed by bullets. + +In the late war between Japan and Russia the Japanese soldiers cared +for their health so carefully that only one fourth as many died from +disease as perished in battle. This shows that with care for the +health the small men of Japan saved themselves from disease, and thus +won a victory told around the world. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--The Surgeon General who, by keeping the +soldiers well, helped Japan win in the war against Russia.] + +=The Battle with Disease.=--For long ages sickness has caused more +sorrow, misery, and death than famine, war, and wild beasts. Many +years ago a plague called the _black death_ swept over most of the +earth, and killed nearly one third of the inhabitants. A little more +than a hundred years ago yellow fever killed thousands of people in +Philadelphia and New York in a few weeks. When Boston was a city with +a population of 11,000, more than one half of the persons had smallpox +in one year. Within a few years one half of the sturdy red men of our +forests were slain by smallpox when it first visited our shores. +Before the year 1798 few boys or girls reached the age of twenty years +without a pit-marked face due to the dreadful disease of smallpox. +This disease was formerly more common than measles and chicken pox now +are because we had not yet learned how to prevent it as we do to-day. + +=Victory over Disease.=--Cholera, yellow fever, black death, and +smallpox no longer cause people to flee into the wilderness to escape +them when they occasionally break out in a town or city. We have +learned how to prevent these ailments among people who will obey the +laws of health. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--One of the thousands of sturdy red men which +smallpox slew before we learned how to prevent the disease.] + +Until the year 1900, people fled from a city when yellow fever was +announced, but now any one can sleep with a fever patient and not +catch the disease, because we have learned how to prevent it. Nurses +and doctors no longer hesitate to sit for hours in the rooms of those +sick with smallpox because they know how to treat the body to keep +away this disease. By studying this book, boys and girls may learn not +only how to keep free from these diseases, but how to manage their +bodies to make them strong enough to escape other diseases. + +=As the Twig is bent so the Tree is inclined.=--This old saying means +that a strong, straight, healthy, full-grown tree cannot come from a +weak and bent young tree. Health in manhood and womanhood depends on +how the health is cared for in childhood. The foundation for disease +is often laid during school years. The making of strong bodies that +will live joyous lives for long years must begin in boyhood and +girlhood. + +In youth is the time to begin right living. Bad habits formed in early +life often cause much sorrow in later years. It is said that over one +half the drunkards began drinking liquor before they were twenty years +of age and most of the smokers began to use tobacco before they were +twenty years old. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. What is worth most in this world? + + 2. How many people are sick in our country? + + 3. How long do most people live? + + 4. Why do people not live long in India? + + 5. What is hygiene? + + 6. How many more deaths are caused by disease than by + war? + + 7. Give some facts about smallpox. + + 8. Why do we have no fear of yellow fever and smallpox + now? + + 9. Why should you be careful of your health while young? + + 10. When do most smokers and drinkers begin their bad + habits? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PARTS OF THE BODY + + +=Regions of the Body.=--In order to talk about any part of the body it +must have a name. The main portion of the body is called the _trunk_. +At the top of the trunk is the _head_. The arms and legs are known as +_limbs_ or _extremities_. The part of the arm between the elbow and +wrist is the _forearm_. The _thigh_ is the part of the leg between the +knee and hip. + +The upper part of the trunk is called the _chest_ and is encircled by +the ribs. The lower part of the trunk is named the _abdomen_. A large +cavity within the chest contains the lungs and heart. The cavity of +the abdomen is filled with the liver, stomach, food tube, and other +working parts. + +=The Plan of the Body.=--All parts of the body are not the same. One +part has one kind of work to do while another performs quite a +different duty. The covering of the body is the _skin_. Beneath is the +red meat called _muscle_. It looks just like the beef bought at the +butcher shop which is the muscle of a cow or ox. Nearly one half of +the weight of the body is made of muscle. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--General plan of the organs of the body.] + +The muscle is fastened to the _bones_ which support the body and give +it stiffness. The muscle by pulling on the bones helps the body to do +all kinds of work. The muscles and bones cannot work day after day +without being fed. For this reason a food tube leads from the mouth +down into the trunk to prepare milk, meat, bread, or other food, for +the use of the body. + +=Feeding the Body.=--The mouth receives the food and chews it so that it +may be easily swallowed. It then goes into a sac called the _stomach_. +Here the hard parts are broken up into tiny bits and float about in a +watery fluid. This goes out of the stomach into a long crooked tube, the +_intestine_. Here the particles are made still finer, and the whole mass +is then ready to be carried to every part of the muscles, bones, and +brain to build up what is being worn out in work and play. + +=Carrying Food through the Body.=--In all parts of the body are little +branching tubes. These unite into larger tubes leading to the heart. +Through these tubes flows _blood_. Hundreds of tiny tubes in the walls +of the intestine drink in the watery food, and it flows with the blood +to the heart. The heart then pushes this blood with its food out +through another set of tubes which divide into fine branches as they +lead to every part of the body (Fig. 5). + +=Getting rid of Ashes and Worn-out Parts.=--The body works like a +machine. Food is used somewhat as a locomotive uses coal to give it +power to work. Some ashes are left from the used food, and other waste +matter is formed by the dead and worn-out parts of the body. This +waste is gathered up by the richly branching blood tubes and carried +to the lungs. Here some of it passes out at every breath. Part of the +waste goes out through the skin with the sweat and part passes out +through the kidneys. In this way the dead matter is kept from +collecting in the body and clogging its parts. + +=How the Parts of the Body are made to work Together.=--The mass of +red flesh covering the bones is made up of many pieces called muscles. +Whenever we catch a ball or run or even speak, more than a dozen +muscles must be made to act together just in the right way. When food +goes into the stomach, something must tell the juice to flow out of +the walls to act on the food. The boss or manager of all the work +carried on by the thousands of parts of the body is known as the +_brain_ and _spinal cord_ with their tiny threads, the _nerves_, +spreading everywhere through bones and muscles. The brain and spinal +cord give the orders and the nerves carry them (Fig. 5). + +=The Servants of the Body.=--The parts of the body are much like the +servants in a large house or the clerks in a store. One servant or +clerk does one kind of work while another does something entirely +different. Each portion of the body does a different kind of work. +Each one of these parts doing a particular work is called an _organ_. +The stomach is an organ to prepare food and the heart is an organ for +sending the blood through the body. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--On the left are shown the branching tubes +which carry blood to all parts of the body; on the right are the +brain, spinal cord, and nerves which direct the work of the organs.] + +The entire body is composed of several hundred organs. Each of them is +formed of several kinds of materials named _tissue_. A skinlike tissue +makes up the lining of the stomach, while its outside is made of +muscular tissue. The smallest parts of a tissue are little bodies +named _cells_, and very fine threads called _fibers_. + +=Growth of the Body.=--The body grows rapidly in childhood and more +slowly after the sixteenth year, but it continues to get larger until +about the twenty-fifth year of age. Some children always grow slowly, +have weak bones, and frail bodies. This is generally so because they +have poor food or do not chew it well, and get too little fresh air, +sunshine, and sleep. + +The use of beer, wine, or tobacco may hinder the body from using food +for growth, or they may poison the body so that it will never be large +and strong. The body should grow about a hundred pounds in weight +during the first thirteen years of life. Whether children grow little +or much generally depends on the food they give their bodies. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Point out and name four parts of the body. + + 2. Name the two parts of the trunk. + + 3. What does the chest contain? + + 4. What is muscle? + + 5. How is the body fed? + + 6. Give three parts taking waste out of the body. + + 7. Of what use are the brain and nerves? + + 8. Name two organs. + + 9. How long does the body continue to grow? + + 10. Why are some children weak and of slow growth? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FEEDING THE BODY + + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Photograph of the outer dead skin pushed off +from a black snake crawling through the brush.] + +=Why the Body needs Food.=--Every living thing, whether a plant or an +animal, needs food. While the whole body lives, a part of it is +constantly dying. The entire outer layer of a snake's skin dies three +or four times during a year and is cast off, sometimes in a single +piece. We can scrape dead bits of skin from the surface of our body at +any time. Tiny particles are dying in all regions of the body, and we +should soon waste away if food were not taken to make up the loss for +the worn-out parts. + +The body also needs food to help it do its work and keep warm. The body +has the strange power of using food eaten to make the legs and arms move +and the brain to think. In doing this the body is said to burn the food. + +=How the Body burns itself and also Food.=--If a boy is weighed just +before playing a game of ball and again afterward, he will find that +part of his body has been used up and given off in the breath and +sweat. He has burned part of his body, and the breath and sweat are +like the smoke given off when a match is burned. + +One fifth of the air is made of a gas called _oxygen_. When anything +becomes very hot, this oxygen makes it burst into a flame and burn. We +breathe in oxygen with the air and the living action of the body +causes such a slow union of the oxygen and the tissues that there is +no blaze although there is a little heat. + +=Kinds of Food.=--There are four general classes of foods. These are +the _building foods_, the _sugars_ and _starches_, the _fats_, and the +_mineral foods_. The building foods are those which help largely in +forming new muscle and blood or other parts of the body. _Proteids_ is +another name for building foods. + +_Sugars_ and _starches_ are placed in one group because starch changes +to sugar within the body. If you chew a starchy food like bread for a +few minutes, it will begin to taste sweet because the starch is +becoming sugar. + +Fats are got not only from fat meat but also from eggs, butter, milk, +and many other foods. There is some mineral matter, such as potash and +soda, in many of the vegetables and meats eaten, and we use much table +salt to season other foods. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Good foods for building muscles, blood, and +bone.] + +=Body-building Foods.=--A person with all the sugar, molasses, starch, +butter, and lard he could eat would starve to death in a few weeks +because none of these foods would help to build up the dying parts of +the body. A large amount of body builder is found in lean meat, eggs, +milk, peas, beans, corn meal, and bread. Bread and milk is a good food +to make the body grow. If the body takes in more building food than it +needs for repairs, it may store it up in the form of fat or burn it to +help the body do its work. + +=The Fuel Foods.=--The fuel foods are the sugars, starches, and fats. +These are the foods which the body can easily burn to keep it warm and +give it power to act. Candy, molasses, or sugar in any form, taken in +small quantities, is a good food. Starch, which the body quickly +changes to sugar, is a much cheaper food. Meats contain very little +starch, but nearly all vegetables contain much starch. Three fourths +of corn meal, rice, wheat flour, and soda crackers consists of starch. +More than one half of white bread, dried beans, and peas is made of +pure starch, and there is much starch in potatoes. + +_Fat_ is more abundant in animal than in vegetable food. Castor oil +and cotton-seed oil are fats from vegetables. The fat of the cow is +called _suet_ or _tallow_, while the fat of the hog is known as +_lard_. _Butter_ is the fat collected from milk. Cream and eggs +contain much fat. When persons eat too much of the sugars, starches, +or fats, the body may store them up as fat. For this reason thin +persons wishing to gain in flesh eat eggs, nuts, and rich milk. + +=The Mineral Foods.=--The body must have not only lime to help form the +bones, but iron, salt, soda, and potash for other parts of the body. All +these minerals except salt are found in many of the common foods. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Good foods for giving the body power and heat.] + +Water is one of the most important of the mineral foods because it helps +the body use all the other foods. Most people drink too little water to +enjoy the best health. The body needs more than two quarts of water +every day. There is much water in our foods. More than one half of eggs, +meat, and potatoes is made of water, and more than three fourths of +tomatoes, green corn, onions, cabbage, and string beans is composed of +water. We should drink one quart or more of water daily. It should not +be used ice cold, and very little should be taken at meal time. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Diagram showing how the drainage from a house +with a sick person caused one hundred and twenty cases of typhoid +fever at Mount Savage, Maryland.] + +=Water and Health.=--One of the common causes of sickness is bad +water. Water from shallow wells within a hundred feet of barnyards, +pigpens, or other outhouses is usually unsafe to drink. At Newport, +Rhode Island, more than eighty persons were made sick with the fever +by drinking the water from a well only ten feet deep. The impure +water from one spring at Trenton, New Jersey, gave the fever to +nearly a hundred persons in one season. At Mount Savage, Maryland, a +hundred and twenty persons were made ill by using the water from a +spring near a house drain. + +Water from rivers and streams running near where many people live is +likely to be made impure and is sure to bring sickness and death to +some of those who use it. Water from a small stream at Plymouth, +Pennsylvania, running past a house occupied by a typhoid patient, gave +the fever to over a thousand persons in one month. The water from a +small stream at Ithaca, New York, gave the fever to over thirteen +hundred people in one season, and an almost equal number caught the +fever in a few weeks at Butler, Pennsylvania, by drinking water from a +small creek along which some sick persons lived. + +=Preventing Sickness from Bad Water.=--It is better to go thirsty than +to drink water which is likely to cause sickness. Any water can be +made safe by boiling it one minute. Boiled water is the most healthful +kind of water to use. The people of China and Japan seldom use water +that has not been boiled. + +Many cities using water from rivers run it through a layer of sand and +gravel to remove the tiny things that cause so much sickness and death. +This makes the water very much purer, but it is not so certain to make +the water safe as is boiling it. Bad water makes nearly a quarter of a +million of our people sick every year and kills twenty thousand of them. + +=How much Food does the Body Need?=--Most people eat too much. +Overeating overworks the stomach, poisons the body, makes one feel +lazy, and causes headache. If you chew your food fine and stop eating +as soon as hunger is satisfied without tempting the appetite with +sweets, you are not likely to overeat. + +About one seventh of a pound of building food is needed daily to keep +the body in repair, and a quarter of a pound of fat and a pound of +starches and sugars are required to help the body do a hard day's +work. A half pound of bread, beans, and meat each, a pound of +potatoes, a pint of milk, and a quarter of a pound of butter and sugar +each, will give a working man all the food he needs for a day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Bird's-eye view of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, +showing where the waste from one sick room was thrown on the bank of a +stream which several miles below supplied the town with water and +caused over one thousand cases of fever and more than a hundred deaths +within seven weeks.] + +=Beer and Wine as Foods.=--It was once thought that beer and wine were +good foods, but hundreds of late experiments show that these drinks +are very poor and expensive foods. A half glass of milk is of more use +to the body as a food than a full quart of beer. The use of much wine +or beer may seem to satisfy the appetite because they deaden the real +feeling of hunger. Neither of these drinks can be used by the young +without danger of doing much harm. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.--The little glass of milk contains nearly twice +as much food for building flesh and blood as the large glass of beer.] + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Why does the body need food? + + 2. Why do you weigh less after working? + + 3. What is oxygen? + + 4. From what do we get body-building foods? + + 5. In what is starch found? + + 6. How much water does the body need? + + 7. Where have people been made sick by using bad water? + + 8. How can we prevent sickness from bad water? + + 9. What harm does overeating do? + + 10. What can you say of beer as a food? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FOOD AND HEALTH + + +=Meats.=--Beef is the best of all meat for food. Nearly one fifth of +it can be used to repair the worn-out parts of the body. Mutton, the +meat of sheep, is almost as good for food as beef. Veal and pork also +contain much body-building matter, but the stomach must work hard to +prepare them for use. + +Fish is an excellent food, but it has only little more than one half +as much flesh-building matter as good beef. Poultry is a healthful +food, especially for the weak and sick, but it is more expensive than +the other meats. Oysters are largely made of water and do not contain +much to strengthen the body. + +In all meat there is some waste matter. This may harm the body if we +eat too much meat. It is no longer thought healthful for most persons +to eat meat more than once a day. Too much meat used daily for several +years is likely to cause disease. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Each of these articles costs the same, but +the bread will furnish four times as much food for the body as the +cabbage, more than twice as much as the fish, and nearly twice as much +as the milk.] + +=The Cooking of Meat.=--The best meat if poorly cooked is unfit for +eating. Broiled and roasted meats are more healthful than boiled or +fried meat. Meat is broiled by holding it in a wire frame over a +flame or hot coals. It is roasted by placing it in a covered pan in a +hot oven for two or three hours. It is boiled by keeping it in hot +water several hours. + +Meat is fried by cooking it in lard or other fat in a pan. Only those +who have strong bodies should eat fried meat. + +The cheap cuts of meat from the neck, breast, and legs have about as +much food matter in them as the more costly parts. Such meat may be +made more tender by boiling than by roasting. + +=Soup.=--Soup, broth, and beef tea furnish but little food for the +body. They are very useful in giving us a good appetite for the real +food to be eaten later. They make the stomach go to work more quickly +than other food. Soup or broth is made from meat by placing it on the +stove in cold water, gradually heating it, and then keeping it hot +several hours. + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Either group of foods will give the body the +same strength and nourishment for work and growth.] + +=Vegetables.=--Some persons never eat meat of any kind because they +enjoy better health when using only vegetables, milk, and eggs. Peas and +beans contain much matter for making new flesh and blood and also much +starch to give heat and power to the body. Potatoes form a valuable +food. Roasted potatoes are more healthful than those boiled or fried. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--The amount of real food in these articles.] + +Radishes, onions, and cucumbers are made largely of water. Only a +small amount of these should be eaten at one meal as the stomach must +work hard to make use of them. Young beets, lettuce, and ripe tomatoes +may be eaten by young and old. They contain useful minerals and help +keep the body in a healthful condition. + +=The Cereals or Grain Foods.=--These foods are eaten in the form of +bread, oatmeal, corn meal, rice, and breakfast foods. All of these +furnish much matter to strengthen the body and make it grow. Bread and +butter with rice are excellent foods for children. + +=Fruits.=--Very few people can remain well long without eating fruit of +some kind. Ripe apples, pears, plums, peaches, berries, and cherries +furnish useful salts to the body and also help the stomach and food +tube do their work in a more healthful way. Fruits also increase the +appetite. Green fruit and fruit which is overripe should never be eaten. + +=Eggs.=--Eggs form a good food for nearly everybody, but they are +specially needed by the young and other persons with weak bodies. They +can repair the worn-out parts of the body and also help it do its work. + +Eggs are most healthful when eaten raw or soft cooked. The best way to +cook them through evenly is to put them in a pan off the stove and add +about a quart of boiling water for every three eggs. Cover and let +them cook fifteen minutes. + +Eggs should be kept in a cold room or cellar until used. They become +stale in less than a week when left in a warm living room and may get +a bad taste when only three or four days old. + +=Salt, Pepper, and Vinegar.=--Eating much salt is harmful. A small +quantity of salt and pepper increases the appetite and makes the +stomach do its work better. Children should use very little pepper and +almost no vinegar and mustard. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--A bottle of beer. The dotted part at the top +shows how much body-building food it contains.] + +=Tobacco.=--Some people think tobacco is a food because it is made from +the leaves of a plant. Other people think tobacco is a food because they +do not feel hungry after smoking or chewing it. The truth is that +tobacco is of no use to the body as a food and may do it much harm +because of the poison it contains. Tobacco satisfies hunger somewhat by +deadening the parts of the body that are calling for food. + +=Beer.=--The people who make beer and sell it say that it is a food. +Men who have no interest in selling beer, and have experimented with +it to find out whether it strengthens the body, say that beer should +never be used as a food. It often tends to weaken the body. Children +should never use beer at any time, and older people can sometimes +avoid disease by letting it alone. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Which are the best meats for food? + + 2. Why should we not eat meat at every meal? + + 3. How should meat be cooked to make it most tender? + + 4. How is soup or broth made? + + 5. Name the best vegetables for food. + + 6. Name some good grain foods. + + 7. Of what use are fruits? + + 8. What can you say of the use of eggs? + + 9. How should eggs be cared for? + + 10. What can you say of the use of salt and pepper? + + 11. Why does tobacco satisfy hunger? + + 12. Of what value is beer for food? + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HOW PLANTS SOUR OR SPOIL FOOD + + +=Germs, Microbes, or Bacteria.=--The dust and dirt of all sorts +contain thousands of tiny plants too small to be seen by the eye +without help. An instrument called a _microscope_ makes them appear so +large that their form and growth are easily studied. These little +plants are called _germs_ or _microbes_. They are also named +_bacteria_. They are so small that a million laid side by side would +not cover the head of a pin. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Bacteria or microbes found in water, dust, +and waste. They help change straw and other dead matter into food for +plants. Much enlarged.] + +There are hundreds of different kinds of germs. Some are round like +little balls and others are the shape of tiny rods. Many of them which +look just alike act very different in growing. There are more than +twenty different kinds that grow in our bodies and cause diphtheria, +tuberculosis, and other diseases. We have measles and scarlet fever +because we have gotten these disease germs from some one else in whom +they were growing. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Mold which grew on moist bread in two days. +5, seed bodies breaking out of the sack; 1, 2, and 4, one of the seed +bodies after one, two, and four hours' growth. Much enlarged.] + +Most germs feed on dead matter instead of our living bodies and make +it melt away or change into another form. An apple or a piece of meat +thrown out on the ground will soon change and become like the earth on +which it lies. The change, called decay, is caused by millions of +germs. The farmer's best friends are certain germs which help make the +ground rich, so that the crops will grow. + +=Mold.=--The dust raised in sweeping contains tiny living seedlike +bodies. If these fall on bread, cheese, or fruit, and this food is +afterward kept moist in a warm room for a day or two, they will grow +into grayish fluffy spots. These spots are mold. The greenish white +growth on the top of some canned fruit and on berries left in the +warm kitchen over night is also mold. + +Mold is a plant which grows from tiny round bodies acting like seeds +(Fig. 17). These seed bodies of mold are common in all dust and often +fly through the air. On this account food should be kept covered when +possible and especially when one is sweeping. Some mold gives bread, +cheese, and other food a bad taste, but it will not make one sick. + +=How Germs Grow.=--Germs will not grow where it is very cold, but +freezing the germs does not kill them. Boiling one minute kills most +germs. Drying will stop the germs from growing, but will not kill all +of them. Sunlight kills many of them. + +Moisture and warmth make germs grow rapidly. A germ in growing +lengthens out a little and then divides in the middle. It does this so +quickly that one germ may become two in fifteen minutes. Each of these +will then divide. In this way one germ can make many million germs in +a single day (Fig. 18). + +=The Spoiling of Meat.=--Fresh meat will not remain good even one day +if left in a warm place. A large greenish blue fly seen buzzing about +in warm weather will sometimes lay its eggs on meat. These will hatch +the next day into little worms, called maggots. They grow rapidly and +a few days later change into flies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Drawing of the germ at the top every ten +minutes, showing how it grew into two germs in a half hour. Much +enlarged.] + +Germs will also spoil meat not kept cold. They feed on the meat and +give off a poison, making it unfit to eat. The bad odor tells when the +germs are at work. Every home should have a cold cellar or an ice box +to keep food from spoiling. + +=Saving Food from Souring.=--The souring of milk and of cooked food of +any kind is due to the germs always present in the air and clinging by +the thousands to unwashed dishes and hands. If meat or fruit is cooked +and kept tightly covered, it will remain good for years. Many persons +save fruit and vegetables for use in winter by putting them in jars, +which are heated to kill the germs, and sealed tight to keep out other +germs. + +=Yeast or the Alcohol Plant.=--Sweet cider and other fruit juices are +sometimes spoiled by a plant named yeast. This plant has the form of a +football and is so small that a million of its kind together would not +make a mass as large as the head of a pin. It floats about in the air +and is present on the skins of fruits. + +Yeast is also called the alcohol plant because whenever it grows in a +sweet substance like fruit juice it changes part of it into a biting +substance called alcohol. At the same time it gives off a gas. It is +this gas which forms the bubbling or frothing in beer. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Yeast plants used in making bread and beer. +Those on the right are growing new plants. Much enlarged.] + +The millions of yeast plants in the yeast cake bought at the store, +when put into the dough for bread, grow and form gas. This pushes the +bits of dough apart and makes it light. The little alcohol formed is +all driven off in the baking. + +The alcohol which yeast forms by growing in sweet cider is in a few +weeks changed to vinegar by other germs called the vinegar plants. +Sour cider may make those who use it sick and drunk because it +contains alcohol. Yeast makes wine out of grape juice. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Where are germs found? + + 2. What is the form of microbes? + + 3. Name some diseases caused by germs. + + 4. What is mold? + + 5. Why should food be kept covered when not in use? + + 6. What causes meat to spoil? + + 7. How may fruit be kept from spoiling? + + 8. Where is yeast found? + + 9. What effect has yeast on fruit juice? + + 10. Why should you not drink sour cider? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MILK MAY BE A FOOD OR A POISON + + +=Of what Milk is Made.=--Milk is the most perfect food known. It +contains everything needed to build and strengthen the body. In one +gallon of milk there is about one teacupful of pure fat, nearly the +same amount of sugar, one teacupful of body-building food needed to +make muscle and blood. There is also some lime and other mineral +matter to make the bones of the young grow strong. The remaining seven +pints are water. + +=Kinds of Milk.=--When milk is left standing in a jar for several +hours, much of the fat, which is present in the form of tiny balls, +rises to the upper part. This upper layer of milk full of fat is +called _cream_. If this is removed, the rest is called _skim milk_. + +Milk after standing in a warm place one or two days becomes sour. It +is then sometimes put into a tight box or barrel and beat in such a +way as to break up the little balls of fat. These are then pressed +together into a mass called _butter_. It requires a whole gallon of +milk to make one teacupful of butter. The milk remaining after the +butter is taken out is called _buttermilk_. Cheese is made from milk. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Two kinds of milk, showing the amount of fat +in each.] + +=Milk as a Food.=--Milk is a healthful drink for nearly every one and +especially useful for those with weak bodies. During sickness it is +sometimes the only food the patient can take. It is well for children +to use two or three glasses of milk daily with their meals. It should +be sipped slowly so it will mix with the fluid in the mouth and not +form lumps called curds in the stomach. + +A quart of milk contains more food for the body than a half pound of +good beefsteak. A pint of milk will supply the body with about as much +food as a pint of oysters. A bowl of milk and a half loaf of bread is +a healthful supper for a boy or girl. Skim milk and buttermilk are +healthful drinks which furnish much food for building bone, blood, and +muscle. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Germs which grow in milk and make it sour.] + +=When Milk is a Poison.=--In New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago it has +been noticed for many years that large numbers of babies become sick +in warm weather and many of them die. The doctors learned that most of +the babies taken sick were being fed on cows' milk because their own +mothers did not have enough for them. It was then found that the sick +babies had been using milk from dairies where the stables were dirty, +the cows soiled, and the hands of the milkers unclean. On this account +much dirt got into the milk. + +Babies fed on clean milk from clean cows kept in clean stables +remained strong and well. By much study the doctors learned that +_dirty milk is poisonous milk_. The poison is made by the germs or +bacteria living by the millions in unclean stables and in milk buckets +not well washed in boiling water. Dirty milk becomes most poisonous in +hot weather because warmth makes the germs grow very fast and become +so numerous that millions are present in a teaspoonful of milk. + +=Keeping Milk Clean.=--During one week of hot weather in Cincinnati, +over a hundred babies were poisoned with dirty milk. In the same week +twice this number were made sick by unclean milk in Philadelphia. +During the hot part of the year in our country bad milk kills more +than a half dozen babies every hour of the day and night. + +The only way _to have milk clean is to have clean stables with clean +cows, milked by clean hands, and the milk handled in clean pails, cans, +and bottles which have been scalded after being washed_. The milk must +then be kept cold until used, so that the germs will not grow in it. + +=Saving the Baby from Bad Milk.=--If possible, milk should be bought +for the baby in bottles sealed with a pasteboard lid. If milk turns +sour the same day it is delivered, it is not fit for the baby to take. +Heating it makes most milk safer for use. The heating of milk to kill +most of the germs is _pasteurizing_ it. It should be kept very hot for +about fifteen minutes, but should not be allowed to boil. It should be +cooled by placing the vessel on ice or in cold water. + +The baby's bottle and nipple should be washed in cold water and then +well scalded immediately after being used. The bottle, the nipple, and +the milk should be kept away from flies and dust. One fly has been +known to carry on its body more germs than there are leaves on a large +tree. + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Plan of the prison at Easton, Pa. The crosses +show into which cells the flies brought typhoid germs from the sewer +and made the prisoners sick with fever.] + +=Flies and Fever in a Prison.=--In August, 1908, thirteen prisoners in +the jail at Easton, Pennsylvania, were taken ill with typhoid fever. +They had not been near any sick persons and their food and water were +found to be pure. All those sick were in cells in one end of the +prison. About twenty feet from this end a sewer had been uncovered two +weeks before and left open. This sewer carried the waste from the +hospital where several patients were sick with the fever. Flies fed on +the waste in the sewer and then with the germs sticking to their feet +flew into the cells of the prisoners and walked over their cups, +spoons, and food. A little girl who played near this open sewer and +shared her lunch with the flies had a severe attack of fever two weeks +later because the germs scraped from the flies' feet on her food got +into her body and grew. + +=Milk and Disease.=--We must be very careful to get not only clean +milk but milk from healthy cows milked by persons who have no typhoid +fever, scarlet fever, or diphtheria in their homes. If only one or two +disease germs get into the milk from the hands of those who have +nursed the sick, these will grow into immense numbers in a single day. +Many of those who use the milk will then become ill. Hundreds are made +sick in this way every year. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Why is milk a good food? + + 2. What does a gallon of milk contain? + + 3. What is cream? + + 4. How is butter made? + + 5. For whom is milk specially good? + + 6. How does milk become poisonous? + + 7. Why is dirty milk more poisonous in hot weather? + + 8. Tell what harm unclean milk does. + + 9. How may milk be kept clean? + + 10. Explain how milk is heated to make it safe for use. + + 11. Show how flies may cause fever. + + 12. Tell how milk may carry diphtheria into our homes. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOW THE BODY USES FOOD + + +=Organs for making ready the Food.=--Before the food can get into the +blood and be carried over the body to feed the muscles and the brain, +it must be made into a fluid. This changing of the solid food into a +liquid by the stomach and other organs is called _digestion_. The +organs which do this work are known as _digestive organs_. They +consist of a _food tube_ and several bodies called _glands_. + +=The Food Tube.=--The food canal is about thirty feet long. Its first +part, the _mouth_, opens back of the tongue into the throat, named the +_pharynx_. This leads into a tube, the gullet, passing down through +the back part of the chest into the _stomach_ below the diaphragm. The +stomach is a bent sac opening into a tube over twenty-five feet long +called the _bowels_ or _intestines_. This tube is folded into a bunch +which fills a large part of the cavity of the abdomen. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.--The plan of a gland. _a_ carries blood to the +gland and _v_ takes it away after the gland has taken out what it +needs. On the right side the top of the gland has been cut off.] + +=The Glands or Juice Makers.=--A gland is a little tube closed at one +end, or a bunch of such tubes, which can take something out of the +blood and make it into a juice. A gland under each ear and four others +near the tongue make the juice called _saliva_ which flows into the +mouth through tubes. + +A long, flat, pink gland back of the stomach is called the _sweetbread_ +or _pancreas_. This and a large brown gland, the _liver_, empty their +juices into the intestines. The whole inner surface of the stomach and +intestines is lined with tiny tubes, the glands. The juice of these with +that of the other glands softens the food and makes it into a liquid. + +=The Work of the Mouth.=--The mouth has three things to do: It should +break the lumps of food into fine bits so it can be well wet with the +slippery fluid called _saliva_ and also easily swallowed. It must roll +the food about so that it gets soaked with saliva. It must hold the +food long enough to get much taste from it because this starts the +juices to flowing into the stomach. Food gives out its taste only +after it is changed to a liquid. It should not be washed down with +water, as this weakens the juices in the stomach. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.--The three glands which make the saliva for +acting on the food in the mouth.] + +No food should be swallowed until it is broken into bits nearly as small +as the head of a pin. Some foods, such as cheese, bananas, and nuts, +should be made even finer than this. There is nothing in the stomach to +crush to pieces large lumps of food. The juices of the stomach can do +their full work only when the food is well chewed in the mouth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Photograph of a chestnut chewed a half minute +by a boy who had poor teeth because he had not taken care of them. The +lumps are so large that the juices of the stomach could not dissolve +them.] + +=The Chewing of Food keeps away Sickness.=--Bread, meat, and potatoes +should be cut into pieces no larger than half the size of your thumb +and each piece put separately into your mouth with a fork. It should +then be chewed from twenty to thirty times before another piece is put +into the mouth. Food treated in this way will not cause headache or a +sickness in the stomach called _indigestion_ or _dyspepsia_. It is +said that there are so many persons with this kind of sickness that +more than $5,000,000 are spent every year for medicine to help them. + +Too little chewing of the food while you are young may not cause many +aches or pains, but if you form the habit of rapid eating it is hard +to learn to eat slowly. No one who chews his food poorly can avoid +sickness long or grow well and strong. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Photograph of a chestnut chewed a half minute +by a boy with good teeth.] + +=The Work of the Stomach.=--When the food is swallowed, it passes +through the gullet into the stomach. This is a sac holding more than +a quart (Fig. 27). It is made of an outer wall of muscle and an inner +skinlike coat full of tiny tubes called _gastric glands_. Millions of +these give out drop by drop a watery fluid named _gastric juice_. This +juice begins to flow as soon as we smell or taste food and continues +to drop out as long as there is any food in the stomach. + +The use of the gastric juice is to help change part of the food into a +more watery fluid. To do this it must be well mixed with the food. +This mixing is done by the muscles in the outer wall of the stomach +(Fig. 29). They squeeze together and then loosen up in such a way as +to move the food about and turn it over until every particle is wet +again and again with the gastric juice. + +=How long Food stays in the Stomach.=--A ring of muscle around the end +of the stomach keeps the food from escaping until it has become a thin +grayish liquid. The stomach can finish its work on some kinds of food +in one or two hours. With other foods it must work four or five hours. + +The stomach can finish its work on soft boiled eggs, milk, roasted +potatoes, and broiled lamb within two hours. With pork, veal, cabbage, +and fried potatoes it must work four or five hours. When a person is +sick the stomach is weak, and he should have only the food which +causes the stomach the least work. + +=The Work of the Intestines.=--The last part of the work in getting +the food ready for the blood is done in the long folded tube known as +the intestine (Fig. 27). Here juices coming from the pancreas and +liver mix with the food and change into a liquid those parts not acted +on in the stomach. + +The intestine does quite as much work as the stomach. Sometimes when +the stomach is sick, too much work is put off on the intestines and +then they become sick and give much pain. + +The pint of watery fluid from the pancreas and the quart of greenish +yellow fluid called _bile_ given out by the liver are carried through +two tubes into the intestine (Fig. 27). To mix these juices with the +food the intestine is being swung gently back and forth and the walls +squeezed together by muscles forming its outer coat. As soon as the +intestine has finished its work the food begins to enter the blood. + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.--The organs which get the food ready to enter +the blood.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Showing how the food in the dog is carried +from the intestine to the liver and heart. The white tubes carry the +fats up to the vein in the neck, and the dark tubes which are veins +carry the other part of the food to the liver.] + +=How Food gets into the Blood.=--An hour or two after food has entered +the intestine it is almost as thin a fluid as milk. Millions of tiny +fingerlike growths stick out from the inner side of the intestines +and drink in the watery food. These little fingers for drinking up the +food are scarcely one fourth as large as the point of a pencil. They +are called _villi_. + +The villi are filled with blood tubes having thin walls. The food passes +through these walls into the blood stream. Much of it then goes to the +liver, but the fatty parts flow up a tube along the backbone and empty +into a blood tube in the neck. From the neck and the liver the food goes +with the blood to the heart which sends it to all parts of the body. + +=What the Liver does.=--The liver is a dark red body nearly as large +as the upper half of your head. It lies just below the diaphragm. It +works night and day helping to keep the inner parts of the body clean +and at the same time deal out food. + +The liver takes some waste out of the blood and sends it out into the +intestine with the bile. When there is no food in the intestine, the +bile is stored up in the _gall bladder_ under the liver. The liver +changes certain waste matter in the blood into such form that other +organs can cast it out of the body. It also stores up certain parts of +the food coming from the intestines and gives it out to the body +little by little as it is needed. + +=When and How much to Eat.=--When the food organs do not do their work +rightly, the whole body becomes sick. Eating too much overworks the +stomach. It becomes so full that the food cannot be moved about and +well mixed with the juices. Germs then work on the food and make it +sour. In fact the germs may change part of the food into a poison. +This poison will cause headache and a bad feeling. + +Do not form a habit of taking powders to cure headache. They are likely +to hurt the heart. Take less food, eat it more slowly, and do not wash +it down with drink. Stop eating before your stomach feels full. + +Each meal gives the stomach about four hours of work to do. It then +needs one hour of rest. This shows that the time from one meal to the +next should be about five hours. Very young children and sick persons +need food oftener. Boys and girls should not eat candies, cake, or +other food between meals. It spoils the appetite and is likely to get +the stomach out of working order. + +=Danger Signals.=--A white or yellowish coat on the tongue, a bad +breath, pain in the bowels, or a headache is a danger signal. It tells +that the food organs are not doing their work as they should and unless +help is given sickness is likely to occur. Medicine may help, but using +foods easy to digest, eating less, chewing more, and getting plenty of +exercise in the fresh air are likely to be the greatest aids to health. + +=The Chewing of Tobacco and Digestion.=--Some men chew tobacco as much +as ten hours every day. The taste of the tobacco makes the saliva flow +from the glands into the mouth. This dissolves the poison out of the +tobacco and it is then spit out. If the tobacco-soaked saliva were all +swallowed, the man would be poisoned. + +The chewing of tobacco causes the loss of much saliva which is needed +to help digest the food. Anyone who tires his jaw by chewing tobacco +is not likely to chew his food well. Some of the poison in the tobacco +is taken into the body through the blood vessels in the lining of the +mouth. This is shown by the fact that a boy not used to tobacco +becomes very sick after he has chewed a mouthful for only ten minutes. + +=Smoking and Digestion.=--Some persons think that the smoking of a +cigar after a meal helps digestion. It may do so in some cases. If a +lawyer is much excited about a case he is trying, or a business man is +in trouble about his losses, the thinking causes the blood to flow to +the head when it is needed in the stomach to give out digestive juices. + +The taste of the tobacco smoke may cause some gastric juice to run out +into the stomach, but at the same time it is likely to hurt the nerves +of taste so that food cannot give so much enjoyment as when the nerves +are unharmed. Although smoking may at the time help digestion a +little, the poison in the tobacco may afterward injure the body. This +poison is especially harmful to growing bodies, and boys who are wise +will refuse to smoke on all occasions. + +=Beer and Digestion.=--Some people drink beer with their meals because +they think it makes the food taste better. It really prevents them +from getting the full taste of the food because they wash it down +before it is well soaked with the saliva. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.--The stomach, showing the arrangement of the +muscular fibers which alcohol may hinder from doing good work. At the +right a piece is cut out of the top layer of muscle.] + +The flavor of beer may sometimes cause an extra flow of gastric juice +into the stomach, but the alcohol in the beer is likely to make the +movements of the stomach slower. This prevents the food from being +well and quickly mixed with the juices. Several glasses of beer used +at one meal will make the stomach do its work very slowly, and it will +not do it well. + +=Wine and Digestion.=--Wine is taken by some people to give more +appetite for food. It is likely, however, to do more harm than good +because the alcohol in it makes the muscles which mix the food in the +stomach act more slowly. Some of the food may sour before it gets wet +with the juice. Much wine used at a meal is always harmful. + +=Natural Appetite.=--If one is in health, he should feel a desire for +his food at every meal. This desire for a reasonable amount of food is +a natural appetite. Fresh air and exercise will do much to give one +the right kind of an appetite. The eating of much sweets and the +breathing of bad air are likely to spoil the appetite. + +The use of some things, such as opium, tobacco, beer, wine, and +whisky, creates an unnatural appetite. That is, after one has used +these articles a few months he cannot stop their use without great +suffering. The younger the person, the sooner the appetite becomes +fixed. For this reason _young persons should never use tobacco or +alcoholic drinks of any kind_. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. What is digestion? + + 2. Name the parts of the food tube. + + 3. Where does saliva come from? + + 4. Explain how the food is acted on in the mouth. + + 5. Why should food be well chewed? + + 6. What forms the gastric juice? + + 7. Of what use is the gastric juice? + + 8. How long does food stay in the stomach? + + 9. Name some foods easily digested. + + 10. What does the intestine do? + + 11. What are villi? + + 12. Tell how the food gets into the blood. + + 13. Of what use is the liver? + + 14. Why should we not eat too much? + + 15. Should we eat between meals? + + 16. Give three reasons why you should not use tobacco. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CARE OF THE MOUTH + + +=Sickness often begins in the Mouth.=--A clean mouth and sound teeth +have much to do in keeping one well. The germs which cause nearly a +half million deaths in the United States every year enter the body +through the mouth. If the mouth is unclean, only one or two disease +germs entering it may remain there and grow. + +[Illustration: FIG. 30.--The teeth of the upper jaw at eleven years of +age.] + +It is just as important to wash the mouth two or three times each day +as it is to wash the hands and face. A few germs of diphtheria, sore +throat, or tuberculosis are likely to get into the mouth any day, but +if the mouth and teeth are well washed with a brush morning and night, +the germs will not have time to grow and cause sickness. + +=The Teeth.=--The first twenty teeth that appear are called the _milk +set_. The eight front teeth grow out during the first year of life and +back of these twelve others appear during the second year. Between the +seventh and the tenth year all of the milk teeth are lost because +others grow beneath them and push them out. + +[Illustration: FIG. 31.--The full set of teeth on the right side at +twelve years of age. The numbers show at what year of age each one +grows out of the gum.] + +The first four teeth of the second set appear in the sixth year, just +behind the last milk teeth (Fig. 30). These teeth should be watched +very closely and at the first sign of decay you should go to the +dentist. As the milk teeth get loose and come out, the second set of +teeth take their places. + +If you are ten or eleven years old, you should have twelve good teeth +in the upper jaw and the same number below. The last ones to break +through the gums are the four wisdom teeth at the back of the mouth. +They appear after the seventeenth year. + +The front teeth are called _incisors_ because they are used to cut the +food. The back teeth are named _molars_ because they are used in +grinding the food. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Photograph of teeth not kept clean, showing +how germs and a sour substance called acid eat holes in them and thus +cause decay and toothache.] + +=Toothache.=--Toothache is a common ailment, and yet it can be +entirely prevented. A tooth does not ache until it has a hole in it. +The tender nerve within gives us warning that it is being hurt. The +dentist can stop the ache and mend the tooth so that it will not ache +again. Look at your teeth every month and feel about them with a +wooden tooth-pick to know when the decay begins. If the little holes +are mended as soon as found, you will never have toothache, and you +can keep your teeth as long as you live. + +[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Slice down through a tooth showing _f_, the +enamel, and _d_, the soft pulp with nerves and blood tubes from the +root at _h_.] + +=How to keep the Teeth Sound.=--Every tooth is covered with a layer of +hard shining substance called _enamel_ (Fig. 33). So long as this is +unbroken the softer bony part of the tooth cannot decay. At the base +of the tooth where the gum joins it the enamel is very thin, so that +the scratch of a pin or other instrument may break it. + +Never pick the teeth with a pin or needle. The biting off of thread, +finger nails, and other hard material may crack the enamel. It may +also be softened and eaten away by acid formed where food remains +about a tooth. For this reason a quill or wooden pick or piece of +tough thread, called _dental floss_, should be used to clear the teeth +of food after each meal. Slimy matter collects over the whole surface +of the teeth, and is likely to cause decay in spots unless it is +cleaned off night and morning with brush and water. The chewing of dry +crusts of bread or crackers strengthens the teeth and keeps off decay. + +=Why Candy and other Sweets cause the Teeth to Decay.=--A sour +substance called acid usually starts the decay of a tooth by eating +through the enamel. Germs change sugar and other sweets into an acid. +The acid is not made at once. An hour or more is needed for the germs +to grow to form the acid. If, after eating sweet foods, the mouth is +well cleaned, no acid will be formed. Sugar and candy do not, +therefore, spoil the teeth unless it is left sticking about them. + +=How to brush the Teeth.=--Every boy and girl should own a toothbrush. +_The teeth should be brushed every night and morning and kept white._ +Yellow or gray slimy teeth are very ugly. The teeth should be brushed +on the inside as well as on the outside. It is best to brush the teeth +crosswise for two minutes and then spend another two minutes brushing +the upper teeth downwards and the lower teeth upwards. This prevents +pushing the gum away from the teeth. Plenty of water should be used +with the brush, and a little good powder is helpful once a day. + +=How the Dentist can Help.=--Sometimes the milk teeth do not get loose +so that they can be pulled with the fingers at the right time. The +second teeth then come in at one side and may never get straight in +place. They then spoil the appearance of the face and do poor work in +chewing. The dentist should be asked to help straighten the teeth as +soon as they appear crooked. + +[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Exact drawing of the teeth of two persons. +Those in the lower picture began to decay over twenty-five years ago and +they were then filled so as to remain perfect. The teeth in the upper +picture began to decay less than ten years ago but were not filled.] + +It is wise to have the dentist examine the teeth once or twice every +year and remove a limy substance called tartar collecting at their +base. The dentist can stop the decay in a tooth by cleaning out the +little hole and filling it with gold or some other material. It may +cause a little pain and expense to have the teeth filled, but it will +save a hundred times as much pain and expense later. The six year +molars need special care as they are likely to decay early. Even the +milk teeth often need filling so that they will not be lost too soon. + +=Bad Teeth cause Sickness.=--When anything decays, it is full of +germs, and they are always giving off some poison. The poison may hurt +the body and is likely to make parts of the mouth sore and tender so +that other germs of disease can break through into the flesh. Disease +germs can easily lodge in the holes of decaying teeth, grow in +numbers, and finally cause diphtheria, sore throat, or other ailments. + +Four out of every five children suffering from diphtheria or other +throat or ear troubles are found to have from one to ten bad teeth. +You must keep good teeth if you wish to be well and strong. + +=The Value of Sound Teeth.=--Sound teeth which will do good work in +chewing food are worth more than a foot or an arm. If the foot or arm +is lost, the body is likely to get well and be as healthy as ever. +_The health of the whole body depends upon the work done by the +teeth._ Unless they do their part the stomach cannot get the food +ready for the blood. + +A part of badly chewed food is turned into a poison farther down in +the food canal. This is what makes many people feel so tired and +miserable much of the time. Hundreds of men have been refused +admission to our army because they have poor teeth. Soldiers must be +strong and well to take long marches and fight battles. Sound teeth +give strength and health. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Why should the mouth be washed out every day? + + 2. When do the milk teeth appear? + + 3. When are the milk teeth lost? + + 4. How many teeth have you? + + 5. How many show signs of decay? + + 6. How may toothache be prevented? + + 7. How may the teeth be kept sound? + + 8. Why do sweets cause the teeth to decay? + + 9. How should you brush your teeth? + + 10. Why should the dentist examine your teeth every year? + + 11. Why are sound teeth of great worth? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ALCOHOLIC DRINKS + + +=Drink needed for Health.=--Water in the form of sweat and in other +ways is constantly passing off from the body. This water carries with +it the waste matter which, if it remained, would poison the body. +There is some water in the food we eat, but not enough to supply the +wants of the body. + +Some persons think that the body needs beer or wine to keep it in good +order. These liquids, as well as whisky, brandy, and rum, are called +_alcoholic drinks_. The latest experiments and studies show that the +body never needs alcoholic drinks to keep it in the best of health. +These drinks sometimes make the body sick, and if much alcohol is +taken at one time, the person becomes dizzy, staggers, and may fall +down and go to sleep. + +=The Desire for Drink.=--When parts of the body have too little water, +there is a longing for drink. This is called _thirst_. As soon as a +cup of water is drunk the desire is satisfied. There is no danger of +drinking too much pure water. + +Persons who have been accustomed to use alcoholic drink have a thirst +which water does not satisfy. It is an _unnatural thirst_. Even beer +or wine will not satisfy such a thirst except for a few minutes. Very +often a person's thirst is not satisfied until he has used so much +wine or whisky that he becomes dull and unsteady in his walk. He is +then said to be drunk. + +[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Yeast plants growing as in the making of beer +and wine. Much enlarged.] + +=How the Yeast Plant makes Alcohol.=--In the cake of yeast bought at +the grocery there are millions of tiny plants, each shaped somewhat +like a potato. This strange little plant will grow very rapidly when +put into any sweet watery substance. It sends out a bud which grows +larger and larger until in a half hour the bud is as large as the old +plant. It may then break loose and grow other buds, just like the +mother plant. + +When yeast grows, it changes the sugar or sweet part of the water into +alcohol and a gas called carbon dioxide. It is this gas which makes +beer foam and bubble when opened. All alcohol used in beer, porter, +ale, wine, brandy, rum, gin, and whisky is made by yeast plants. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Photograph of sprouted barley grains called +malt.] + +=How Beer is Made.=--There is more beer used than any other alcoholic +drink. It is cheap and is much weaker in alcohol than wine or whisky. +Only about one twentieth part of beer is alcohol. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Photograph of a spray of hops, which are used +to flavor beer.] + +In making beer, a sweet watery mixture is first prepared by mashing +sprouted barley grains in water. Barley or any other grain forms sugar +as soon as it begins to grow. Yeast plants are added to the sweet +mixture. By growing they change some of the sugar into alcohol. Hops +are also put in to give the beer a fine flavor. After a time the clear +liquid is separated from the barley grains and hops and put into tight +casks and bottles. + +=The Making of Wine.=--Wine contains from two to four times as much +alcohol as beer. Most of the wine is made in California, France, and +Germany because grapes grow better in these countries than elsewhere. +Wine may be made from the juice of any fruit, but the grape is +generally used. + +[Illustration: FIG. 38.--The quantity of grapes required to make this +glass full of wine.] + +The grapes after being picked are thrown into large tubs and crushed +so that the juice runs out. The wild yeast always present on the grape +skins begins to grow in the juice and change some of the sugar into +alcohol. This work of the yeast lasts from one to eight weeks. At the +end of that time, the grape juice has become a kind of poor wine, +consisting of alcohol, water, grape flavor, and some acid. To make the +wine good it must be drawn off into casks, where the yeast causes +further changes during several weeks. It is then put into bottles, +where it should remain about five years to get the right flavor. + +=Sherry= is a strong wine used in flavoring food, such as puddings and +sauces. A few teaspoonfuls of this wine will make a child drunk. The +wines made at home from elderberries, blackberries, and cherries +contain alcohol which will do just as much harm as that in the +purchased wines. + +=How Brandy is Made.=--Brandy contains more alcohol than wine and +almost as much as whisky. In fact brandy is only very strong wine. +After the yeast plants have formed as much alcohol as they can in +grape juice it becomes so strong that it kills them. This wine is then +heated in such a way as to separate some of the water from it. The +taking away of the water leaves the wine stronger in alcohol and it +then forms brandy. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39.--The shaded part at the bottom of each bottle +shows the amount of alcohol in the drink.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 40.--A still used in making whisky or brandy. The +heat makes the alcohol fumes or vapor rise and pass over through the +pipe coiled in a vessel of cold water. The cold changes the vapor to a +liquid which is whisky.] + +=Whisky and Rum.=--These two drinks are strong in alcohol. Nearly one +half of each is pure alcohol. Whisky is usually made from rye, corn, +or wheat, or all three together. They furnish the food in which the +yeast grows and makes alcohol. This watery mixture of grain and +alcohol is then heated and the vapor or steam forms whisky after it +goes off through a pipe into another vessel. This kind of heating is +_distillation_. Rum is formed in somewhat the same way from molasses +or cane juice. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Name some alcoholic drinks. + + 2. What is an unnatural thirst? + + 3. Explain how the yeast plant forms alcohol. + + 4. Tell how beer is made. + + 5. Tell how wine is made. + + 6. What is brandy? + + 7. Which drinks contain most alcohol? + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ALCOHOL AND HEALTH + + +=The Money spent for Alcoholic Drinks.=--If the money spent for +alcoholic drinks were all collected together in silver dollars, it would +more than fill ten schoolrooms of average size. Not only rich men spend +large sums yearly for fine wines and brandies, but also the poor give +their money for beer and other drinks which the body does not need. + +When parents waste their money on drink, they cannot buy the food and +clothes needed to keep their families strong and well. In this way +strong drink causes much sickness and suffering and sometimes even death. + +=Alcohol injures the Body.=--Some persons drink very little beer or +wine, so they seem to have but little effect on the health. Others use +strong drink every day and for a few years they may remain quite well. +Later ill health often comes on, and they then find that some of the +organs have been so much hurt that they will never be quite well again. + +A few years ago a group of fifty well-known men in the United States +spent much time and thousands of dollars to learn how much alcohol was +harming our country. After much study among many people they announced +that there were about one million men and boys whose health had been +injured by strong drink, such as beer, wine, and whisky. Because +strong drink causes so much sorrow and sickness several states have +passed laws forbidding its sale, and saloons have been closed by laws +in parts of many other states. + +=How Alcohol affects Kittens.=--The body of a kitten is made very much +like the body of a child. It has just the same organs that a child +has, and they do the same kind of work. Doctor Hodge, a well-known +scientist of Massachusetts, therefore concluded that alcohol would act +on kittens in the same way as it would on a man or boy. + +The doctor got two healthy kittens and fed them a little alcohol every +day for nearly two weeks. In a few days they stopped being playful, +did not grow, and did not keep their fur clean and smooth as healthy +kittens do. After using alcohol several days they became very ill. +This experiment showed that alcohol stops kittens from growing and +robs them of good health. + +=How Alcohol hurts Dogs.=--Doctor Hodge fed a little alcohol to two +dogs nearly every day for three years. He also kept the brother and +sister of these dogs, but gave them no alcohol. All the dogs had the +same kind of food and were treated alike except that one pair got +alcohol and the other pair did not. + +The two drinking dogs got sick more easily and staid sick much longer +than the temperance dogs. The drinking dogs became lazy, and timid, +while the others were strong, full of fun, and brave. + +Within four years the drinking dogs had born to them twenty-seven +puppies, but only four of them lived to grow up. The others were too +weak or sickly to live. During the same time the temperance dogs had +forty-five puppies and forty-one of these lived. This shows that +strong drink will not only injure the bodies of those who take it, but +will make their children weak and sickly. + +=The Use of Strong Drink causes Disease.=--Many persons who take beer +or wine every day become fat. They think this is a sign of health. It +is really a sign of disease. They become short of breath. They can no +longer run so fast or do so much work because the heart is covered +with fat and even some of its wall is changed to fat. For this reason +the heart cannot do its work easily or well. + +The kidneys which take the waste out of the blood often become injured +by alcohol and a disease causing death follows. Sometimes the stomach +becomes diseased so that it cannot do its work. This makes the whole +body sick. + +The hardening of parts of the liver is nearly always caused by the use +of beer. The liver is sure to suffer if one uses much alcoholic drink +because the alcohol goes direct from the food tube to the liver. Long +use of strong drink may bring on disease in the brain and nerves. + +=Alcoholic Drinks may cause Death.=--Every ten years the government +appoints persons to visit each home in our land to take the census. A +part of this census report consists of a table showing the disease of +which people died. It is from the census report that we know that +hundreds of people die every year from the use of alcohol. + +=Danger to Health in beginning the Use of Strong Drink.=--A large +number of people take a drink of beer or wine occasionally because +they do not see that it hurts the body. No one expects to become a +steady drinker or a drunkard when he begins to drink. Reports show +that every drunkard begins his downward course by taking a few drinks +occasionally. Thousands of persons begin a drunkard's life every year +because the appetite leads them on gently until they become slaves and +cannot let drink alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TOBACCO AND OTHER DRUGS WHICH INJURE THE HEALTH + + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.--The tobacco plant.] + +=How Tobacco is Made.=--Tobacco is made from the leaves of the tobacco +plant. The plant may grow as tall as a man and bear more than a dozen +leaves. Each leaf is two or three times as large as your hand. The +seeds are planted in the springtime, and the plants are ready to be +cut in the autumn. Most of our tobacco is raised in the Southern +states and Cuba. + +After cutting, the tobacco must be dried and cared for in a special +way to give it the right flavor. It is then sent to factories and made +into cigars, smoking tobacco, or chewing tobacco. + +=How Tobacco is Used.=--Many million dollars are spent every year by +the people of our country for tobacco. Most of the tobacco is used in +smoking. Some men smoke it in pipes, while others smoke it in the form +of cigars or cigarettes. + +Many men chew tobacco. When used in this way, something like licorice +is generally mixed with the tobacco to give it a more pleasant taste. +Sometimes the dry tobacco is ground into a fine powder called snuff. +This is used by both men and women. + +=Tobacco contains a Poison.=--When boys chew or smoke tobacco for the +first time, it always makes them sick. Chewing or smoking for fifteen +minutes will make them grow dizzy and weak and feel so sick that they +must lie down for a long time. + +The sickness is caused by a poison called _nicotine_ which is present +in all tobacco. Much of this poison may be soaked out by boiling the +tobacco in water. A cup of water in which a pipeful of tobacco has +been boiled will kill goldfish in an hour when poured into a gallon +jar of water with the fish. There is enough poison in a handful of +tobacco to kill a boy who is not in the habit of using it. + +=Why Men can use Tobacco without becoming Sick.=--Experiments upon +animals have shown that the body can learn to use a poison and not +become sick from it. The poison of a rattlesnake is deadly to most +animals; but if a tiny bit of the poison is put under the skin of the +rabbit one day and then on each succeeding day a little larger dose of +the poison is given the rabbit for a long time, the animal will become +so accustomed to the poison that the bite of a rattlesnake will not +harm it. It is the same way with tobacco. Little by little the body +learns to overcome the effects of the poison, but much use of tobacco +is likely to hurt certain parts of the body. + +=Tobacco is Harmful to the Young.=--A dose of poison which will kill a +child may do but little harm to a man. Tobacco is certain to hurt boys +more than it does men. The poison makes the body grow slower. + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.--There is more poison in the one on the right +than in the one on the left.] + +A large number of measurements made by Doctor Seaver showed that the +boys who did not use tobacco gained in four years one twentieth more +in weight and one fourth more in girth and height than the users of +tobacco. These boys were between sixteen and twenty-two years of age. +It is likely that tobacco will have a more harmful effect on younger +boys. + +=Laws to keep the Young Healthy.=--Boys ought to be wise and brave +enough to let alone what keeps their bodies from growing and hurts +their health, but some will not do it. For this reason some countries +are trying to save the health of their boys by making laws against the +use of tobacco. + +The Germans a few years ago passed a law in their land forbidding all +boys and girls under sixteen years of age to use tobacco in any form. +Seeing the good results of this law in Germany and the harm that +tobacco was doing the boys in the United States, the Emperor of Japan +on the 6th of March, 1900, proclaimed this law: "The smoking of +tobacco by minors under the age of twenty is prohibited." + +In our own country several states have passed laws against the use of +cigarettes by boys. One country after another is learning that if they +want strong men, to fight, to work, and to win, tobacco must not be +allowed to weaken the bodies of the young. + +=How the White Man becomes a Slave.=--Before the Civil War the black +men of the South were slaves. They could not do as they pleased +because they belonged to their masters whom they must obey or else +they would suffer punishment. No boy can begin the use of tobacco +without the danger of becoming a slave to it. + +The use of tobacco either by chewing or smoking gradually causes in +any one the growth of an appetite which makes him feel miserable and +unhappy unless it is kept satisfied. It can be satisfied only by the +use of more and more tobacco. + +Many men would like to quit the use of tobacco if they could do so +without suffering. They are slaves, and tobacco is their master. + +=Cigarettes and Health.=--A cigarette is a tube of paper filled with +tobacco. The tobacco is usually not so strong as that used in cigars +and pipes. For this reason, boys like it better, and because it is so +mild they draw the smoke down into the lungs. This gives the poison a +better chance to be taken up by the blood. On this account, and +because one is likely to smoke oftener when he smokes a small piece of +tobacco, cigarettes are thought by some to be more harmful than the +use of tobacco in pipes and cigars. + +=Tea and Coffee.=--Tea is made from the dried leaves of the tea plant. +Tea plants are raised in North Carolina, China, and Japan. The drink +called tea used at the table is made by pouring boiling water on the +tea leaves. The leaves should not be boiled as this draws out a +substance which keeps the stomach from doing its work in the right way. + +Coffee is the seed of a plant growing in South America and Asia. It is +roasted, then ground, and boiled in water to make the drink called +coffee. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Branch of a tea plant.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Branch of a coffee plant with bunches of +coffee berries near the bottom.] + +Children should not use either tea or coffee as they are likely to +hurt the stomach and may injure the heart. One or two cups of tea or +coffee daily seem to have little or no bad effect on the health of +most grown persons. Coffee taken at supper may keep one awake by +sending too much blood to the brain. + +=Opium and Morphine.=--Opium is a dangerous drug which is got from the +heads of the white poppy plant grown mostly in the far East. From +gashes cut in the poppy heads a juice runs out and hardens into a gum +from which the pure drug is made. + +Some persons smoke opium for the drowsy and pleasant feeling it gives. +Its use is very hurtful and ruins both body and mind. _Morphine_ is a +pure form of opium. Persons take it to kill pain and make them sleep. +You should never take it except when given by the doctor, as a habit +is quickly formed which will make you miserable through life. + +=Patent Medicines.=--These are medicines advertised to cure ailments +which generally cannot be cured by drugs. They are the medicines much +advertised in the newspapers and magazines. Never use them unless your +doctor tells you to do so. Many of them contain harmful drugs, such as +morphine and alcohol. When you are sick, go to your doctor for advice. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Explain how tobacco is raised. + + 2. How is tobacco used? + + 3. How does tobacco affect a boy using it for the first time? + + 4. What is the name of the poison in tobacco? + + 5. Tell how tobacco keeps boys from growing. + + 6. What countries do not allow boys to use tobacco? + + 7. What is meant by being a slave to tobacco? + + 8. What is tea? + + 9. What is coffee? + + 10. Why should you not use opium or morphine? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SKIN AND BATHING + + +=Parts of the Skin.=--The skin is about as thick as the leather of +your shoe. It is fastened to the muscles beneath with fine white +threads like spider webs. This is called _connective tissue_ because +it connects the skin to the lean meat. + +The skin is made of two layers (Fig. 45). The upper layer is formed of +cells. This is named _epidermis_ or _scarfskin_. The deeper layer is +made largely of fine threads woven together. It is the _true skin_ or +_derma_. There is no blood in the scarfskin, but there is a network of +blood tubes in the true skin. It is the crowding of these with blood +that makes the skin look so red when we get hot or excited. + +=The Use of the Skin.=--The skin has three chief uses. It protects the +softer parts of the body from being hurt by rough or hard things which +might touch it. It contains the organs of feeling. It helps keep the +right amount of heat in the body. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45.--A thin slice through the skin, showing sweat +glands, a nerve, and blood-tubes. Much enlarged.] + +The top part of the skin is dry and dead. This gives better protection +than if it were moist and tender. Particles of it are wearing out and +dropping off while other bits are growing beneath to take the place of +the worn-out parts. The more this top skin is pressed on and rubbed, +the thicker it becomes. For this reason it is twice as thick in the +palms of the hand and on the soles of the feet. + +Scattered through the true skin are millions of tiny organs fastened +to the ends of the nerve threads leading to the spinal cord and brain. +These organs tell us when the skin is touched or when it is hot or +cold or is being hurt. + +=The Pores and the Sweat Glands.=--On a warm day the skin becomes wet +with a salty fluid called _sweat_ or _perspiration_. This flows from +the tiny holes or pores in the skin. A good magnifying glass will show +these pores arranged in rows on the ridges in the palm of the hand. + +From each pore a tube leads down into the true skin to a coiled tube +forming the _sweat gland_ (Fig. 45). Sweat glands are present by the +thousands in the skin of all parts of the body. They give out from +one pint to a gallon of sweat daily. The more we work and the warmer +the weather, the more the sweat flows. + +There is a little waste matter carried out of the body by the sweat, +but its chief use is to cool the body. It does this by passing off in +the air and carrying the heat with it. In this way the body is kept +from getting too hot in summer. + +=The Color of the Skin.=--In the African race the color of the skin is +black, in the Chinese it is yellowish, while in our race it is nearly +white. The different hues are due to a coloring matter called +_pigment_. This lies in the deep part of the scarfskin. Going out in +the wind and sun causes more pigment to collect, and we say we are +tanned. If the pigment collects in spots, it makes freckles. + +There is no way of removing at once freckles or tan. They usually +disappear in the winter. No powders nor any other kind of medicine +should be taken to make the skin white and smooth. Such medicines may +contain poison and are likely in time to hurt the body. The skin may +usually be kept soft and smooth by washing well with soft water and +good soap. If it becomes harsh or cracked, a little glycerine rubbed +on after each washing may help it. + +=The Nails and their Care.=--The nails are hardened parts of the +epidermis. They are intended to prevent the ends of the fingers from +being hurt and to give a neat appearance to the hand. + +The ends of the nails should never be chewed or torn off, as this +makes the fingers blunt and the flesh sore. They should be filed or +cut neatly with the scissors so that they do not stick out beyond the +ends of the fingers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Photograph of hands showing at the right how +the nails should appear, and at the left how biting off the nails +makes the fingers blunt and sore.] + +Many boys and some girls spoil the appearance of their nails by +letting a line of black dirt remain beneath them. A piece of a stick +or a nail cleaner should be passed beneath the nails every time the +hands are washed. If the fingers are much soiled, a stiff brush is +useful in removing the dirt under the nails. + +[Illustration: FIG. 47.--A slice through a hair in its sac. Much +enlarged.] + +=The Hair.=--Some hair grows on nearly all parts of the body. It is +much thicker on the head than elsewhere. Each hair grows from a +little knob at the bottom of a tiny tube in the skin called the _hair +sac_ (Fig. 47). If hair is pulled out, another one will grow in its +place if the knob at the bottom of the sac is not hurt. + +One or two _oil glands_ open into each hair sac and give out an oil to +keep the scalp and hair soft. No other hair dressing is needed. + +After thirty or forty years of age the hair begins to turn gray. No +medicine will prevent the hair from turning gray, and it is generally +unwise to color the hair with a dye. There is poison in some of the +mixtures sold to color the hair. + +=The Care of the Hair.=--When the hair is uncombed, the whole person +looks untidy. The hair should be combed carefully every morning and +again made tidy before each meal. You should use as little water as +possible to moisten the hair. The glands can be made to give out their +hair oil by squeezing parts of the scalp between the fingers. + +The scalp should be well cleansed with soap and warm water every three +or four weeks. The hair should be dried quickly with a soft towel and +by sitting in the sun or near a stove. One is likely to catch cold by +going out of doors when the hair is wet. Hair oils and dandruff cures +should not be used unless advised by a physician. Pinching and wrinkling +the scalp twice weekly with the fingers makes the blood tubes grow +larger and bring more food to the hair. It will also in many persons +stop the hair from falling out and prevent dandruff and itching. + +[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Photographs showing how keeping the hair tidy +improves the appearance.] + +Do not use the hair brush of another person or exchange hats with your +companions. Unclean persons and those living or playing much with them +often have among their hairs little creatures called _head lice_. They +suck blood and cause constant itching. The doctor will tell any one +how to get rid of them easily. + +=Keeping the Skin Clean.=--The amount of dead matter carried out by the +sweat on to the skin every day is equal to a mass as large as your +thumb. Dust also works through the clothing and sticks fast to the moist +skin. For this reason every one should wash the whole body once or twice +each week. The feet should be washed oftener as they become more soiled. + +Many persons take a bath every day. A cold bath taken just after +rising in the morning wakes up the nerves, makes the heart work +better, and gives health and strength to the whole body. Afterward, +the body should be well rubbed with a coarse towel. The bath may be +taken by lying in a tub of water or by rubbing the body over quickly +with a wet sponge. A hot bath is best for cleansing the skin. A warm +bath makes one sleepy and should, therefore, be taken only at bedtime. + +_The hands should always be well washed before handling food._ Persons +neglecting to do this have caused much sickness because of the disease +germs on their hands. One hundred and fifty persons were given typhoid +fever in one city in Massachusetts by a man who handled milk without +washing his hands. Dirt and disease are companions. You must be clean +if you would be healthy. + +=The Kidneys.=--The sweat glands do not take out of the blood one +quarter as much waste matter as the kidneys. These are two bodies longer +than the finger and more than twice as wide, and having the shape of a +bean. One lies on either side of the backbone below the liver. + +The blood coming to the kidneys is full of waste and dead matter +picked up from all parts of the body. This is passed out through the +thin walls of the thousands of little blood tubes into the many tiny +tubes of the kidneys. + +[Illustration: FIG. 49.--The blood tubes in a piece of skin as large +as the head of a pin.] + +Water is required to keep the body clean within as well as without. +For this reason you should drink more than a quart of water daily. A +glass or two of water drunk a half hour before meals cleanses and +rouses to action the digestive organs. + +=Alcohol and the Skin.=--The skin of those who use much beer or whisky +often becomes rough, red, and pimply. Any alcoholic drink is likely to +injure the skin because it may hinder good digestion. The drunkard has +a red nose and a dark-colored skin. This is because alcohol weakens +the walls of the blood tubes and lets them become gorged with blood. + +If a person takes a drink only once in a while, his face becomes red +after each drink, and an hour or two later the effect of the alcohol +passes off. The blood tubes have squeezed up to their natural size. + +=Alcohol and the Kidneys.=--Taking several glasses daily of even such +weak alcoholic drink as beer often causes the kidneys to become sick. +Some of their working parts become changed to fat and some parts +become hard. The cells which let the waste matter pass out of the +blood get hurt by the poison of the alcohol so that they let some of +the food also pass out of the blood. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Name the two parts of the skin. + + 2. Give the three uses of the skin. + + 3. What is a sweat gland? + + 4. How much sweat is formed daily? + + 5. Of what use is the sweat? + + 6. How should the nails be cared for? + + 7. Tell what care should be given the hair. + + 8. Why should you not use another person's hair brush? + + 9. Why should the skin be washed often? + + 10. Of what use is a cold bath? + + 11. Why should the hands be well washed before handling + food? + + 12. Why does the drunkard have a red nose? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CLOTHING AND HOW TO USE IT + + +=Kinds of Clothing.=--People are beginning to learn that the wearing +of the right kind of clothing has much to do with keeping them well. +Many persons wear too heavy clothing in winter. Keeping the body too +hot makes it weak. + +Some kinds of clothing are much warmer than others. Some are expensive +and others are cheap. Cheap clothes will often serve the same purpose +as the more costly ones. If you look at your handkerchief or +stockings, you will see that they are made of threads running +crosswise to each other. All clothing is made from threads. Some of +these are wool, some are linen, a few are silk, and many are cotton. + +=Woolen Clothing.=--Woolen clothing, such as overcoats and fine cloth +dresses and suits, is made from the wool cut from sheep. Enough wool +can be sheared from two sheep in one year to make an entire suit of +clothes. The raw wool is first twisted into threads and then woven by +machines into cloth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 50.--At the left is a bunch of flax gathered from +the field, and on the right is a spool of thread made from the flax +and ready to be woven into linen.] + +=Linen.=--Linen is used in making collars, cuffs, and handkerchiefs. +It is made from fine threads taken from the flax plant. On a piece of +ground as large as a schoolroom enough flax can be raised to make a +half dozen collars. Garments to be worn in warm weather are sometimes +made of linen. + +=Silk.=--Silk is used in making neckties, gloves, ribbons, and +dresses. Silk cloth is woven from the cocoons made by silkworms. A +silkworm is about as big as your largest finger. It grows to this +size from the egg in one month. In three or four days it spins a shell +of silk thread completely surrounding itself. This shell is called a +_cocoon_. Within this it changes to a moth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Photograph of silkworms changing mulberry +leaves into silk.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 52.--These fibers from the lint about the seed of +cotton are woven into cotton cloth.] + +When the cocoons are to be used for silk, the worm is killed by heat +as soon as it has woven its home so that it may not change to a moth +and eat off some of the silk in getting out. Many thousand worms are +needed to get enough silk for a dress. The worms are raised largely in +China, Japan, Italy, and France. + +=Cotton.=--All calico, muslin, and most cheap clothing are made from +cotton thread. This is made from the cotton fibers surrounding the +seeds of the cotton plant (Fig. 52). The cotton used in this country +is raised in the Southern states. + +Cotton clothing is stronger and wears much longer than silk or wool, +but it does not look so well and is not nearly so warm. + +=The Use of Wraps and Overcoats.=--_Outer wraps and overcoats should +never be worn in a warm room or while working hard._ They cause much +sweat to form on the body, and as soon as one goes out of doors the +sweat begins to pass off. This makes the body feel cold and in some +cases leads to a long sickness. + +When riding in cold weather, extra wraps should be worn. Scarfs and +furs should not be worn about the throat except in extreme cold +weather. Bundling up the neck and chin is likely to cause sore throat. + +=Danger from Wet Clothing.=--Many children have caught severe colds +leading to serious sickness by wearing wet or damp clothing. Wet +clothing causes the heat to pass off from the body quickly, so that it +is chilled before we know it. This may be shown by wrapping two bottles +of warm water in cloths. Wet one cloth and let the other remain dry. In +twenty minutes the bottle with the wet cloth will be cool, but the other +one will still be warm. _If your wet clothing cannot be changed at once, +keep exercising or throw a heavy coat about you._ + +=Untidy and Soiled Clothing.=--All boys and girls should learn to keep +their clothing as clean as possible. Do not wipe the hands on the +clothing, or sit down in the dirt, or let food smear the front of the +coat or dress. + +The sweat is constantly bringing waste matter out of the body. This +soils the clothing next to it. On this account clothing to be washed +every week or oftener should be worn next to the skin. Very thin +cotton underclothing should be worn in summer. Woolen clothes give +more warmth for winter. + +[Illustration: FIG. 53.--Showing how to prevent the shoe from pressing +on corns caused by wearing tight shoes or socks roughly darned.] + +=Shoes.=--Badly fitting shoes cause sore feet and much pain. A shoe +that is tight across the toes is sure to cause corns. A _corn_ is a +thickened part of the top skin which presses on the more tender part +beneath. Soaking the feet in hot water and filing off the top of the +corn or using a corn plaster will help it. Shoes should always be a +half inch longer than the foot. Waterproof shoes or rubbers should be +worn in wet weather. Rubbers should not be worn in the house. + +=Alcohol and Clothing.=--Many persons think that a drink of whisky will +make them warm when taken on a cold day. For this reason whisky is +sometimes used when clothing is really needed. The use of whisky or any +other alcoholic drink will not make the body warm. It may make one feel +warm because it loosens the muscles in the blood tubes of the skin and +so lets more blood come to the surface. In this way the body becomes +colder because too much blood gets into the skin and is then chilled by +the cold air. As alcohol deadens the feeling it may prevent one from +feeling cold when the body is really very cold. Too little clothing and +too much alcohol have been known to cause men to freeze to death. + +=Experience in using Alcohol to keep the Body Warm.=--Doctor Hayes, +who went as physician with Doctor Kane to explore in the Arctic +regions, said that he would never again take alcoholic drink with him +on such a trip. He declared alcohol was of no use in helping men to +keep warm. He found from actual experience that those who use alcohol +cannot endure cold so well as other people. + +Doctor Carpenter, a well-known physician, tells of a crew of sixty-six +men who tried to stay in Hudson Bay all winter. They used some +alcoholic drink. Only two of the party lived through the winter. Later +another party of twenty-two men passed the winter in the same place. +They used no strong drink at any time and as a consequence all but two +of them were reported well and strong in the following spring. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BREATHING + + +=The Lungs.=--The lungs are two light spongy bodies filling up the +greater part of the chest. The heart lies between the lungs. The +lungs are formed largely of thousands of thin-walled sacs and two sets +of tubes. One set of tubes carries air into and out of the lungs, and +the other set is filled with blood. These sacs and tubes are held in +place by a loose meshwork of tissue. + +[Illustration: FIG. 54.--The ribs and front wall of the chest cut away +to show the lungs. A piece of one lung is cut off to show the heart. +_A_ and _E_, parts of the breastbone; _F_, diaphragm.] + +=Why we Breathe.=--Breathing means taking air into the lungs and +forcing it out. The air is made to go into the lungs in order that a +part of it called oxygen may get into the blood. The blood then +carries the oxygen to all parts of the body where it can help the +organs do their work. + +[Illustration: FIG. 55.--Photograph of a salamander, showing the gills +on either side of the head, which are used in breathing.] + +The air which comes out of the lungs is not the same as that which +goes in. Some of the oxygen has been used up and in its place is a +heavier gas named _carbon dioxide_, which has been given out by the +body. This carbon dioxide is part of the waste formed in every part of +the body from the used-up food and dying parts of the body. We breathe +therefore to get oxygen into the body and to take out some of the +waste matter. + +All animals must breathe. If our breath is shut off only four or five +minutes, death results. In the earthworm the oxygen goes right through +the skin into the blood. Bugs and flies have several little openings +along the sides of the body which lead into tubes branching throughout +the body to carry air. A fish gets air through its gills lying under a +bony flap on each side of the head. + +[Illustration: FIG. 56.--The windpipe and lungs viewed from in front. +On the right, the tissue is removed to show the air tubes.] + +=How the Air passes into the Lungs.=--The outer openings of the nose +are called nostrils. From here two channels lead back through the nose +to the throat. The cavity of the throat behind the nose and tongue is +the _pharynx_. At the bottom of the pharynx is a tube made mostly of +gristle. This tube is larger than your thumb and is named the +_larynx_, or _voice box_. The bump on its front part forms the lump in +the throat called the _Adam's Apple_. + +From the voice box extends the _windpipe_ called _trachea_, down to +the lungs. The windpipe divides at its lower end between the lungs +into two branches. One of these enters each lung. + +=The Air Tubes in the Lungs.=--As the branch of the windpipe enters +each lung it divides into smaller branches just like the limbs of a +tree. These divide into still smaller tubes, which branch again and +again until they are as small as a hair. These hairlike tubes have +swollen ends called _air sacs_. The walls of the air sacs are much +thinner than tissue paper. + +[Illustration: FIG. 57.--A bunch of air cells at the end of an air +tube in the lungs, showing the blood vessels which receive the oxygen +and give out the carbon dioxide.] + +=How the Blood trades Waste for Oxygen in the Lungs.=--The blood, +which is constantly running from all parts of the body to the lungs, +collects waste formed from the burnt food and dying parts of the +organs. When the blood comes to the lungs, it is full of this waste, +called carbon dioxide. The blood tubes divide into fine branches with +very thin walls and form a rich network over the air sacs. This allows +the carbon dioxide and water to pass out of the blood tubes into the +air sacs, while the oxygen at the same time goes through into the +blood. More than a pint of water is given off in the breath daily. + +=How we Breathe.=--The bottom of the chest cavity is formed by an +upward arching sheet of muscle called the _diaphragm_. This is +fastened to the lower ribs. The ribs at rest slant downward and +inward. When the ribs are pulled up or the arch of the diaphragm down, +the cavity of the chest becomes larger. The air then runs into the +lungs and swells them out. When the ribs are let drop or the arch of +the diaphragm goes up, the air is pushed out of the lungs. + +Without thinking, we work the muscles to draw up the ribs about +eighteen times every minute, because all parts of the body are calling +for oxygen. The harder we work the oftener we breathe because the +muscles need more oxygen to make them go. + +=Why we should breathe through the Nose.=--Most persons find it easy +to breathe through the nose. In some, however, the passages in the +nose are too small to carry the air without effort. On this account +they let the mouth hang open and breathe through it. + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Face cut through the middle to show how the +adenoids stop the air from passing through the nose. Arrows show the +course which the air should take.] + +The air should pass only through the nose because it is lined with +hairs and tiny waving threads which catch the dust. In this way germs +and dirt are prevented from getting into the throat and lungs, and in +winter the cold air is warmed. + +=Why Some Children cannot breathe through the Nose.=--When one has a +cold, the lining of the nose becomes swollen and gives out a white +substance called _mucus_. The swelling of the lining and the mucus fill +up the passages. The nose should be kept clean by using a handkerchief +and blowing out the mucus into it. _Never put the finger into the nose._ +Disease germs often get on the fingers from things touched. + +Children who have the habit of breathing through the mouth should be +examined by a physician. He will, in most cases, find soft spongy +growths called _adenoids_ in the back part of the nose. They should +always be removed as soon as possible. They may cause disease or +deafness and may even injure the mind. + +[Illustration: FIG. 59.--A view of the voice box from the top.] + +=The Voice.=--In the upper part of the voice box at the top of the +windpipe is a fold of tissue stretched on either side. These two folds +of tissue form the _vocal cords_. The air rushing past them causes +sound. The different sounds are made by stretching the cords tight or +loosely. By means of the tongue, teeth, and lips the sound is formed +into words. + +=How to use the Voice.=--A cold or much shouting makes the vocal cords +swell and we become hoarse. Rest is the best cure. It is not polite to +shout or whistle in the house and you should never use an angry tone +of voice. When talking to a person, always speak distinctly but +pleasantly and turn your face toward his and look directly into his +eyes. Never use a harsh, loud tone of voice. + +=Why you should not spit on Floors or Sidewalks.=--We used to think +that any one well had no germs of sickness in his mouth, but we now +know that many well persons have germs in their mouths which can cause +long sickness when they get into other persons. If you are sick with +diphtheria, scarlet fever, or sore throat, the germs of the disease +are likely to remain in your mouth two or three months. Persons with +tuberculosis throw out millions of these germs in their spit every day. + +Spitting is not only an unclean habit but a deadly curse. Spit often +contains the seeds of death. Women's skirts and the soles of our shoes +carry it into the houses. It becomes dry, but the germs live and float +about in the dust, then enter the mouth to make us sick. Carelessness +with spit is said to cause more than a hundred deaths every day in our +land. + +=Do not use an Open Spittoon.=--It is much safer to have a smallpox +patient in the house than an open spittoon in the summer. You can +prevent the smallpox by vaccination, but you cannot keep the flies +from carrying ten thousand germs of death from the spittoon to the +food on the table. A million germs have been found on a single fly. + +[Illustration: FIG. 60.--Photograph of a house fly on a piece of bread. +This fly had been feeding on spit and a study of its legs and body +showed more germs present than there are hairs on a person's head.] + +Spit should be dropped into a cup which should be kept covered when +not being used. The spit should be destroyed by fire or some +germ-killing fluid, such as lye or formalin. + +[Illustration: FIG. 61.--An exact drawing of the germs in a spot as +large as a period, on the edge of a drinking cup.] + +=Keeping Sickness away from the Throat and Lungs.=--All sickness of +the throat and lungs is caught from some one else. The germs are +passed from one to another on the drinking cup, by sucking pencils, +wetting the finger to turn the pages of a book, or putting the fingers +in the nose or mouth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 62.--A dish of beef broth jelly left open two +minutes in a room being swept. Each spot is a city of thousands of +germs which grew from one germ dropping on the jelly. By counting the +spots you can tell how many germs fell from the dust on this dish +three inches in diameter.] + +_Dust is the partner of disease._ It contains germs. Avoid dust. Wipe +up the rooms with a damp cloth; never use a feather duster. Avoid dry +sweeping. Use a suction cleaner or have rugs which can be cleaned out +of doors. + +Give the lungs fresh air and deep breathing and the body good food and +plenty of sleep to make it so strong that germs cannot overcome it +when they enter. + +[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Photograph of consumption germs, the tiny +rods which often grow and cause tuberculosis in bodies weakened by +beer or whisky. Much enlarged.] + +=Alcoholic Drink and the Lungs.=--The most common disease of the lungs +is _tuberculosis_. Nearly all bartenders who sell strong drink take +some themselves. Lately it has been learned in Germany that +tuberculosis causes one half of all the deaths among bartenders. +Alcohol was once thought to be a good medicine for lung troubles, but +it has been clearly proven that beer and whisky weaken the lungs and +make them ready for the germs of disease. The body already weakened by +the poison of the alcohol is then easily overcome by the disease. + +=Tobacco and the Lungs.=--The occasional use of tobacco does not seem +to hurt the lungs when fully grown. A study of many young persons has +shown that the chest of smokers grows much more slowly than in those +who do not use tobacco. As the lungs cannot grow any faster than the +chest, they must grow slowly in boys using much tobacco. + +Tobacco is a common cause of sore throat. Many smokers have been +compelled to quit the habit because of throat troubles. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Where are the lungs located? + + 2. What do the tubes in the lungs carry? + + 3. What part of the air do we use in the body? + + 4. Tell how the air gets into the lungs. + + 5. What passes from the blood into the air sacs? + + 6. Why should we breathe through the nose? + + 7. Why should you keep the fingers away from the nose? + + 8. What are the vocal cords? + + 9. Give two reasons why no one should spit on the floor. + + 10. Tell how alcohol harms the lungs. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FRESH AIR AND HEALTH + + +=How much Air we Breathe.=--At every breath we take in about one pint +of air. We breathe eighteen times each minute. Nine quarts of air +therefore pass in and out of the lungs every minute. Air once breathed +is not fit to breathe again. It contains waste and carbon dioxide +which weaken the body. + +If you breathe three full breaths into a wide-mouthed jar or bottle, +it will contain so much of the carbon dioxide that a lighted candle or +splinter will at once go out when thrust into the jar. A cat shut in a +tight box two feet square and one foot high will die in less than a +half hour. + +Many years ago when the British and Hindoo soldiers were fighting each +other, the Hindoos made prisoners of 146 of the British and locked +them in a room about one half as large as a common schoolroom. There +were only two small windows. During the night 123 of these men died +because of the bad air. + +[Illustration: FIG. 64.--The direction of the flame of the candle +shows how the fresh air enters and the bad air leaves a room.] + +=How much Air should enter a Room.=--The air laden with waste coming +out of the lungs quickly mixes with the other air of the room. In this +way all of the air in the room soon becomes impure. Forty children +will give out nearly two barrels of air in one minute. In another +minute this air has made all of the other air in the room unclean. It +can still be breathed, but it makes children feel drowsy and lazy and +may cause headache. They then do poor work. + +To keep the air pure in a room, fresh air must be let in from the +outside. If there are many in the room, the openings must be large or +fans on a wheel must be used to force the air in. In the New York +schools a little over a cubic yard of fresh air is forced into the +room for each child every minute. + +=How to get Fresh Air into a Room.=--When air is warmed it becomes +lighter and rises. In many public buildings, fresh air heated by a +furnace is forced into the rooms through pipes entering several feet +above the floor. By a fan or heated flue the impure air is sucked out +of the room through openings near the floor. + +[Illustration: FIG. 65.--How the windows of your bedroom should be +open to get the most fresh air.] + +Changing the air in a room is called _ventilation_. To get plenty of +fresh air in a room there must be one or more places for it to enter +and one or more places for it to pass out. Where there is no furnace +or fan, windows on one side of the room may be opened at the bottom to +let in the air and the same windows opened at the top to let the +impure air escape. _Do not sit in a draft_, but use a board or curtain +to throw the air upward as it enters the window. _A room should not be +kept too warm._ Sitting in a very warm room weakens the body and +prepares it to take cold. The temperature of a living room should be +between 65 and 70 degrees. + +=Fresh Air while you Sleep.=--Thousands of people have weakened their +bodies and brought on disease by sleeping in bad air. Many persons +keep their windows so tightly closed during the night that the air +smells bad in the morning. I knew a family who always slept with +windows closed except in the very warmest weather. Three of the +children died of tuberculosis, and a fourth one took the disease but +was saved by keeping his windows wide open. + +Bad air in the sleeping room makes one feel drowsy in the morning +instead of refreshed by sleep. _Your windows should always be open +while you sleep._ In cold weather a window should be open a foot at +both the bottom and the top, or if there are two windows in the room, +both may be opened at the bottom. In moderate weather the openings +should be twice as large. A cap may be worn to keep the head warm, and +the bed should be out of the draft. + +=Fresh Air gives Health.=--Four hundred people die of tuberculosis in +our country every day. A few years ago it was thought that no one +could get well of this disease. Now three fourths of those in the +first stages of the disease get well. The chief part of the cure is +fresh air. Medicine is seldom used because no medicine will cure +tuberculosis. Good food and rest are great helps. + +Many of those with tuberculosis stay out of doors all day and at night +sleep in tents or with all of the windows wide open, even in the +coldest weather. Snow may blow in and the water in the room may turn +to solid ice, but fresh air, the good angel of health, will give the +body new strength and make it well and strong again. + +[Illustration: FIG. 66.--This man is curing himself of tuberculosis by +sleeping at night, and sitting by day, on this porch.] + +Many years ago when the Indians lived in tents and often slept +outdoors none of them had this dirty air disease of tuberculosis. +Since they have formed the habit of living in houses nearly one half +of some tribes have become sick with this catching disease. + +=Making the Lungs Strong.=--It requires over three quarts of air to +fill your lungs. When you breathe quietly, less than one pint of air +passes in and out of your lungs. This shows that a large part of the +lungs is not used. The air sacs at the top and in the bottom part of +the lungs are seldom filled completely. It is in these places that +disease begins. + +Several minutes should be spent two or three times each day in +exercising the lungs. Fill them completely with air many times. _Learn +to breathe deeply while you are walking in the fresh air._ Hold the +head up and the shoulders back so that every part of the lungs can be +filled. _Sit straight. Your life depends upon your lungs._ Give them a +chance to do their work and teach them to do it well. + +[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Unhealthful position which squeezes the lungs +so that they cannot work freely.] + +=Tobacco and Pure Air.=--There is poison in the smoke of tobacco. This +is shown by its effect on insects. Owners of greenhouses often buy the +stems and other waste parts of tobacco. They pile it in a pan and after +closing the doors and windows of the greenhouse tightly, set fire to it. +The smoke rises and fills the whole house. In less than an hour it has +killed many of the bugs and beetles which were destroying the plants. + +A person not used to tobacco will sometimes be made sick by sitting +only an hour in a room where persons are smoking. It is wrong for +smokers to poison the air which others must breathe. For this reason a +smoking room should be well ventilated. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BLOOD AND HOW IT FLOWS THROUGH THE BODY + + +[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The cells in the blood. The two white ones +were drawn while crawling. Much enlarged.] + +=The Blood keeps the Body Clean within and gives it Food.=--Every tiny +particle of the body, whether in the legs, arms, or head, must have +food to keep it alive and help it do its work. It must also have +oxygen, and it must be washed clean of its waste matter. All this is +done by the streams of blood, which bathe every cell to bring it food +and oxygen and to wash away its waste. + +=Parts of the Blood.=--Blood consists of a clear, watery part called +_plasma_ and many little bodies named _cells_. The liquid found in a +blister is the clear part of the blood. The cells which float in the +watery part are so little and so close together that more than a +million are in each drop of blood. + +A few of the cells are white, but most of them are red, and it is +their color that makes the blood look red. Your body contains about +one gallon of blood. It is carried through the body in branching tubes +called _blood vessels_ (Fig. 70). + +[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Photograph of the heart from in front with +the lungs pinned aside. One fourth natural size.] + +=The Blood Vessels.=--There are four kinds of blood vessels. They are +the _heart_, the _arteries_, the _capillaries_, and the _veins_. The +heart lies in the chest between the lungs. It squeezes the blood into +the arteries. These carry the blood to all parts of the body. It then +runs into the capillaries, which are tiny tubes connecting the +arteries with the veins. The veins return the blood to the heart. + +The blood flows so fast that it goes from the heart down to the toes +and back again in a half minute. + +=The Heart or Pump of Life.=--When the heart stops we die, because the +blood can no longer flow to carry food and oxygen to the hungry +tissues. The heart is a sac with thick walls of muscle. It is shaped +like a strawberry and is about as large as your fist. Its cavity is +divided into four parts. The two upper ones are called _auricles_ and +the lower ones are named _ventricles_. The blood enters the auricles +and then pours through an opening into each ventricle, from which it +passes out into the arteries. + +=The Arteries or Sending Tubes.=--The blood is sent out from the heart +through the arteries leading to all parts of the body. The chief +artery is the _aorta_. It is larger than your thumb and extends from +the heart down through the body in front of the backbone. It has more +than twenty branches. All of these branch again and again like the +limbs of a tree until they are finer than hairs. + +A large tube, the _lung artery_, takes blood directly from the heart +to the lungs. Here it branches into more than a thousand divisions, so +that the blood can take in oxygen and give off to the lungs its waste. + +[Illustration: FIG. 70.--Arteries, the tubes carrying the blood from +the heart through the body. Only the chief vessels are shown on one +side.] + +=The Capillaries or Feeding Tubes.=--These are the tiny tubes, finer +than hairs, which join the smallest end branches of the arteries with +the beginnings of the little veins. They are so thickly scattered in +the flesh that you cannot stick it with a pin without piercing one. + +They are called feeding tubes because they have such very thin walls +that the food in the blood and the oxygen brought from the lungs can +pass through to feed the muscles and other organs. The dead parts of +the body and also the ashes of the food used up, pass from the organs +into the capillaries. + +=The Veins or Returning Tubes.=--The veins, beginning in fine branches +formed by the capillaries, return the blood to the heart. The branches +unite into larger and larger vessels and finally flow into one main +vein, the _vena cava_. This extends along in front of the backbone and +opens into the heart. + +=Why the Blood flows in only one Direction.=--The heart causes the +flow of the blood. It does this by squeezing together its walls so as +to make the blood go out into the arteries. When once in the arteries, +the blood must go forward because there are little doors at the mouths +of the arteries in the heart. These doors, called _valves_, open in +only one direction, so that the blood cannot flow backward (Fig. 71). +There are other valves between the upper and lower cavities of the +heart, preventing the blood from being pushed back into the veins. + +[Illustration: FIG. 71.--The heart with the front part cut away to +show the four chambers and valves. The arrows show the direction in +which the blood flows.] + +The movement of the walls of the heart in and out is called the _heart +beat_. This can be plainly felt by placing the hand on the left side +of the chest. The heart beats about seventy times each minute in grown +persons, but much oftener in children. At each beat a wave of blood +flows along the arteries. This is known as the _pulse_. It may be felt +at the base of the thumb, where an artery runs just under the skin. + +=Why the Heart sometimes beats Faster.=--When we run or do hard work, +the heart may beat twice as fast as when we are lying down. This is +because the muscles need more oxygen to help them act. Work makes them +get hungry, and they send word by the nerves to the heart to hurry +along the blood to bring more oxygen from the lungs. + +When germs make the body sick, the heart often beats faster because it +is affected by the poison made by the germs. The doctor then feels the +pulse to tell how much the body is poisoned. + +=Use of Blood Cells.=--The red cells act like boats. They load up with +oxygen in the lungs and carry it to all parts of the body. Here they +trade it off for carbon dioxide, a waste substance. This they carry +back to the lungs to be cast out of the body. + +There is one white blood cell to every four hundred red ones. The +white cells are the body-guards. They change their shape and are able +to crawl through the walls of the capillaries. Wherever the body is +hurt, they collect in large numbers and eat the germs which are always +trying to get into the body through sores. The white matter called +_pus_ in a sore is largely made of white blood cells which came there +to fight the germs and were killed in the battle. + +The germs of boils and fevers often get into the blood, but the white +cells usually kill them before they have a chance to grow into large +numbers and make the body sick. + +=How to stop Bleeding.=--Most of the larger arteries are deep in the +flesh and seldom get cut. There are many veins just under the skin. If +the blood comes out in spurts, it is from an artery; but if it flows +steadily, it is from a vein. If the blood does not run out in a +stream, it will stop without any special care. As soon as the blood +gets to the air it forms a jellylike mass called a _clot_. This helps +stop the flow. All hurt places in the skin should be tied up in a +clean cloth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Stopping the flow of blood from an artery.] + +If a large artery is cut, a bandage twisted tight with a stick around +the limb on the side of the wound next to the heart will stop the +bleeding. If a vein is cut, the bandage should be placed on the side +of the cut away from the heart. + +=Alcoholic Drinks weaken the Blood.=--It has been noticed for some +years that when a user of beer or whisky is attacked with fever, the +disease is more severe than in one not using alcohol. The reason for +this has lately been explained by a well-known scientist working in +Paris. He put certain disease germs in rabbits, but they did not +become sick. When he gave them a little alcohol and put the same +amount of disease germs in them as before, they became sick and died. +By careful study he learned that the white blood cells had in the +first case killed the germs. In the second experiment the blood cells +were made so weak and lazy by the alcohol that they did not put up +such a strong fight against the germs. + +=Tobacco and the Blood.=--Any one who chews or smokes tobacco +regularly gets much of the poison into the blood. The vessels in the +mouth and throat drink in some of the juice and also the poison from +the smoke. How much this poison affects the blood cells is not known, +but it is likely to do them some harm because it makes the growing +cells of the body less active. + +=How Beer weakens the Heart.=--Whisky was at one time thought to +strengthen the heart, but doctors generally agree now that it weakens +the heart. It may make the heart beat a little stronger for a few +minutes, but after that the beating is weaker than usual. + +Much use of beer is known to make fat collect around the heart and +also cause some of the heart muscle itself to change into fat. In this +way the heart becomes so weak that it can no longer do its work, and +death results. The reports from Germany show that hundreds of persons +die every year from weakened hearts made so by the use of much beer. + +=Alcohol hurts the Blood Vessels.=--Careful examination of the blood +vessels of drunkards after death shows that in many cases the alcohol +has caused the walls of the vessels to become thick and sometimes +hard. The thickening of the wall makes the channel of the tube +smaller. The heart must then work much harder to get the blood through +to feed the tissues. + +=Tobacco and the Heart.=--Many boys who use tobacco regularly do not +have a steady heart beat. This is specially true of those who smoke +several cigarettes daily. A few years ago, when our country was at war +with Spain, thousands of young men, wanted for soldiers, were examined +to find out whether their bodies were strong enough to endure the +hardships of war. Hundreds were refused admittance to the army because +of weak bodies, and many of them were reported by the physicians as +having hearts weakened by the use of tobacco. + +The boys preparing for the army at the Military Academy at West Point +and for sea fighting at the Naval Academy at Annapolis are not allowed +to smoke cigarettes. Our country must have strong men for hard work. +Tobacco never gives strength, but often causes weakness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +INSECTS AND HEALTH + + +=Malaria or Chills and Fever.=--Malaria is a disease in which the +patient usually has a chill followed by a fever at the same time each +day or every other day. Thousands of people suffer from this sickness +in the warm parts of our country and hundreds of them die every year. +In some regions people cannot live because this sickness attacks every +one who comes there. + +Many years ago a doctor found in the blood of malaria patients tiny +animals. He thought that they might be the cause of the illness, but +he could not find out how they got into the blood. + +=Finding out how Malaria Germs get into the Blood.=--It had been +noticed for many years that mosquitoes were always found wherever +there was malaria. In the year 1900 two men decided to find out if +they could live in a malaria region and not have the disease when the +mosquitoes were kept from biting them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Position of the common humpback mosquito at +rest with body full of blood sucked by thrusting the bill into the +flesh.] + +They made their home a whole season in a cottage in the midst of many +persons who were sick with malaria. They breathed the same air, ate +the same kind of food, and drank the same kind of water as those who +suffered from the disease, but they remained well. The only thing that +they did different from those who got sick was to keep the mosquitoes +out of their rooms at night by means of screens. This experiment and +many other studies have shown that we catch malaria only by the bites +of mosquitoes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Position of the malaria mosquito at rest.] + +=Only a Few Mosquitoes carry Malaria.=--Malaria is not common in all +regions where mosquitoes live, and it has been found that only one +group of mosquitoes carries the germs. The two common groups are the +straight-backed and the humped. To prove that the straight-backed ones +did the harm several of them were allowed to suck blood from a man +sick with malaria in Italy. They were then sent to London and let +bite a healthy man. In a few days he became sick with malaria. Many +experiments with the humped-back mosquitoes, found nearly everywhere +in our country, show that they do not carry malaria germs. + +=Yellow Fever.=--Until 1901 yellow fever was the scourge of many +cities in the South. Thousands of persons lost their lives from it. +Wherever the dread disease broke out in a city many persons would flee +to the country because they thought that they could not breathe the +air without getting the germs. + +Some persons thought that mosquitoes might cause the disease, and in +1900 experiments were carried out in Cuba to learn whether mosquitoes +really did carry yellow fever germs. Seven men made their home in a +room well screened to keep out the mosquitoes. They used clothing +which had been worn by others sick with the fever and even slept on +pillows and blankets on which yellow fever victims had died. Many +persons thought that these bedclothes were full of fever germs and +that all the men would surely get the disease. Not one of them, +however, got sick although they lived in the midst of these soiled +materials for three weeks. + +[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The yellow fever mosquito biting the finger. +Note how the lower lip is bent.] + +Seven other men were chosen for another experiment. A large room was +prepared and made thoroughly clean. Only clean bedding and clean +clothes were used. The men were given pure food and pure water, but +into the room were let loose mosquitoes which had been sucking blood +from a person sick with the fever. In a few days six of the seven men +became sick with the fever and one of them died. From these +experiments and other studies we now know that _this dreadful fever is +carried from the sick to the well only by the bites of mosquitoes_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 76.--A bunch of mosquito eggs floating on the +surface of the water. Enlarged about fifteen times.] + +=How Mosquitoes Live.=--Before we can get rid of any pests we must +know where the eggs are hatched and the young pass their early life. +The eggs of mosquitoes are laid on standing water. The water may be in +an old tomato can, a rain barrel, a cistern, or a large pond. A day or +two after the mother lays one or two hundred eggs, they hatch into +dark, wriggling objects called _wigglers_. In from ten to twenty days +later they change into flying mosquitoes. These habits of life show +that the easiest time to kill them is when they are young. + +[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Photograph of wigglers, the stage in which +the mosquito lives a week or two in water.] + +=Getting rid of Mosquitoes.=--During warm weather mosquitoes cause the +death of more than a thousand persons in the world every day besides +making many others very sick. To get rid of mosquitoes is to prevent +sickness and death. In one year yellow fever killed over five thousand +people in New York and Philadelphia because the doctors did not know +how to stop the disease from spreading. + +When this fever broke out in New Orleans in 1905, less than five +hundred persons died of it because the doctors had then learned that +the disease is spread only by the yellow fever mosquito. They +therefore began killing the mosquitoes. Kerosene was poured over all +the ponds and stagnant pools of water which could not be drained. This +kills the young mosquitoes because the oil gets into their breathing +tube which they stick up to the surface of the water to get air. All +rain barrels and tin cans were emptied and cisterns were tightly +covered. Men, women, and children worked week days and Sundays killing +mosquitoes because they knew that they were saving human life. The +destroying fever was stopped. + +[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Photograph of eggs laid on waste matter by +two flies in one hour.] + +=Flies cause much Sickness.=--Very few people are afraid of house +flies because they do not bite. Although they are so small and +seemingly harmless yet we know that they cause many more deaths every +year than mad dogs, poisonous snakes, and all wild beasts. + +Flies crawl around among slops, in spittoons, and in other unclean +places. In this way they get thousands of germs of tuberculosis, +typhoid fever, and cholera on their feet and then scatter them over +our food as they crawl about on the table, in the grocery store, or +among the milk cans. In our last war with Spain more than a thousand +of our soldiers were made sick with fever carried to them by flies. + +In Denver, Colorado, in 1908 fifty persons were made sick with the fever +by flies which fed on the slops from a sick room and then crawled +around in the milk cans from which those who became sick used milk. + +[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Photograph of the worm stage or larva of the +fly at the left and three of the sleeping stage or pupae at the right. +Twice the natural size.] + +=How to fight the Flies.=--House flies lay at one time about one +hundred eggs in the dirt thrown out of horse stables, in garbage cans, +or in any other unclean place. In a day or two the eggs hatch into +little white worms which feed on the dirt. One or two weeks later the +worms change to flies. + +Flies may be kept out of houses by putting screens in the windows and +doors or by darkening the rooms when they are not in use. The few +which gain entrance may be caught in fly traps. All food in the store +or the home should be kept covered. It is not safe to eat candy on +which flies have wiped their feet or to drink the milk in which they +have washed them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 80.--Photograph of a half handful of manure which +had been thrown out of a horse stable. Note more than one hundred +houseflies in the sleeping stage.] + +The surest way to get rid of flies in any community is for all the +people to work together and keep the entire neighborhood clean. No +dead grass, weeds, or rags should be allowed to lie in the backyards +or alleys. The cleanings from stables should be hauled away every +week or stored in tightly covered boxes. Garbage cans must have +close-fitting lids, so that there will be no place in which the young +may hatch and grow. + +=Other Insects which carry Disease.=--In certain parts of Africa, the +_sleeping sickness_ has made ruins of prosperous villages. Thousands +of the natives are dying yearly from this disease. The germs are +carried from one person to another by the bite of a fly. + +Some fleas carry the germs of _plague_, which a few centuries ago +swept across Asia and Europe destroying hundreds of lives daily. The +plague is now common in India and was present in California in 1908 +and 1910. The bedbug spreads several kinds of fevers in warm countries +and may also be a carrier of leprosy and typhoid fever. These facts +show that insects are dangerous and should be kept out of the home. + +Any one troubled with these little pests in the house may learn how to +get rid of them by writing to the Department of Agriculture, +Washington, D.C. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOW THE BODY MOVES + + +=The Need of a Framework.=--The body needs a stiff framework made of +bones for three purposes. One purpose is to give it shape, a second +purpose is to help the body move, and a third one is to protect from +injury some of the delicate organs, such as the heart and brain. + +The bones are nowhere separate but are joined together with tough +bands named _ligaments_. All the bones together form the _skeleton_. + +All animals from fish to man have a skeleton. Many of the lower +creatures, such as worms and flies, have no bony skeleton. Most of +these move sluggishly or have a hardened outer covering, like beetles +and wasps. The skeleton of animals such as the cat, rabbit, or cow, +has about the same number of bones as man, and they are arranged in +the same way. + +=Of what a Bone is Made.=--Although the bones are so hard, they are +not dead. They contain blood, have feeling, and are just as much +alive as the softer parts of the body. It is the lime that makes them +stiff. This can be eaten out by putting the bone in strong vinegar or +other acid for a few days. A long bone will then become so limber that +it can be tied into a knot. + +The living part of a bone can be burned out by placing it on hot coals +for a half hour. At the end of this time the bone will look just as +before, but when it is touched, will crumble to pieces. + +=Forms of Bones.=--The bones of the legs and arms are hollow. This +form gives the greatest strength with the least weight. You can prove +this by using two sheets of paper. Roll one sheet and fold the other +one. Hang weights on both ends of each and use the finger for a +support in the middle. + +The cavity of these bones is filled with a soft white substance called +_marrow_. This is largely fat. Each bone is surrounded by a tough +membrane to which the muscles are attached. + +=Arrangement of the Bones.=--The bones of the head form the _skull_. +The other bones of the body not belonging to the _limbs_ make up the +_trunk_. There are over two hundred bones in the entire body. Eight of +these form a case for the brain. Fourteen give shape to the face. A +chain of twenty-six bones named _vertebrae_ forms the backbone. + +[Illustration: FIG. 81.--Photograph of the bones of the skeleton.] + +Twelve pairs of _ribs_ encircle the chest. They are fastened behind to +the backbone. The front parts of the ribs are made of pieces of +gristle. The seven upper pairs are joined to the breastbone. The five +lower pairs are named _false ribs_. + +The _collar bone_ is in front of the shoulder and behind it is the flat +_shoulder blade_. There is one bone in the upper part of each arm and +leg and two bones in the lower part of each limb. Twenty-eight small +bones are found in the hand, while twenty-seven are present in the foot. + +=How the Bones may be Injured.=--In the young some of the entire bones +and parts of many others are soft like gristle. For this reason, the +bones of the young seldom get broken, but they are easily bent and +pressed out of their natural shape. On this account you should hold the +body erect in sitting and walking. Bending over the table or desk day +after day is not only likely to cause round shoulders, but is sure to +squeeze up the lungs and other organs so they cannot do their best work. + +Sitting at a table or desk, so that one shoulder is higher than the +other or carrying books at the side, so that they rest on the hip may +cause a curve sidewise in the backbone. Tight clothing about the waist +presses the ribs out of shape and hurts the other organs within the +body. + +[Illustration: FIG. 82.--How the bones are held together. A piece has +been cut out of the tough ligament to show the cup of the hip bone +into which the head of the thigh bone fits.] + +=Caring for Broken Bones.=--When a bone of the arm or leg is broken, the +muscles tend to make the ends shove over each other. The broken ends are +sometimes sharp, and if the limb is bent, these may tear through the +flesh. This may be prevented by binding a board firmly on opposite sides +of the limb across the broken part. This will hold the bones in place +until the surgeon comes and will also allow the patient to be moved. + +The surgeon will set the broken bones by bringing the ends together +and holding them in place by sheets of wood or metal firmly held by a +bandage. In a few days the membrane around the bone begins to grow new +bone to join the broken parts. + +=How the Bones are joined together.=--The two general classes of +joints are the _movable_ and _immovable_. Except the lower jaw, the +bones of the skull are so tightly joined together that there is no +motion between them. The bones of the wrist and back have but little +movement. The freest motion is at the shoulder joint, where the round +head of one bone fits into the shallow cup of another. This is called +a _ball and socket joint_. Such a joint is found also at the hip. At +the elbow and knee the bones move back and forth like a hinge and +these are named _hinge joints_. + +=Working Parts of a Joint.=--The ends of the bones are covered with a +thin layer of gristle. The bones are held in place by several strong +bands called _ligaments_ (Fig. 82). These entirely surround the joint. +On their inner sides is a delicate membrane which gives out a slippery +fluid to make the joint work easily. + +The ligaments are sometimes strained, stretched, or torn by a fall. +The joint then swells because the watery part of the blood collects +there. A sprained limb should be elevated to prevent swelling. Bathing +it in very hot water is helpful. + +=The Muscles.=--The muscles form the lean meat in any animal. They make +up about one half the weight of the body. Each muscle is a bundle of +thousands of little threads held together by other finer threads, while +the whole is surrounded by a thin sheet. Little bundles formed of +several of these threads called fibers may be seen in a piece of cooked +beef picked to pieces. There are over five hundred muscles in the body. + +[Illustration: FIG. 83.--Fifty of the muscles just under the skin. +Note the white cords, the tendons in the regions of the hands and feet.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 84.--The biceps muscle contracted above and +relaxed or loosened below.] + +Some of the muscles are more than a foot long and have the shape of a +ribbon. Some are circular like those around the mouth, eyes, and +stomach, while others are large in the middle and taper toward the ends. + +=How the Muscles are fastened to the Bones.=--The two ends of a muscle +are attached to different bones. In many cases the muscle is not +joined directly to the bone, but is connected to a tough white cord +called a _tendon_. The tendon is then fixed to the bone. + +Several of the muscles in the forearm run into tendons in the wrist +because if the muscle part were to extend along the wrist, this part +of the arm would be large and clumsy instead of graceful and slender. +Some of these tendons may be seen to move by bending the wrist and +then working the fingers. + +=How the Muscles do their Work.=--A tiny nerve thread runs from the +spinal cord or brain to every muscle thread. Messages sent through the +nerve threads to the muscles make them act. A muscle can act in only +two ways (Fig. 84). It can become shorter or longer. When it gets +shorter, we say it _contracts_. When it stretches out, it is said to +_relax_. + +A muscle cannot contract more than one fourth of its length. To pull +the forearm up, the brain sends a message to the muscle fixed by one +end at the shoulder and by the other end to a bone at the elbow. The +muscle at once becomes shorter and thicker, as may be felt by placing +the fingers on it. Although it shortens only two inches it is fastened +to the bone so near the elbow that it draws the hand up two feet. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Of what use are the bones? + + 2. What animals have bony skeletons? + + 3. What can you say of the form of bones? + + 4. How many bones in the body? + + 5. Name six bones. + + 6. What part of the arm has two bones side by side? + + 7. How many ribs have you? + + 8. Explain how a broken bone should be cared for. + + 9. Point out and name two kinds of joints. + + 10. What are ligaments? + + 11. Of what is a muscle made? + + 12. How many muscles in the body? + + 13. How many tendons can you feel in your wrist? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MUSCLES AND HEALTH + + +=Making the Muscles Strong.=--No persons use all of the five hundred +muscles in the body every day. In slow walking only about twenty +muscles are used, while in running more than four times that number +are called into action. Muscles which are not used get lazy and weak. + +Every time a muscle is made to act the blood vessels enlarge and bring +to it more blood to supply food. The more food the muscle has the +stronger it grows. The right arm is used more than the left in most +persons. This makes it so much stronger that some boys can lift +twenty-five pounds more with the right arm than they can with the left. + +=Using the Muscles keeps the Body Well.=--All muscles must have more +blood when they are used so that the heart is made to beat faster and +stronger by exercise. In this way its valves and walls become able to +do more work. Such a heart not only does its work better in a well +person, but is able to keep pumping when the body is weakened by +disease. Many persons die because the heart gets too weak to push the +blood through the body. + +In all the little spaces between the muscles and parts of other organs +is some watery part of the blood containing much waste given off from +the tissues. Moving the muscles presses on this watery waste in such a +way as to move it along into the blood channels. It then can be cast out +of the body by the lungs and other organs. One reason why we feel so +good after exercise is because the poisonous waste has been taken away. + +No one can remain well very long without taking exercise. Children as +well as older persons should enjoy one or two hours of outdoor play +every day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Various ways of exercising the muscles to +keep the body well.] + +=How to exercise the Muscles.=--Outdoor games give the best form of +exercise. Tennis, baseball, cricket, rowing, and swimming are sports +which bring nearly all the muscles into use. Every boy and girl should +learn to swim. It is dangerous to go swimming alone or to swim in +deep water. Cramp may seize the muscles at any time, so that the limbs +cannot be moved. Hundreds of persons are drowned every year by +venturing in deep water. + +Taking care of the yard and garden and helping with other work about +the home is one of the best ways of getting exercise and at the same +time doing some good. + +=Special Kinds of Exercise.=--A room with ropes, swings, and machines +in it for exercise is called a _gymnasium_. Under the direction of a +teacher the pupils can get quickly just the right kind of exercise to +strengthen the weak parts of the body and keep every organ in health. +The muscles oftenest neglected are those of the chest. Every one +should keep his chest full and round by swinging the arms and +_practicing deep breathing every day_. + +=Danger from too much Exercise.=--Lately it has been learned that very +violent exercise for more than a few minutes often injures the heart. +The running of many races until you are all out of breath or much +jumping of the rope is likely to strain the heart. It is always +harmful to urge the body on until it is completely tired out. + +=Alcohol makes the Muscles Weak.=--In the year 1903 two learned men in +Switzerland spent much time to determine whether alcohol helped +persons do more work. They tried more than two hundred experiments +with men to whom they sometimes gave wine and sometimes food, and +sometimes both were given together. + +The results of these tests showed that when wine was given alone, the +man's ability to do work was increased for a short time, but later he +could not do so much work as when he had taken no wine. When the man +took both food and wine, he could do only about nine tenths as much +work as when he took food alone. + +The most careful tests by other persons show that whisky will not help a +man do more work, lift a heavier weight, or shoot straighter. In fact +little or much whisky makes him less able to do any of these things. + +=Beer makes the Muscles Lazy.=--Doctor Parkes of Netley secured two +gangs of soldiers to do the same kind of work. He allowed the first +gang to drink some beer, but the second gang were not allowed to have +any. During the first hour the beer gang did the most work, but after +that the temperance gang did far more work during the entire day. The +next week beer was refused the first gang and given to the second. The +beer helped the second gang do more work than the first one for nearly +two hours, but after that they did much less than the first gang. +This shows that men who wish to do their best work during the entire +day should not use beer. + +=Tobacco and the Muscles.=--Many experiments and studies have shown +that the body cannot do its best work when even very small amounts of +poison are taken day after day. The poison in tobacco is believed to +weaken the muscles so much that no man on a football team in any of +our large colleges or universities is allowed to smoke or chew during +the season. Persons training for any contest where much strength is +required do not use tobacco in any form. + +=Tobacco prevents Growth of the Muscles.=--The moderate use of tobacco +by men has but little effect on the muscles. It may cause them to tire +a little more easily when doing very hard work. Tobacco poison does, +however, show a marked effect on the muscles of the young. + +Very careful measurements made at one of the large universities showed +that the boys who did not smoke grew one tenth more in weight and one +fourth more in height than those using tobacco regularly. This slow +growth in tobacco users is partly due to the fact that tobacco makes +the muscles in the walls of the blood vessels squeeze together so as +to shut off some of the blood from the legs, arms, and other parts, so +that they get too little food. Tobacco may also cause less food to be +digested for the use of the body. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +HOW THE BODY IS GOVERNED + + +=Making the Parts of the Body Work.=--Each of the hundreds of organs +in the body has a certain work to do and this must be done at the +right time. In order that all may work together and each one do its +part when needed, there is a chief manager called the _brain_ and a +helping manager named the _spinal cord_. Millions of tiny threads for +sending messages connect the two managers with every part of the body. +These threads form the _nerves_. + +=The Brain.=--The brain is a soft bunch of matter filling the inside +of the skull. The bones of the skull are a quarter of an inch thick +and prevent any common knocks from hurting the brain. It is surrounded +by three coverings which also help shield it from injury. + +The surface of the brain is very uneven. There are a great many folds +separated by grooves. Some of these are more than an inch deep. + +[Illustration: FIG. 86.--The under side of the brain and the spinal cord +with the chief nerves of one side of the body viewed from in front.] + +=Parts of the Brain.=--The brain is divided into three chief parts. +The upper and larger part is called the _big brain_ or _cerebrum_. +The lower part behind is the _little brain_ or _cerebellum_. The part +under the little brain and round like the thumb is the _stem_ of the +brain. It connects the larger parts of the brain with the spinal cord. + +The big brain is partly separated into halves by a deep cut called a +_fissure_. Each half is a _hemisphere_. + +The outer layer of the brain is gray. It is made of millions of tiny +lumps of matter which are the bodies of nerve cells. These are +connected by threads much finer than hairs with other parts of the +brain and spinal cord. Over these threads called _nerve fibers_ one +cell can talk to another somewhat as we talk over a telephone wire. + +[Illustration: FIG. 87.--Side of the skull cut away to show the brain. +_B_, backbone.] + +=The Spinal Cord.=--This is a bundle of nerve matter about as thick as +your finger. It extends from the stem of the brain down the canal in +the backbone. The outer layer of the spinal cord is white because it +is made of the tiny threads, _nerve fibers_. The inner part is made of +the bodies of nerve cells and therefore looks gray. The fibers are +branching threads from the cells in the cord and brain. + +=The Message Carriers or Nerve Fibers.=--In order that the managers may +send messages, these fine threads, the nerve fibers, extend from them to +all parts of the body. In many places from five to five hundred or more +of these fibers are united in one white cord called a _nerve_. + +Twelve pairs of nerves are joined to the under side of the brain and +thirty-one pairs are connected with the spinal cord (Fig. 86). The +nerves of the brain branch to all parts of the head and neck, and one +pair goes down to the lungs, heart, and stomach. The nerves connected +with the spinal cord branch to every part of the muscles, bones, and +skin of the arms, trunk, and legs. + +=How the Nerves do their Work.=--On a telephone wire we can send a +message in either direction. A message can travel on a nerve in only +one direction. For this reason there must be two kinds of nerves. One +kind is called _sending nerves_ because the brain and cord send orders +over them to make the organs act. The other kind carries messages to +the brain from the eyes, ears, skin, or other organs of sense, telling +it how they feel. On this account these are named _receiving nerves_. + +When we wish to catch a ball, the brain sends an order along the nerve +threads down the spinal cord and out through the nerves of the arm to +the fingers to get ready to seize a ball. The fingers are spread to +grasp the ball, but they do not close until a message goes from the +skin of the finger tips to the spinal cord, telling it that the ball +is in the hand. + +=The Work of the Brain.=--The brain is not only the chief manager of +the body, but the home of the mind. The mind acts through the brain. +The mind receives through the brain what the eye sees, the ear hears, +the nose smells, and the fingers feel. All this knowledge is stored up +in the mind and called _memory_. These facts and others learned later +are worked over by the mind. This is called _thought_. + +The mind rules and becomes good or bad according to whether it +contains good thoughts or bad thoughts. _It is wrong to read books and +papers about robberies and murders or to tell or to listen to bad +stories_, because in this way evil thoughts get into the mind. The +best way of keeping badness out of the mind is to fill it with +goodness. It is said that Lincoln was so busy thinking how he could +help others that there was no room in his mind for a bad thought. +Doing some kindness every day helps much in the making of a good mind. + +=Habit.=--The doing of anything over and over again until the body +goes through the same motions without any or very little thought is +called _habit_. The brain and nerves are so formed that when they get +used to obeying the same order of the mind again and again, they will +carry out these orders when the mind no longer gives them. Sometimes +they will continue to obey the old orders even when new ones are given. + +Many persons would like to break off the habit of drinking beer or +whisky, of chewing tobacco, and using bad language, but they find it +very hard to make the mind rule the body because they have let the +nerves have their own way so long. + +Speaking cheerfully to those we meet, giving a kind word to our +friends, and looking pleasant are good habits which every one ought to +form in youth. They not only make the mind better, but they help the +body to keep well and will prepare the way for success in life later. +Nobody wants a grumbling clerk or a sour-faced housekeeper. + +[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The difference in appearance between a +pouting and a pleasant expression.] + +=Parts of the Body work without Orders from the Brain.=--A snake with +its brain crushed will still squirm and a chicken with its head cut +off jumps about. These movements are caused by orders sent from the +spinal cord. When the hand or foot is being hurt, the spinal cord +orders the muscles to draw the limb away even before we feel the pain +in the brain. Many of the movements of the body which are often +repeated may be directed by the spinal cord, while the brain is left +free to do other work. This is why the spinal cord is called the +helping manager. + +The action of the muscles in the walls of the blood vessels, the +working of the stomach, the liver, pancreas, and other glands are not +directed by the brain, but by the _sympathetic nerves_. These extend +from a little cord on either side of the backbone to all parts of the +body and make the organs, such as the heart and sweat glands, which we +cannot make obey our will, do their work. + +=Injury to the Nerves.=--The nerves are so important for the welfare +of the body that all the chief ones are placed deep in the flesh, +where they are not likely to be hurt. If the nerves leading to the arm +were cut, it could not be moved, and we should have no feeling in it. +The hurting of a part of the brain, the spinal cord, or the nerves may +cause loss of feeling or motion in the leg, arm, or other part of the +body. Such a part then seems asleep or dead and is said to have +_paralysis_. + +Pressing on a nerve prevents it from acting. Sitting so as to press on +the nerve of the leg often makes the foot go to sleep. The bursting of +a blood vessel in the brain may let a blood clot form and press on the +nerves which govern the arm or the leg. This pressure may cause +paralysis. + +=Resting the Brain.=--When there is no food in the stomach, it has +time to rest. When we sit down or lie down, the muscles get rest. The +brain is always busy except when we are asleep. No one can live even a +week without sleep. If a dog is kept awake five days, it will die. + +[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Sleeping in the position shown in the lower +figure prevents free breathing and tends to cause round shoulders. The +upper figure shows correct position.] + +Children need much more sleep than older persons. Men and women who +work should have about eight hours of sleep daily to remain in good +health. Children of twelve years should sleep nine hours each day; +those of ten years, ten hours; those of seven years, eleven hours; and +those of four years, twelve hours. + +=Getting the most out of Sleep.=--You should go to bed every night at +about the same hour. This will help you to fall asleep as soon as you +are in bed. Do not sleep in the clothes which you have worn during the +day, but hang them up to air, and put on a night robe. + +Children should use a very low pillow, so that the body can lie +straight in the bed. This gives the lungs and heart freedom to act. Do +not lie on the back as this causes some of the organs to press on +certain nerves and makes you dream. The windows should be opened wide +because fresh air is the best aid to rest and health and keeps away +tuberculosis. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. What makes the parts of the body work together? + + 2. Describe the surface of the brain. + + 3. Name the three parts of the brain. + + 4. Of what is the outer layer of the brain made? + + 5. Where is the spinal cord? + + 6. What are nerve fibers? + + 7. What work does the brain do? + + 8. What makes the mind good or bad? + + 9. What is habit? + + 10. How long should children sleep? + + 11. How can you get the most good out of sleep? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HOW NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS AFFECT THE BRAIN AND NERVES + + +=What Narcotics and Stimulants Are.=--A _narcotic_ is something which +when taken into the body makes the organs do their work more slowly +and tends to cause sleepiness. Alcoholic drinks, tobacco, opium, +soothing sirups, and pain killers are narcotics. + +A _stimulant_ is a substance which makes the organs of the body do +more and quicker work and does not later make the organs work more +slowly. Coffee and tea are stimulants. Beer, wine, and whisky were +once thought to be stimulants, but experiments have shown them to be +narcotics. They urge the brain to faster work for a few minutes, but a +half hour later they make it act slower than usual. + +=Alcohol hurts the Brain.=--Within five minutes after a drink of beer +or whisky has been swallowed, part of the alcohol has reached the +blood. Within fifteen minutes much of the alcohol has gone from the +stomach directly into the blood. In a minute after entering the blood +vessels it reaches the brain. + +If much strong drink is taken, the cells of the brain become so numbed +that they cannot give the right orders to the muscles to move the +limbs. The person then staggers about and is said to be drunk. Much +whisky taken will make the nerve cells so numb that a man cannot move, +and he will then lie down as if in a deep sleep. + +A tablespoonful of whisky will make a child drunk and twice that +amount may make him very sick. Much use of strong drink sometimes +gives to the brain a terrible disease called _delirium tremens_. In +this sickness the man thinks he sees horned animals, hissing snakes, +and other creatures which annoy him. + +=Alcohol injures the Thinking Part of the Brain.=--It was once thought +that wine or whisky would make a man think better. Now we know that +either of these drinks makes his thoughts slower and also causes him +to make mistakes. + +Two doctors in Europe made many tests with men to learn how alcohol +affected their thinking. They found that when using wine the men could +do about one tenth less work in adding numbers than when they took no +strong drink. These doctors also tested the effect of alcohol on +memory and discovered that the use of even small quantities of liquor +caused their pupils to learn their lessons more slowly. + +When persons have taken only a very little drink, they often say and +do very foolish things. They sometimes tell secrets, for which they +are very sorry when they get sober. Often they become angry at the +least cause and strike or even shoot any person who seems to speak or +work against them in any way. + +=Alcohol makes People Steal and Kill.=--The alcohol in strong drink, +when often used, appears to deaden that part of the brain which helps +the mind know right from wrong. In one year the courts of Suffolk +County in Massachusetts found 17,000 persons guilty of doing some +wickedness and in over 12,000 of these cases alcohol was found to be +the cause of doing the wrong for which they were arrested. + +Some time ago there were collected the records of 30,000 prisoners, +and among these over 12,000 had done their wicked acts while alcohol +was numbing the brain. Lately another careful record of over 13,000 +prisoners in twelve different states has been studied. In over 4000 of +these men the use of strong drink was the first cause of their crimes. + +=Alcohol makes the Mind Sick.=--Since the mind depends upon certain +parts of the brain, whatever hurts the brain is quite sure to hurt the +mind. When the mind cannot reason rightly, the person is said to be +_insane_. A study of 2000 insane men in New York State showed that the +use of alcoholic drink was the cause of the mind sickness in over 500 +of them. Of 687 persons in Massachusetts who were so insane that they +had to be cared for daily by others, more than 200 of them were +brought to this sad condition by alcohol. + +=Brain of the Young easily overcome by Alcohol.=--No one expects to +become a drunkard or a criminal when he first begins to drink. The +continued use of alcohol, however, soon numbs the brain and weakens +the mind, so that the person's will power is lost. He is then not able +to quit drinking even though he wants to stop. He has become a slave +to alcohol. + +_The brain of a young person is injured much more quickly by alcohol +than that of an older person and he_ is much more likely to become a +slave than one who begins the use of drink late in life. Doctor +Lambert, of New York, studied the cases of 259 slaves to alcohol. He +learned that four began to drink before six years of age; thirteen +between six and twelve years of age; sixty, between twelve and sixteen +years; 102 between sixteen and twenty-one years; seventy-one, between +twenty-one and thirty years; and only eight after thirty years of age. +These facts teach that it is dangerous for the young to take strong +drink at any time. + +=Laws against Alcohol.=--The men who make laws for the good of the +people are learning that alcohol is injuring the mind and body of many +persons every year. For this reason laws have lately been passed +forbidding the sale of strong drink in several entire states and in +large parts of many other states. + +=Tobacco makes the Brain work Slower.=--An examination of the age and +habits of hundreds of the students entering a large university in New +England showed that those who smoked required more than a year longer +than those who did not use tobacco, to learn enough to enter the first +classes in this school. Moreover, out of every hundred of those who +took the highest rank in their work in the university, ninety-five did +not use tobacco. It is likely that tobacco makes the mind work slower +by preventing the full amount of blood from going to the brain. It +does this by making the blood vessels smaller. + +So far as known tobacco has but little effect upon the brains of older +persons. + +Superintendent Ogg of Indiana reports that the occasional users of +cigarettes are a year, and the regular users two years, behind those +who do not smoke. The conduct and honesty of the smokers were also +found to be lower than among those who did not smoke. + +=Opium, Morphine, and Cocaine.=--All of these harmful drugs are widely +used in our country. They act on the brain in a strange way. All of +them deaden pain. When a person first begins their use, only a small +amount is required to produce the effect wanted on the body. Later +the doses must be increased. After a few months' use the person +becomes a slave to the habit of using them, and he cannot stop their +use without the help of a doctor. It is therefore dangerous to use +these drugs at any time. + +Powders used for colds in the nose, also paregoric and laudanum, +contain these harmful drugs. + +=Pain Killers and Soothing Sirups.=--All pain killers contain opium or +morphine or other harmful drugs. They are therefore dangerous to use. +Pain is useful in telling us that some organ is out of order and needs +care. Killing the pain does not help the sick organ, and it may let +the organ get so sick as to cause death. + +One use of the nerves is to tell us when any part of the body is hurt +or sick. Pain is nature's warning, and to numb the nerves which tell +us about it is as foolish as to kill a person because he brings us bad +news. _No medicine should ever be given children to make them sleep or +stop their crying except by the advice of the physician._ + +=Powders and Pills.=--If you get sick, do not try to cure yourself +with pills or powders bought at the store. Some of these medicines +contain poisons which hurt the heart or other organs. A number of +persons have been killed by taking such medicines. When you are sick, +go to a good doctor who understands how the organs should work, and he +will find which one is out of order and tell you exactly what +medicine you need and what to eat in order to get well quickly. + +=Tea and Coffee.=--These drinks usually wake up the brain and make it +work better for a time. If too much of them is used, they may excite +the brain in such a way as to make persons nervous. If taken for +supper, they may prevent sleep. Children should not use either tea or +coffee. Tea sometimes disturbs digestion, and coffee may injure both +the stomach and the heart. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. What is a narcotic? + + 2. Name some narcotics. + + 3. What is a stimulant? + + 4. Name some stimulants. + + 5. How long before alcohol taken reaches the brain? + + 6. What effect does strong drink have on the brain? + + 7. Does alcohol help us think better? + + 8. What facts show that alcohol sends men to prison? + + 9. What shows that alcohol makes the mind sick? + + 10. Why is it dangerous for the young to take strong drink? + + 11. What shows that tobacco makes the brain work slower? + + 12. Why should you not use opium or morphine? + + 13. What do pain killers contain? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SENSES, OR DOORS OF KNOWLEDGE + + +=The Organs of Sense.=--In order that our body may keep out of the way +of other persons and find food and drink and do its work, the brain +must have some way of receiving news about what is near us, how it +looks, and of what it is made. Special organs for receiving knowledge +of people and things about us are scattered over the surface of the +body. They are called _sense organs_. The chief ones are the two eyes, +the two ears, the nose, and many organs of taste in the mouth, and the +thousands of tiny organs of feeling in the skin. + +=The Eye.=--The eye consists of a globe called the _eyeball_ and parts +which move this and protect it from injury. Each eyeball is attached +at its back part to the large nerve of sight (Fig. 90). This carries +messages to the brain, telling it what the eye sees. + +The eyeball is held in a socket in the front of the skull. A layer of +fat lines the socket and keeps the eye from being injured by jars. The +_eyebrows_ at the lower edge of the forehead prevent the sweat from +running into the eyeball. + +[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Side of the face cut away to show the eyeball +in its socket. _n_ is the nerve of sight; the other letters show the +muscles which move the eyeball.] + +The _eyelids_ can close over the front of the eyeball to shut out dirt +or anything else likely to hurt it. The lids have learned to do their +work so well that we do not need to think to close them when anything +flies toward the eye, for they are shut before we can think. + +A salty fluid called _tears_ flows from the tear gland at the upper +and outer side of the eyeball. The tears keep the front of the eyeball +clean. + +=Parts of the Eyeball.=--The outside of the eyeball is a tough white +coat except in front, where it is as clear as glass. Within the outer +coat is a very thin black lining to keep the light from scattering. In +front the lining is not against the outer coat, but hangs loose and +has in it a round hole called the _pupil_ to let the light pass +through. The part around the hole is the _iris_. It may be blue, +black, or brown, and can squeeze up so as to make the pupil very small +when the light is strong. + +[Illustration: FIG. 91.--A slice from before backward through the eye.] + +The end of the nerve of sight forms a tender pink covering over most +of the inner surface of the eyeball. The cavity within the eyeball is +filled with three clear substances. The _lens_, shaped like a flat +door knob, is fixed just behind the pupil. In front of the lens is a +_watery fluid_ and behind it is a clear _jellylike mass_. The use of +the lens and also the other substances is to bend the rays of light +together so that they will meet at one place. + +=How the Eyeball is Moved.=--Six muscles fixed to the bones of the +socket holding the eye have their other ends fastened to the tough +coat of the eyeball. One muscle turns the ball upward, another turns +it downward, one turns it inward and another turns it outward. If an +inner or an outer muscle is too strong, a person may have cross eyes. + +=Keeping the Eye Strong.=--Nearly all young children have perfect +eyes. After a year or two in school the eyes of some children become +weak. Many children get weak eyes after they are ten or twelve years +old. This is because they have not taken care of the eyes. + +The eyes are often hurt by reading a book with fine print, reading in +a dim light, or by leaning over the book so that the eyes look +downward instead of straight forward. As the eyes are very weak after +measles and most other diseases, they should not be used much until a +week or more after recovery. + +In reading the book should be held a little over a foot in front of +the chest and you should sit nearly straight and let the light fall on +the page from one side. Never read while lying down because it strains +the eyes. Stop reading as soon as the eyes smart. + +=Helping the Eyes to See.=--Very few old people can see to read +without the help of glasses, because the lens of the eye hardens in +old age. To see things near by, the shape of the lens must be changed. +In some children, the shape of the eyes has become so changed by +straining them to read fine print or see things in a dim light that +the eyes hurt after being used for any kind of work, and the head may +often ache and make the whole body feel bad. Such eyes need help. You +should have them examined by an eye doctor who can fit you with +glasses which will help you see clearly without headache. + +=Keeping the Eyes Well.=--Bits of dirt often get beneath the eyelids +and cause much pain. By taking hold of the eyelashes the lid may be +pulled out from the eye and any dirt removed with the corner of a +clean handkerchief passed gently along the lid. + +The eyes sometimes become sore because they are rubbed with soiled +fingers on which are germs. These germs get inside the lids and grow, +and in this way poison the eyes. Unless care is used sore eyes are +likely to spread from one child to another in the school. The sick child +rubs its eyes and then handles a book or pencil on which the germs are +smeared by the fingers which touched the eyes. The next child picks up +the same book later, gets the germs on the fingers, and then rubs the +eyes. For this reason you should never rub the eyes. If you have sore +eyes, _be careful that no one else catches the sickness from you_. + +=The Ear.=--The ear is made of three parts called the _outer ear_, the +_middle ear_ or _eardrum_, and the _inner ear_. The outer ear is made +of a plate of skin and gristle and a slightly bent tube about one inch +long. At the inner end of this tube is a thin membrane or _drumhead_. +Beyond the drumhead is the cavity of the middle ear about as large as +a pea. A chain of three tiny bones stretches from the outer drumhead +across this cavity to a tiny _inner drumhead_. Beyond the inner +drumhead is the inner ear. + +[Illustration: FIG. 92.--View of the ear from in front. Three little +bones stretch across the middle ear.] + +The middle ear is kept full of air by means of a tube leading from it +to the throat. A cold or other sickness may cause this tube to fill up +and make you deaf. The inner ear consists of a sac and four bent tubes +filled with a watery fluid. They are also surrounded by watery fluid +contained in channels in a bone of the skull. The end of the nerve of +hearing is on one of the tubes. + +=How we Hear.=--Throwing a stone in the water makes waves which move +farther and farther outward. In the same way a noise causes waves in +the air. These waves pass into the ear tube, strike the outer +drumhead, and make it move. This moves the chain of bones in the +middle ear so that they cause motion in the inner drumhead. This in +moving back and forth makes waves in the fluid of the inner ear which +strike on the ends of the nerve of hearing and cause messages to be +carried to the brain. + +=Care of the Ears.=--The ears should not be struck or pulled, as the +eardrum is easily broken. Do not put pencils, pins, or anything else +in your ears. Wax naturally forms in the ear tube to keep out bugs and +flies. The outer part of the tube may be kept clean by wiping it with +a moist cloth over the little finger. If you often have earache or a +running ear, you should have it examined by a physician. _Neglecting a +sick ear may cause deafness._ + +Some persons are deaf in one ear and do not know it. Test each ear by +covering the other one with a heavy cloth and note how far off you can +hear the ticks of a watch. + +=The Nose.=--The nose has a skin-like lining, but it is always kept +moist by little glands which give out a watery fluid. The endings of +the nerve of smell are in the lining in the upper part of the nose. +Two nerves lead from the nose to the brain. + +When we catch cold, much blood rushes to the lining of the nose and it +becomes swollen. It then gives out a thick white mucus. This covers +the nerve endings, so that we cannot smell. + +Smell is of great use in telling us whether our food is good, by +helping us to enjoy food with a pleasant odor, and by warning us +against bad air. + +=The Sense of Taste.=--The nerves by which we taste end in the soft +covering of the tongue and some other parts of the mouth. A food +cannot be tasted while it is dry. For this reason much slippery fluid +flows into the mouth from glands under the ears and tongue. This +fluid, called _saliva_, softens the solid food when it is well chewed, +so we can taste it. + +=The Senses of the Skin.=--There are endings of nerves in the skin all +over the body. They are of three or four different kinds. Some of them +tell us about heat, others tell us about cold. Some tell us about the +shape, the smoothness, or hardness of objects, while others tell us +when the skin gets hurt. + +Most of the nerve endings are in the deeper part of the skin, so that +they are covered by the epidermis and cannot be hurt by the rough +things handled. + +=Alcohol and the Senses.=--The senses are but little affected by a +small amount of alcoholic drink. The sense of taste, after being +accustomed to the sharpness of strong drink, may be less easily +pleased with the taste of common food and drink. + +The use of large amounts of alcohol blunts all the senses. In a +drunken man the senses of the skin are so numbed that he does not know +when anything touches him, and he may be badly burned before he feels +the pain. + +Heavy drinking makes the hearing less keen, enlarges the blood vessels +of the eyes, and makes them appear red and bloodshot. + +=Tobacco and the Senses.=--The use of tobacco does not injure the +senses of the skin and usually has no effect on hearing. Both chewing +and smoking, if much practiced, make the sense of taste less delicate, +so that one cannot enjoy his food to the fullest extent. + +Much smoking of tobacco may hurt the nerve of sight and in a few cases +it has made men blind. Many boys have weakened their eyes by the use +of cigarettes. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. Name the chief sense organs. + + 2. Of what use are the eyelids and tears? + + 3. Name four parts of the eyeball. + + 4. What is the iris? + + 5. Of what use is the lens? + + 6. What moves the eyeball? + + 7. When do children get weak eyes? + + 8. How are the eyes often hurt? + + 9. How may poor eyes be helped? + + 10. What makes the eyes sore? + + 11. How do germs get into the eyes? + + 12. Name the three parts of the ear. + + 13. What does the inner ear contain? + + 14. What may result from neglecting a sick ear? + + 15. Of what use is smell? + + 16. Why should food be well chewed? + + 17. In what part of the skin are most of the nerve endings? + + 18. What effect does tobacco have on the sense of taste? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +KEEPING AWAY SICKNESS + + +=Too Much Sickness.=--Many diseases are caused by our own carelessness +and our bad habits of living. We have about one doctor for every one +hundred families. There are enough people sick every day to make a +city as large as New York or to equal the number of people living in +the thirteen states of Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, +Utah, Delaware, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, North Dakota and +South Dakota, and Oklahoma. + +A careful study of disease and its cause shows that at least one half +of all the sickness in our land can be avoided by right living. + +=The Cause of Sickness.=--Some people are so foolish as to make +themselves sick. They weaken the body by using much beer or wine, by +breathing bad air, by lack of exercise, or by fast eating. When the +body becomes weak, it is likely to get sick at any time. + +[Illustration: FIG. 93.--The germs of diseases. Much enlarged.] + +It is not always our own fault when we are sick. It may be caused by +the carelessness of others who have let germs escape from their bodies +so that they are able to reach us. One half of the sickness in our +land is catching sickness. That is, it is sickness which passes from +one person to another and is caused by tiny germs or microbes. A +catching sickness is called a _contagious disease_. Some of the common +catching diseases are sore throat, colds, diphtheria, pneumonia, +typhoid fever, measles, grippe, and whooping cough. + +=How we get a Catching Sickness.=--We get a catching sickness by +taking into our bodies the germs from some other person. The germs of +the sick do not pass off in the breath, but in the spit or anything +else which comes from their bodies. This is why the spit and all slops +from the sick room should be burned, buried, or destroyed in some way. + +[Illustration: FIG. 94.--How the germs of disease start on their +mission of death. This sewer carries slops from the houses of the sick +and well and empties into a stream used below for drinking water.] + +We should think it very wicked if a showman should turn his lions and +tigers loose in a crowd of women and children. Somebody would surely +be killed and others hurt. It is just as wrong to turn loose the +germs of the sick by throwing the spit and the slops where they will +get into a stream or where the flies may find them and by soiling +their feet leave death in their trail wherever they crawl. + +=How the Germs of Sickness catch Us.=--The germs of sickness have no +feet to walk and no wings to fly, yet they easily travel from the sick +to the well. They are not killed by being frozen, or drowned by +floating in water, or destroyed by drying. For this reason they can +travel with the ice, water, milk, and dust. + +In Buffalo, New York, fifty-seven children caught the scarlet fever in +one week by using milk cared for by a boy who was getting well from +the scarlet fever. + +The germs of sickness are so small that a million can hang to the +hands or clothing and not be seen. For this reason they are often left +clinging to the fingers, desks, books, and pencils, and travel in +large numbers on the feet of flies. The surest way the germs have of +getting from one person to another is by the common drinking cup. + +[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Photograph of clear beef broth jelly in which +a fly walked five minutes scattering germs. Two days later each germ +brushed off the fly's feet grew into a city of germs appearing as a +white spot.] + +=The Common Drinking Cup is an Exchange Station for Germs.=--The most +careful examinations have shown that there are thousands of children +as well as grown persons who have very light attacks of scarlet fever, +tuberculosis, or other diseases and go to school or about their work +scattering the germs of sickness in their spit. A child seldom drinks +from a cup without leaving on it thousands of germs. Some of these may +be germs which will cause sickness. On one drinking cup used in a +school, the germs were found to be as thick as the leaves on a maple +tree in June. + +In an Ohio school one warm day, a boy with beginning measles drank +from the cup which was afterward used on the same day by the teacher +and all the other pupils. In less than two weeks every pupil and the +teacher were suffering from measles. _Put nothing into your mouth +which has been in another's mouth._ + +[Illustration: FIG. 96.--A schoolhouse in Morgan county, Ohio, where +sixteen pupils and the teacher caught the measles in one day by drinking +from a cup which had been used by a boy sick with the measles.] + +=The Golden Rule.=--If you have a catching sickness, such as measles, +chicken pox, or whooping cough, stay away from others. Since the germs +of some diseases, like scarlet fever and diphtheria, remain in the +spit sometimes several months after you feel well, don't scatter your +spit. Hold a handkerchief before your face when you sneeze or cough. +_Wash your hands before handling food._ + +=Some Animals carry Sickness.=--Mosquitoes carry malaria and yellow +fever and some other diseases. Flies carry typhoid fever, grippe, +diphtheria, and tuberculosis. Bedbugs and fleas carry the plague and +leprosy. Rats carry the plague. Cats sometimes carry diphtheria. Many +cows have tuberculosis and the germs of this disease are then +sometimes found in their milk. Some children have caught tuberculosis +from drinking such milk. + +[Illustration: FIG. 97.--A pane of glass held about two feet before the +face of a boy who sneezed. The spots are the droplets of spit thrown +out. Each spot showed under the microscope from 50 to 1000 germs.] + +=Keeping away Smallpox.=--Smallpox was once the most terrible of all +diseases. It is so catching that two or three were often sick with it +at one time in the same family. Sometimes nearly one half the people +of a whole town would have the disease in one year. Over a hundred +years ago nearly every grown up person had little pits scattered over +his face as a result of having had smallpox. + +You can always keep away smallpox by being vaccinated. The doctor can +vaccinate you by putting on the freshly scraped skin of your arm some +weak smallpox germs from a clean healthy calf which has been +vaccinated. Your arm will in a few days get sore and you will not feel +well for about one week, but you will be made safe from smallpox for +several years. + +Fifty nurses were vaccinated in Philadelphia and cared for many sick +with the smallpox, staying with them day after day, but not one of the +nurses took the disease. _Every one should be vaccinated when a year +old and again at the age of ten or twelve years._ + +=Colds.=--Some colds are catching, but we generally take cold because +we have weak bodies or have been careless. If you want to be free from +colds, remember these six rules:-- + +Don't sit still in wet clothes or with wet feet. + +Don't sit in a cold draft or in a cold room. + +Don't sit on the damp ground or on the ice when you are resting from +skating. + +Don't cool off quickly after exercising. + +Sleep in a room with the windows _wide_ open. + +Take a cold bath every morning and draw fresh air to the bottom of the +lungs many times every day. + +=Tuberculosis or Consumption.=--This disease is so common and deadly +that twenty persons die from it in our country every hour. It is +caused by tiny germs (Fig. 63) which lodge in the lungs, glands, +bones, or other parts of the body, where they give off poison and hurt +the tissues. We take these germs into the body with dust or food, and +also by putting to the lips a drinking cup or other things used by a +consumptive. Generally the germs will not grow in a strong body, even +when they have lodged there. + +=Preventing Consumption.=--Living in poorly lighted houses without +much fresh air, working in dusty rooms, using much strong drink and +tobacco, eating poor food, losing sleep, neglecting a cough, and +taking little or no outdoor exercise weaken the body so that the +consumption germs can grow in it. Deep breathing, sitting and walking +erect, living in rooms with sunshine, sleeping with the windows open +eight or nine hours every night, and eating good food will prevent one +from taking consumption and will often cure the disease. Persons with +this sickness give out the germs in their spit, which should be caught +in a cup and burned. + +=The Hookworm Disease.=--This is a sickness affecting thousands of +persons in the South. It is caused by tiny worms half as large as a pin +hanging fast to the lining of the bowels. The worm is sometimes called +the lazy germ because it destroys the red blood cells and makes the body +feel weak and lazy. Children with these worms grow slowly, have a dry +skin, and a swollen abdomen with a tender spot below the stomach. + +The disease is easily cured by a physician, but it is better to +prevent it by killing the germs in the waste from the bowels. For +directions, address the Department of Health at the capital of your +state. If the germs reach the ground they crawl around and may get +into the well, and enter the body again with the drinking water. +Generally, however, the worms enter through the skin of those going +barefooted, and are carried by the blood to the lungs. From here they +go up the windpipe to the throat, and then down the gullet to the +bowels. It is their entrance through the skin that causes ground itch +or dew itch. Wearing shoes will help prevent the disease. + +=A Strong Body Wins.=--Nobody wants to be weak and sickly. Most all of +us could keep well if we would try in the right way to keep the body +strong. + +To keep the body in health it must have plenty of sleep, enough good +food well chewed, plenty of clean water, exercise every day, and an +abundance of fresh air. The body is the temple of the soul. Don't hurt +it with bad habits. + + +PRACTICAL QUESTIONS + + 1. How many people are sick to-day in our country? + + 2. How can much sickness be avoided? + + 3. What causes sickness? + + 4. What is a contagious disease? + + 5. Name some contagious diseases. + + 6. How do we get a catching sickness? + + 7. Why should we be careful with the slops from the sick + room? + + 8. Tell how children in Buffalo caught scarlet fever. + + 9. What is the danger in using a cup from which others + have drunk? + + 10. How can you prevent others from getting your sickness? + + 11. Name some animals which carry sickness. + + 12. How can we keep away smallpox? + + 13. Give six rules to keep away colds. + + 14. How may the body be kept strong? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HELPING BEFORE THE DOCTOR COMES + + +=The Need of Quick Help.=--In many places in the country, or when out +camping, it is impossible to get a doctor in less than two or three +hours. Unless some one at hand can give aid before the doctor comes, +much suffering and even death may result when a simple accident +occurs. For this reason every one should know how to help in case of +such accidents as burns, bleeding, choking, and sunstroke. + +=Clothing on Fire.=--Children should never play about an open fire. A +single spark lighting on a cotton dress may cause it to burst into a +blaze so that within a few minutes the child is enveloped in flames. + +The quickest way to put out such a fire is to wrap the child in a +blanket, a piece of carpet, a coat, or any part of your clothing +quickly removed. If nothing is at hand to wrap the sufferer in, roll +him over and over in the dirt or weeds until the flames are smothered. +When your clothing is on fire, you must not run, because this fans the +fire and makes it burn. + +=Burns and Scalds.=--If there is clothing on the part burned, it +should be taken off slowly so as not to tear the skin. If the clothing +sticks, soak it in oil a few minutes until it gets loose. Cover the +burned part as quickly as possible with vaseline or a clean cloth +soaked in a quart of boiled water containing a cup of washing soda. +Let nothing dirty touch the burned surface and keep it well wrapped. + +=Bleeding.=--A person can lose a quart of blood without danger of +death and may live after more than two quarts have been lost, but it +is wise to try to stop any flow of blood as quickly as possible. Tying +a clean cloth folded several times over the cut will in most cases +stop the flow. This will help a clot to form and will also close the +ends of the cut vessels if the bandage is twisted tight with a stick. + +If the cut is on a limb and the blood comes out in spurts, a bandage +tied about the limb between the cut and the body may be twisted tight +with a stick so as to press upon the artery and close it. A piece of +wood or folded cloth placed over the artery under the bandage before +it is tightened is helpful. + +=Nosebleed.=--Some persons are troubled frequently with bleeding from +the nose. The least knock may cause it to bleed for more than an hour. +It may generally be stopped without sending for a doctor. + +Sit up straight to keep the blood out of the head and press the +middle part of the nose firmly between the fingers. Apply a cold wet +cloth or a lump of ice wrapped in a cloth to the back of the neck. Put +a bag of pounded ice on the root of the nose. If it does not stop in a +half hour, wet a soft rag or a piece of cotton with cold tea or alum +water and put it gently into the bleeding nostril so as to entirely +close it. Do not blow the nose for several hours after the bleeding +has stopped as this may start it again. + +=Fainting.=--Fainting may be caused by bad air, an overheated room, by +fear, or by some other excitement. A fainting person falls down and +appears to be asleep. The lips are pale and there may be cold sweat on +the forehead. There is too little blood in the brain, and the heart is +weak. + +A fainting person should be laid flat on the floor or on a couch, and +all doors and windows opened wide. Loosen all tight clothing and apply +to the forehead a cloth wet with cold water. A faint usually lasts +only a few minutes. + +=Sunstroke.=--A person with sunstroke becomes giddy, sick at the +stomach, and weak. He then gets drowsy and may seem as if asleep, but +he cannot be aroused. The skin is hot and dry instead of being cold +and pale, as in fainting. The doctor should be sent for at once. + +The first aid for sunstroke is to put the patient in a cool cellar or +an icehouse, raise the head, and wet the head, neck, and back of the +chest with cold water. As soon as he wakens put him in a cool room. + +=Frostbite.=--When out in very cold weather, the end of the nose, the +tips of the ears, and the toes and fingers are sometimes frozen. If a +person comes into a warm room, these frozen parts will give much pain. +The parts should be rubbed with snow or ice water until a tingling +sensation is felt. + +=Breaks in the Skin.=--A small cut or tear in the skin may become very +sore and cause much trouble if not cared for so as to keep the germs +out. If there is dirt in the wound, as when made with a rusty nail or +by the bite of a dog, it should be squeezed and washed with boiled +water to make it perfectly clean. It may then be bound up in a clean +cloth. A little turpentine poured on the wound will help kill the +germs which may make it sore. If the dog is thought to be mad or the +wound is too deep to be easily washed out to the bottom, a doctor +should be called. + +=Snakebite.=--The scratches made by the little teeth of most snakes, +such as the milk snake, garter snake, and black snake, do no more harm +than the scratch of a pin. The _copperhead_, the _southern moccasin_, +and the _rattlesnake_ have a pair of long teeth called _fangs_ in the +upper jaw. These teeth have little canals in them through which the +snake presses poison into the bite. + +[Illustration: FIG. 98.--Photograph of a copperhead snake whose bite +may cause death.] + +If a person is bitten by one of these snakes, the doctor must be sent +for and help given at once. Put a bandage above the bite and twist it +tight with a stick. Make two or three deep cuts into the bitten place +to let out the poisoned blood. Suck the wound to draw out the poison +and apply ammonia. + +=Choking.=--A hard piece of meat, a bone, or a peach seed may slip +back into the throat and press so hard on the windpipe as to cut off +the air from the lungs. If the object is not far back in the throat, +it may be seized with the first finger. A few smart slaps on the upper +part of the back while the body is bent forward may drive enough air +out of the lungs to push the object outward. + +=Drowning.=--Every one should learn to swim while young, but no one +should venture in deep water. Stiffening of the muscles called cramps +often causes the best swimmer to drown. + +After a person has been under the water two or three minutes he +appears lifeless. He may, however, be brought to life if laid face +downward, his clothes loosened, and the lungs made to breathe. A heavy +folded coat, a piece of sod, or a bunch of weeds should be put under +the chest. Then standing astride of him place the hands on the lower +ribs and bend forward gradually so as to press on the ribs and push +the air out of the lungs. Then straighten your body and slowly lessen +pressure on the patient's ribs so that the air will run into the +lungs. In this way make the air go in and out of the lungs about +fifteen times each minute. + +=Poisoning.=--Whenever a person has taken poison, a physician should +be sent for at once. In most cases an effort should be made to get the +poison out of the stomach by causing vomiting. A glass or two of weak, +warm soapsuds, a pint of water with a tablespoonful of mustard, or a +glass of water with two tablespoonfuls of salt may be taken to make +the stomach throw out the poison. Tickling the throat back of the +tongue will help cause vomiting. + +If a strong acid such as carbolic acid or a strong alkali such as +ammonia has been taken, do not cause vomiting. For acids give chalk in +warm water and a pint of milk. For an alkali give vinegar in water. + + + + +INDEX + + + Ab do'men, 15. + + Ad'e noids, 105, 106. + + Air and health, 111-116. + + Air sacs, 102, 103. + + Air tubes, 103. + + Alcohol, 20, 35. + and blood, 124, 125. + and blood vessels, 126. + and brain, 158-162. + and clothing, 98, 99. + and crime, 160, 161. + and digestion, 57, 58. + and health, 74, 75. + and kidneys, 93. + and lungs, 109, 110. + and muscles, 146-148. + and senses, 172. + and skin, 92, 93. + + Alcoholic drinks, 68-73. + as food, 27, 29. + + A or'ta, 16. + + Appetite, 58, 59. + + Arteries, 19, 119. + + + Backbone, 16. + + Bac te'ria, 36, 39. + of disease, 175-177. + of milk, 43. + + Bathing, 91. + + Beans, 24. + + Bedbugs and disease, 134, 178. + + Beef tea, 31. + + Beer and digestion, 57, 58. + as a food, 27, 35. + and heart, 125. + making of, 70. + + Bile, 52, 55. + + Blackdeath, 11. + + Bleeding, to stop, 123, 124, 184, 185. + + Blood, 17, 117, 118. + + Blood vessels, 19, 118-122. + + Body, parts of, 15-19. + + Bones, 135-139. + + Bowels, 47, 52, 53. + + Brain, 149-153. + + Brain, use of, 18. + + Brandy, 72. + + Bread, 23. + + Breathing, 100-107. + + Building foods, 22, 23. + + Burns and scalds, 184. + + Butter, 41. + + + Capillaries, 119, 120. + + Carbon dioxide, 102, 111. + + Cells, 20. + + Cereals, 33. + + Cer'e brum, 150, 151. + + Chest, 15. + + Chewing and health, 49-50. + + Choking, 187. + + Cholera, 175. + + Cider, 40. + + Cigarettes, 82, 162. + + Cleanliness, 44, 91. + + Clothing, 94-99. + + Co'ca ine, 162. + + Coffee, 82, 83, 164. + + Colds, 180. + + Consumption, 109, 180-181. + + Cooking of eggs, 34. + of meat, 30, 31. + + Corns, 98. + + Cotton, 96. + + Cream, 41. + + + Deafness, 171. + + Diaphragm (_di'a fram_), 16, 104 + + Digestion, organs of, 47-52. + + Diphtheria, 175, 178. + + Disease, cause of, 25-27. + from alcohol, 76, 77. + from bad air, 114. + from drinking cup, 108, 177. + from dust, 108, 109. + of eyes, 169. + from flies, 108. + from insects, 127-134. + from milk, 43-46, 178. + prevention of, 174-182. + + Disease, from spit, 107, 108, 178, 179. + victory over, 12. + + Dis til la'tion, 73. + + Drinking cup and disease, 108, 177. + + Drowning, 187. + + Drunkards, cause of, 14. + + Dust and disease, 37, 108, 109. + + Dys pep'si a, 50. + + + Ear, 169-171. + + Eggs, 23, 33, 34. + + Epidermis, 85, 86. + + Exercise, 144-146. + + Eye, 165-168. + + + Fainting, 185. + + Fat, 24. + + Fats, 22, 23. + + Feeding of body, 21. + + Feeling, 172. + + Feet, care of, 98. + + Fish as food, 30. + + Fleas and disease, 134. + + Flies and disease, 45-46, 108, 132-134, 176, 178. + + Food, amount needed, 27. + and health, 30-35. + digestion of, 47-55. + entrance to blood, 52, 54. + + Foods, 22. + + Freckles, 87. + + Frostbite, 186. + + Fruits, 33, 34. + + Fuel foods, 23, 24. + + + Gastric juice, 51. + + Germs, 36-40. + of disease, 175, 176. + of milk, 43. + of spit, 107. + + Glands, 47-49. + + Growth of body, 20. + + Gullet, 16, 53. + + + Habit, 133, 154. + + Habits, 14. + + Hair, 88-90. + + Headache, 55. + + Hearing, 170. + + Heart, 16, 100, 118, 122. + + Hookworm disease, 181, 182. + + Hookworms, 175. + + Hy'gi ene, 10. + + + Insects and health, 129-134. + + Intestine, 16. + + Intestines, 47, 52, 53. + + + Joints, 139, 140. + + + Kidney, 16. + + Kidneys, 17, 92. + + + Larynx (_lar'inks_), 102. + + Leprosy, 134. + + Life, length of, 9. + + Ligaments, 135, 139, 140. + + Linen, 95. + + Liver, 16, 53, 54, 55, 100. + + Lung, 16. + + Lungs, 100-101. + + + Malaria, 175. + + Measles, 175. + + Meat, 23. + cooking of, 30. + spoiling of, 38, 39. + + Meats, 30. + + Mi'crobes, 36, 37. + + Milk, 23, 29, 41-46. + and scarlet fever, 176. + as a food, 31. + souring of, 39. + + Mineral foods, 24. + + Mold, 37, 38. + + Morphine, 83, 84, 162, 163. + + Mosquitoes and disease, 127-132. + + Mouth, 60-67. + + Muscles, 140-143. + + Muscles and health, 144-148. + + + Nails, 87, 88. + + Nar cot'ics, 158-164. + + Nerves, 19, 149, 151, 152. + + Nose, 104-106, 171. + + Nose bleed, 181. + + + Opium, 83, 84, 162, 163. + + Organ, 18. + + Organs of body, 16. + + Oxygen, 22. + + Oysters as a food, 30. + + + Painkillers, 163. + + Pan'cre as, 16, 48, 52, 53. + + Pa ral'y sis, 155. + + Patent medicines, 84. + + Pharynx (_far'inks_), 47. + + Plague, 134, 175. + + Poisoning, 188. + + Pro'te ids, 22. + + Pus, 123. + + + Radius, 137. + + Ribs, 137. + + Rum, 73. + + + Sa li'va, 48, 49. + + Salt, 34. + + Scarlet fever, 175, 176, 178. + + Sense organs, 165-173. + + Shoes, 98. + + Sick, number of, 9. + + Sickness, how caused, 11. + prevention of, 174-182. + + Silk, 95. + + Skin, 85-93. + senses of, 172. + + Skull, 136. + + Sleep, 156, 157. + and disease, 113, 114. + + Sleeping sickness, 134. + + Slops, care of, 175. + + Smallpox, 12, 178-180. + + Smell, 171. + + Smoking, 57. + + Snakebites, 186, 187. + + Sore throat, 175. + + Soups, 31. + + Spinal cord, 16, 19, 151, 154, 155. + + Spit, care of, 175, 178. + + Spitting and health, 107, 108. + + Spleen, 54. + + Starch, 23, 24. + + Stimulants, 158, 164. + + Stomach, 16, 47, 50-53, 100. + + Sugars, 22, 23. + + Sunstroke, 185. + + Sweeping and health, 37. + + Sweetbread, 48. + + Swimming, 145, 146, 187. + + Sym pa thet'ic nerves, 155. + + + Taste, 171, 172. + + Tea, 82, 83, 164. + + Teeth, 60-67. + + Thigh, 15. + + Tissue, 18. + + Tobacco, 20. + and air, 116. + and blood, 125. + and brain, 162. + and digestion, 56, 57. + as food, 34, 35. + and health, 78-82. + and heart, 126. + and lungs, 110. + and muscles, 148. + and senses, 172, 173. + + Tonsil, 105, 106. + + Toothache, 62, 63. + + Tuberculosis, 107, 108, 175. + and bad air, 114, 115. + cause of, 178, 180. + prevention of, 107-109, 111-116, 180-181. + + Trunk, 15. + + Typhoid fever, 175. + how caused, 25-27, 28, 134. + + + Vaccination, 179, 180. + + Vegetables as food, 32, 33. + + Veins, 28, 121. + + Ventilation, 111-115. + + Villi, 54. + + Vocal cords, 105, 106. + + Voice, 106, 107. + + Voice box, 102. + + + War, deaths from, 11. + + Waste, giving out of, 17. + + Water, use of, 24, 92. + + Water and health, 25-27, 28. + + Water in food, 25. + + Whisky, 72, 73. + + Whooping cough, 175. + + Wigglers, 130-131. + + Windpipe, 16, 102, 103. + + Wine, 27, 28. + and digestion, 58. + making of, 70-71. + + Wounds, 186. + + + Yeast, 39, 40, 69. + + Yellow fever, 12, 13, 129, 130. + + + + +BALDWIN AND BENDER'S READERS + +Reading with Expression + + By JAMES BALDWIN, Author of Baldwin's School Readers, Harper's + Readers, etc. and IDA C. BENDER, Supervisor of Primary Grades, + Buffalo, New York. + + AN EIGHT BOOK SERIES or A FIVE BOOK SERIES + + +The authorship of this series is conclusive evidence of its rare +worth, of its happy union of the ideal and the practical. The chief +design of the books is to help pupils to acquire the art and habit of +reading so well as to give pleasure both to themselves and to those +who listen to them. They teach reading with expression, and the +selections have, to a large extent, been chosen for this purpose. + +** These readers are very teachable and readable, and are unusually +interesting both in selections and in illustrations. The selections +are of a very high literary quality. Besides the choicest schoolbook +classics, there are a large number which have never before appeared in +school readers. The contents are well balanced between prose and +poetry, and the subject matter is unusually varied. Beginning with the +Third Reader, selections relating to similar subjects or requiring +similar methods of study or recitation, are grouped together. Many +selections are in dialogue form and suitable for dramatization. + +** The First Reader may be used with any method of teaching reading, +for it combines the best ideas of each. A number of helpful new +features are also included. Each reading lesson is on a right-hand +page, and is approached by a series of preparatory exercises on the +preceding left-hand page. + +** The illustrations constitute the finest and most attractive +collection ever brought together in a series of readers. There are +over 600 in all, every one made especially for these books by an +artist of national reputation. + +AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + +HICKS'S CHAMPION SPELLING BOOK + +By WARREN E. HICKS, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland, Ohio + +Complete, $0.25--Part One, $0.18--Part Two, $0.18 + + +This book embodies the method that enabled the pupils in the Cleveland +schools after two years to win the National Education Association +Spelling Contest of 1908. + +** By this method a spelling lesson of ten words is given each day from +the spoken vocabulary of the pupil. Of these ten words two are +selected for intensive study, and in the spelling book are made +prominent in both position and type at the head of each day's lessons, +these two words being followed by the remaining eight words in smaller +type. Systematic review is provided throughout the book. Each of the +ten prominent words taught intensively in a week is listed as a +subordinate word in the next two weeks; included in a written spelling +contest at the end of eight weeks; again in the annual contest at the +end of the year; and again as a subordinate word in the following +year's work;--used five times in all within two years. + +** The Champion Spelling Book consists of a series of lessons arranged +as above for six school years, from the third to the eighth, +inclusive. It presents about 1,200 words each year, and teaches 312 of +them with especial clearness and intensity. It also includes +occasional supplementary exercises which serve as aids in teaching +sounds, vowels, homonyms, rules of spelling, abbreviated forms, +suffixes, prefixes, the use of hyphens, plurals, dictation work, and +word building. The words have been selected from lists, supplied by +grade teachers of Cleveland schools, of words ordinarily misspelled by +the pupils of their respective grades. + +AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + +SPENCERS' PRACTICAL WRITING + +By PLATT R. SPENCER'S SONS + + Books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Per dozen, $0.60 + + +SPENCERS' PRACTICAL WRITING has been devised because of the distinct and +wide-spread reaction from the use of vertical writing in schools. It is +thoroughly up-to-date, embodying all the advantages of the old and of +the new. Each word can be written by one continuous movement of the pen. + +** The books teach a plain, practical hand, moderate in slant, and free +from ornamental curves, shades, and meaningless lines. The stem +letters are long enough to be clear and unmistakable. The capitals are +about two spaces in height. + +** The copies begin with words and gradually develop into sentences. +The letters, both large and small, are taught systematically. In the +first two books the writing is somewhat larger than is customary +because it is more easily learned by young children. These books also +contain many illustrations in outline. The ruling is very simple. + +** Instruction is afforded showing how the pupil should sit at the +desk, and hold the pen and paper. A series of drill movement +exercises, thirty-three in number, with directions for their use, +accompanies each book. + + +SPENCERIAN PRACTICAL WRITING SPELLER + +Per dozen, $0.48 + +This simple, inexpensive device provides abundant drill in writing +words. At the same time it trains pupils to form their copies in +accordance with the most modern and popular system of penmanship, and +saves much valuable time for both teacher and pupil. + +AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + +MAXWELL'S NEW GRAMMARS + +By WILLIAM H. MAXWELL, Ph.D., LL.D. Superintendent of Schools, City of +New York + + Elementary Grammar $0.40 + + School Grammar $0.60 + + +The ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR presents in very small space all the grammar +usually taught in elementary schools. + +** It gives the pupil an insight into the general forms in which +thought is expressed, and enables him to see the meaning of +complicated sentences. The explanatory matter is made clear by the use +of simple language, by the elimination of unnecessary technical terms, +and by the frequent introduction of illustrative sentences. The +definitions are simple and precise. The exercises are abundant and +peculiarly ingenious. A novel device for parsing and analysis permits +these two subjects to be combined in one exercise for purposes of drill. + +** The SCHOOL GRAMMAR contains everything needed by students in upper +grammar grades and secondary schools. It covers fully the requirements +of the Syllabus in English issued by the New York State Education +Department. + +** The book treats of grammar only, and presents many exercises which +call for considerable reflection on the meaning of the expressions to +be analyzed. Throughout, stress is laid on the broader distinctions of +thought and expression. The common errors of written and spoken +language are so classified as to make it comparatively easy for pupils +to detect and correct them through the application of the rules of +grammar. The book ends with an historical sketch of the English +language, an article on the formation of words, and a list of +equivalent terms employed by other grammarians. The full index makes +the volume useful for reference. + +AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + + * Inconsistent hyphenation in the word "skinlike" retained. + + * Pg 91 Added period after "Clean" located in "Keeping the Skin + Clean". + + * Pg 182 Added period after "sickness" located in "animals which + carry sickness". + + * Pg 188 Removed extraneous comma after "back" located in "throat + back, of the tongue". + + * Pg 190 Index page reference "47" amended to "67" located in "Mouth, + 60-47". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Health Lessons, by Alvin Davison + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEALTH LESSONS *** + +***** This file should be named 31616.txt or 31616.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/1/31616/ + +Produced by Larry B. Harrison, D. 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