We have examined the revised edition of “ Health 
Lessons for Beginners,” and are happy to commend it 
for use in lower grammar or intermediate grades, and 
corresponding classes in common schools. Its treatment 
of the subject of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics 
is full and accurate, and well adapted to the compre- 
hension of the class of pupils for whom it is intended. 
MARY H. HUNT, 
Life Director of National Education Association, 
National and International Superintendent 
Department of Scientific Instruction 
of the Woman’s Christian Tem- 
perance, Union. 
Albert H. Plumb, D.D. 
Daniel Dorchester, D.D. 
Advisory Board. 
Supt. of Indian Schools. 
Rev. Joseph Cook. 
William E. Sheldon. Health Lessons 
|for gcgimxrrs. 
(.REVISED EDITION.) 
A PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE WITH SPECIAL 
REFERENCE TO THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC 
DRINKS AND OTHER NARCOTICS 
UPON THE HUMAN SYSTEM. 
For Lower Grammar or Intermediate Grades, 
and Common Schools. 
BY 
ORESTES M. BRANDS, 
Superintendent of Schools, Paterson, N.J.; Author of “Lessons 
on the Human Body ” and “ Good Health for Children.” 
LEACH, SHEWELL, AND SANBORN, 
BOSTON AND NEW YORK. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 
ORESTES M. BRANDS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
Copyright, 1891. 
Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
Prbsswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston, U.S.A. PREFACE. 
Nothing that the author could say by means of prefatory 
remarks would either add to or subtract from the merits of this 
little book. My fellow-teachers and the intelligent public will 
form their own opinions of its worth. It must speak for itself. 
Acknowledgment is due to Dk. Herman Bendell, the 
eminent oculist of Albany, N.Y.; to Dr. A. W. Calhoun, 
Professor of Diseases of the Eye, Ear, and Throat in the Atlanta 
Medical College; to Dr. E. M. Hunt, Secretary of State Board 
of Health, N.J.; Dr. Wm. K. Newton, Inspector of Health, 
Paterson, N.J., for valuable data; and to other eminent medical 
authorities, to whose kind favor the author is indebted. 
Last, but by no means least, to his fellow-teachers, and to 
school officers in many States, the author expresses his grati- 
tude for the kind reception given his former work, “ Lessons 
on the Human Body,” and trusts that they may find this still 
more easy book worthy of continued favor. 
Having been thoroughly revised by Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, 
Superintendent of the Department of Scientific Instruction in 
Schools and Colleges, of the National W. C. T. U. of the United 
States, this work now fully meets the requirements and receives 
the endorsement of the army of Christian temperance women, 
which has done so much for humanity during the past few 
years. SKELETON. 
THE OUTER LINES SHOW THE FORM OF THE HUMAN BODY WHEN THE SKELETON 
IS CLOTHED WITH FLESH. CONTENTS. 
LESSON. 
THE FRAMEWORK. 
PAGE. 
I. The Bones 1 
11. More about the Bones 6 
111. Care of the Framework 10 
IV. The Teeth and their Health 13 
Questions 131 
I. Why we need Food 16 
11. The Water we drink 20 
111. Alcohol a Poison, and how it is produced . . 22 
IV. Wine 25 
V. Cider 28 
VI. Beer 30 
VII. The Alcoholic Appetite 33 
VIII. Tobacco and Other Narcotics .... 37 
IX. How Food is digested 41 
X. Hints about Eating 45 
Questions 132 
FOOD AND DRINK 
I. Blood, and what it does .50 
11. The Heart and Other Blood-Vessels ... 51 
111. Health and the Circulation 55 
Effects of Narcotics, etc 65 
Questions 136 
THE BLOOD. 
BREATHING. 
I. The Organs of Breath 60 
11. The Air we breathe . , 63 
111. Why we breathe. How to breathe ... 66 
Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco . . .66 
IV. Ventilation and Heating ...... 68 
V. Buildings. Location, Construction, etc. . . 72 
Questions . . . 138 CONTENTS. 
LESSON. 
THE MUSCLES. 
PAGE. 
I. What Muscles are, etc .75 
11. What Muscles do.—Classes 77 
111. Muscular Exercise and Health . . . .83 
Alcohol and the Muscles ..... 83 
Questions 139 
THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
I. The Brain and its Work 88 
11. The Nerves and their Office .... 90 
111. Laws of Health of the Brain and Nerves . . 94 
Effects of Narcotics 94 
Questions 140 
THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
I. The Eye, and how we see 100 
11. Care of the Eye. Abuse. Disease . . . 104 
Effects of Tobacco 104 
111. The Ear, and how we hear . . . . .112 
IV. Care of the Ear. Injury to Hearing . .114 
Effects of Tobacco 114 
Y. The Skin. Sense of Touch 117 
VI. The Skin and Health. Bathing .... 121 
VII. Clothing and Health 123 
VIII. Taste and Smell.—Narcotics 127 
Questions 141 THE FRAMEWORK. 
LESSON I. 
THE BONES. 
(a) Nature and Uses of the Bones. —l. The 
bones are the framework of the body. They are to 
our bodies what the timbers are to a house, for they 
give shape and firmness, and support the other parts. 
We could not stand up if we had no bones, nor could 
we walk, but would have to crawl like worms. To 
fit the bones for their uses, the all-wise Creator has 
made them of two substances, one of which makes 
them firm, the other, tough. 
2. If we burn a bone in a fire, nothing is left but 
brittle lime; and if we soak a bone in acid, the hard 
lime in it dissolves, and leaves a substance like glue. 
The earthy matter, or lime, makes the bones firm and 
hard, and the glue-like part makes them tough and 
slightly elastic. Thus, you see, that if the bones had 
no earth in them, they would bend like gristle; and, 2 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
if they had only earth in them, they would be as brit- 
tle as in the case of the burnt bone, and would soon 
be broken in many places. You would not dare to 
run, jump, or play as you do now, for you would 
not risk the certainty of being broken into small 
pieces ! But your bones have less earthy matter than 
those of old people, and are not so brittle. When 
broken, they unite more quickly than the broken 
bones of the aged do. 
3. Bones are of many forms; some are round and 
long, others broad and Hat, and still others short, thick, 
and irregular. The long hones of your limbs are hol- 
low. They are stronger than the same bone would 
be if it were solid. Roll a narrow strip of paper into 
a long tube, or “lamp-lighter,” and notice how much 
stronger it is in that form than when folded into a 
slender, solid stick. The flat hones, as in the skull, 
have two hard plates with a spongy layer of bone 
between. These give much better protection to the 
brain than a single thick plate would. Jars from 
blows do not shock the brain so much through the 
two plates. The short, thick hones are found where 
much strength in small space is needed. Everywhere 
you will notice how nicely every part is fitted in the 
best possible way to do what is required of it. All 
are joined together for protection and for motion. 
(5) Joints. —l. The bones of the skull are joined 
together so that they do not move. These bones are 
fitted together by a kind of notched joint. These 
joints are called sutures, and they aid in protecting THE FRAMEWORK 
3 
the brain from sudden jars. Fig. 2 shows the joints 
at the top of the skull. 
Explanation of Fig. 2. 
This cut presents a view of the top 
of the skull and of the saw-like edges 
by which the bones are firmly locked 
together, marked a, b, c, d, e. 
1 is the bone at the front of the skull 
It extends over the forehead, and forms 
the roof of the sockets of the eyes. 
2, 2, are the bones which form the 
side walls and the greater portion of 
the roof of the skull. 
3 is the bone which forms the back 
and part of the base of the skull. 
2. There are movable joints in almost all parts of 
the body, so that the muscles may move one bone 
upon another. These joints are so contrived that 
they may not wear out in a long lifetime, and often 
they are nearly as good at the end of seventy or eighty 
years as when they were first used. In machines 
made by men the joints wear out even when con- 
stantly oiled. Our bony joints need no such care 
from us, for they keep themselves oiled. In order 
that the boiled may move easily and smoothly, their 
ends are covered with very smooth gristle, which is 
kept constantly moistened by the “joint water.” 
Strong cords or bands of a very tough substance, at 
or about the ends of the bones, bind them together 
quite firmly. The joints may be wrenched and the 
Fig. 2. 4 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
bones put out of place by falls, sudden jars, or by 
blows. Rough twisting of the bones sometimes tears 
the ligaments and soft parts attached to the bones at 
the joints, and such an injury is called a sprain. 
Children who are rough in their play may sprain 
joints; and a sprain is often more painful and serious 
than a broken bone. 
3. Some joints are formed by the rounded head of 
one bone fitting into a socket in another. Your 
shoulder-joint and hip-joint are of this kind, and are 
called ball-and-socket joints. These joints allow 
motion in almost every direction; but for this very 
reason the bones slip out of joint more frequently 
than in other joints. Fig. 3 shows the shoulder-joint. 
In this cut is seen the union of the head of the 
arm-bone with the shallow socket of the shoulder- 
blade. These bones are represented as detached 
from the body, and the view is a front one. 
Explanation of Fig. 3. 
a, the arm-bone. 
b, the shoulder-blade. 
c, the head or ball of the arm-bone. 
d, rim of the socket of the shoulder-blade. 
e, parts of shoulder-bone that overlap and pro- 
tect the joint. 
It is easily put out of joint because the socket is so 
shallow; but if it were deeper, the arm could not 
move so freely. In Fig. 4 you have a picture of the 
hip-joint. Here the socket is deeper, and the move- 
Fig. 3. THE FRAMEWORK. 
5 
ment is not quite so free as in the shoulder; but it 
is very secure. 
Explanation of Fig. 4. 
We have here an excellent representation 
of the upper end of the thigh-bone, and 
half of the hip-bone. The ball, or head, 
of the thigh-bone, supported by a neck 
which forms an obtuse angle with the body 
of the bone, is fixed in the socket of the 
hip-bone, filling the cavity', but not all en- 
closed by it. The depth of the socket is 
only about half the diameter of the ball. 
a, the hip-bone. 
b, the head of the thigh-bone. 
c, the rim of the socket. 
d, the thigh-bone. 
e, the wedge-like bone on which the back 
bone rests. 
/, the point of bone on which we sit. 
Fig. 4. 
4. In your elbows, knees, fingers, and toes are 
joints that move like a hinge. They allow the bones 
to move back and forth on the same line, just as a 
door swings on its hinges. These joints are called 
hinge-joints. Fig. sis a picture of the bones of an 
arm. There are two bones, you notice, in the arm 
below the elbow: one of these rolls over the other in 
such a way that you can turn the palm of your hand 
up or down, etc. In the wrist are two rows of irreg- 
ular bones, four in each row. In the thumb there 
are two bones, while each finger has three. The 
varying length of our fingers and their numerous 
joints make our hands wonderful instruments for 
handling. No other animal has so perfect an instru- 
ment for this purpose. To his brain and his hands 
man owes his superiority over all the lower animals. 6 
HEAL TH LESSONS. 
Explanation op 
All the hones of the arm, 
fore-arm, and hand, are here 
exhibited in connection, with 
reference to impressing it on 
the mind, after having read a 
short description of the indi- 
vidual parts of the upper ex- 
tremity. 
Fig. 5. 
a is the head of the arm- 
bone, joined to the shoulder. 
b, the joint, or elbow, formed 
by the bones of the arm. 
c, the shaft of the arm above 
the elbow. 
d, e, the two bones of the 
lower part of the arm. 
Fig. 5. 
LESSON IT. 
MORE ABOUT THE BONES. 
(a) The Chest, etc. 1. Notice the cone-shaped 
set of bones that form the bony cage called the chest. 
The slender ribs, twelve on each side, go round it 
like the hoops of a barrel. They are joined to the 
backbone behind and to the flat breast-bone in front, 
except the two lower ones on each side, which are 
free in front. They are joined front and back in 
such a way as to move up and down when we breathe. A Back View or the 
Skeleton. 
«, the side-wall bones. 
b, the bone at back of skull. 
c, the temporal bone. 
d, the cheek-bone. 
e, the lower jaw-bone. 
The Head. 
Neck and Trunk. 
a, the bones of the neck. 
b, the bones of the back. 
c, the bones of the loins. 
(I, the hip-bone. 
e, the sacrum. 
n, the collar-bone. 
b, the blade-hone. 
c, the upper bone of the arm. 
(I, ) 
e j- the bones of fore-arm. 
/, the bones of the wrist. 
ff, the bones of the hand. 
h, the first row of finger-bones. 
i, the second row of finger-bones 
the third row of finger-bones. 
h the bones of the thumb. 
Tipper Extremity. 
Lower Extremity. 
n, the thigh-bone. 
b, the large bone of the leg. 
ci the small bone of the leg. 
d, the heel-bone. 
e> the bones of the instep. 
/1 the hones of the toes. 
Pig. 6. 8 
HE A L TII LESSONS. 
Inside of tins cage of bone are the heart and lungs. 
See Fig. 9. 
2. The backbone, as it is called, is not a single 
bone. It is a pile of twenty-four bones placed one 
above another like a column of spools. These 
bones are very irregular in shape, having pointed 
ends or spines to which muscles are fastened. You 
may plainly feel some of these spines in your back, 
and see where they are in the back of another person. 
If it were all one bone, you could not twist and bend 
your body as you can now. In the centre of each 
bone is a hole, and as the bones stand one upon 
another, these holes form a long tube in which the 
spinal marrow is found. This “ marrow ”is really a 
great nerve extending down from the brain through 
the bones. Here is a picture of one of these bones. 
Explanation of Fig. 7. 
This is an accurate drawing of one of 
the bones of the spine, at the neck. 
a is the body of the bone. 
b, tbe points of bone which give the 
name of spine to the whole column. 
c, c, the bones to which the muscles 
adhere, producing motion. 
d, d, round holes, through the arms of 
the bone, for safely lodging an artery, which 
carries blood to the brain. 
e, e, the upper, and /, /, the under sur- 
faces, which make a joint with the blocks 
above and below it. 
Fig. 7. 
g, the hole through which the spinal marrow, or pith of the back, passes in 
safety from the head, through the whole chain of twenty-four vertebrae. THE FRA ME WOR K. 
9 
3. Between each two of these bones is a pad of 
gristle. These pads are the springs, as it were, of 
the back. allow considerable motion also. If 
it were not for them the head and brain would suffer 
greatly from the jar of walking, etc. These pads 
grow slightly thinner from the weight they bear 
during the day, so we are not quite as tall in the 
evening as in the morning; they recover their thick- 
ness while we rest at night. For the same reason 
the backbone becomes a little shorter in old age. 
The pads do not recover their thickness, or they 
shrink a little. The backbone is not straight. It 
has four curves, two forward and two backward. 
(h) The Legs and Feet. —l. One long bone 
forms the thigh. This is the longest bone of your 
body. The knee-joint is covered in front by a 
chestnut-shaped bone which protects the joint. Be- 
low the knee you notice two long bones, one on the 
inner and the other on the outer side of the leg. The 
inner and larger one is the shin-bone. The more 
slender, outer bone seems to be a kind of brace for 
the other, and it offers a place for fastening muscles. 
The lower ends of these two bones may be felt at the 
ankle. 
2. Tho, foot is formed of bones much like those of 
the hand. There are as many bones in it as there 
are in the hand, but it does not have as much variety 
of motion. Its arched form serves to break the force 
of falls or jars, and it also gives spring when we 
step. 10 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
Fig. 8. 
Explanation of Fig. 8. 
By this diagram the skeleton of the foot will be clearly understood, even 
without the aid of the bones. Twenty-six bones are here so curiously grouped 
together, that an arch is made between the heel and ball of the great toe. 
a shows the five bones between the instep and toes. 
d, e, g, and h point out the bones of the instep. 
b and c indicate the bones of the toes. 
LESSON 111. 
CARE OF THE FRAMEWORK. 
(a) Exercise. —l. The health of the bones, as 
much as that of any other portion of the body, de- 
pends upon their proper nourishment and exercise. 
2. When a child is feeble and unhealthy, or when 
it grows up without exercise, the bones do not be- 
come firm and hard as they do when healthfully 
developed by exercise. 
3. The size and strength of the bones, to a con- 
siderable extent, depend upon exercise and good 
health. THE FRAMEWORK. 
11 
(h) Dress and Deformity.—l. Distortion of tire 
spine and bones of the chest may be caused by tight 
clothing about the waist. Tight clothing presses the 
lower ribs inward, prevents their free movement, and 
interferes with the full expansion of the chest and 
lungs in breathing. It also distorts the liver, and 
interferes with its healthy action. When worn by 
young people, before the bones have become hard, 
tight clothing prevents the growth of the chest, and 
changes its natural form. Clothing should be suffi- 
ciently loose and easy to allow free moveipent and 
growth of the bones enclosing the vital organs. 
2. You should learn to sit and stand erect. If 
you get a bad habit of stooping over or leaning too 
much to one side while sitting at your desks or while 
standing, you may become deformed. The pads of 
gristle in your backbone will be pressed thin on one 
side and remain thick on the other. This gives them 
the shape of a wedge. They sometimes harden in 
this wedge shape, and then you could not straighten 
up. You would either have a stoop forward like an 
old person, or your backbone would be bent sidewise, 
and one shoulder would be higher than the other. 
Your desk should not be so high that it causes you 
to sit with one shoulder raised higher than the other. 
3. Our feet should be as free from pain and dis- 
ease as our hands. They would be, if we did not 
cramp the bones and joints and make them centres 
of pain by wearing shoes too short, or too narrow, 
and sometimes both. Five toes are often crowded 12 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
into space not large enough for three. The joints of 
the great toe are pressed out of place, and the bones 
and joints of the smaller toes become bent and twisted. 
The nails are caused to grow down into the flesh, 
and corns and bunions give us distress when we un- 
wisely wear shoes that pinch the feet. Very high 
heels, too, throw our weight forward upon the 
cramped toes, and strain the joints of the foot and 
leg. 
4. No doubt many people have died of consump- 
tion from want of exercise in the open air, not be- 
cause they were lazy, but because they had pain in 
their feet when they tried to walk. Your shoes 
should be perfectly easy. 
(<?) Bad Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco on 
Growth.— 1. All physicians agree that there are 
very good reasons for believing that the health of 
boys and other young people who use alcohol and 
tobacco is injured thereby. In another lesson you 
will learn how alcohol is produced from fruits and 
grains. Alcohol and tobacco are poisons. 
2. Young growing plants need more care and are 
more easily injured than older ones. An injury done 
to the tender plant interferes with its strength and 
growth, even though it may not be entirely ruined. So 
it is with young, growing people. Bad habits which 
injure health and check growth in youth are certain 
to cause sorrow and regret later in life; but fre- 
quently the bad effects are not delayed, and early 
death comes from disobeying the laws of health. THE FRAMEWORK. 
3. The bones, as well as the softer parts of our 
bodies, are alive. The blood circulates in thein and 
carries to them the material of which they are com- 
posed. If the blood becomes impoverished or weak- 
ened in any way, or if there is not enough of it in 
the body, the bones fail to get the material which 
they need to build them up and keep them in good 
condition. When a person uses tobacco or alcoholic 
drinks, the blood is made impure or is poisoned by 
them, and the bones must suffer with the rest of the 
body. There is no doubt that boys who use either 
alcohol or tobacco check the growth of their bones 
and in this way dwarf their bodies and lessen their 
strength. 
4. Dr. Seaver, the Professor of Athletics at Yale 
College, has found by the most careful observation 
during a number of years that the students who use 
tobacco do not grow and develop as much as those 
\vho do not use it. It is the law of nature that young- 
people should steadily grow, and this law is disobeyed 
and the growth of body and mind is checked by the 
use of tobacco and alcohol. 
LESSON IT. 
THE TEETH AND THEIR HEALTH. 
(a) Temporary and Permanent Teeth. —l. The 
teeth which appear in infancy begin to be shed about 14 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
the seventh year. These are called temporary or 
milk teeth, and there are twenty of these, ten in 
each jaw. They give place to the stronger perma- 
nent teeth, thirty-two in all,—sixteen in each jaw. 
The teeth are composed of hone-like material, cov- 
ered at the crown, or exposed part, by a thin, hard 
enamel. Blood-vessels and nerves extend into the 
bony part of the teeth. 
2. Do yon wonder why the first teeth are shed? 
Well, the bones grow larger, but the teeth do not. 
The bones of the jaws grow larger, and if the first 
teeth were not shed, they would be too small for the 
jaws. They would stand far apart, look very strange, 
and would not be as useful as at, first. So they 
begin to be shed as the jaw-bones grow, and the new 
set of larger teeth come instead. 
(5) Care of the Teeth.— 1. After each meal the 
teeth should be well cleaned, using a brush, or a bit 
of flannel, and water. Particles that lodge between 
the teeth should be removed by a thread or a wooden 
toothpick; for, if allowed to remain, they putrefy, 
make the breath offensive, and cause decay of the 
teeth. Decayed teeth, if “filled ” before toothache 
sets in, may still be preserved for many years. 
2. To brush the teeth well, place the points of 
the upper and lower front teeth together, and 
brush up and down. The back teeth need more 
brushing than the front ones. Brush the inner sides 
of the teeth as well, and give the gums a little 
brushing to toughen them. THE FRAMEWORK. 
15 
3. Use a brush that has just as stiff bristles as 
may be used without making the gums bleed. A 
soft brush is not much better than none, for the 
bristles bend and fail to clean the teeth. 
4. Strong tooth-soaps contain much alkali and 
are injurious. It is not best to use any powder or 
mixture that leaves the mouth parched and drawn. 
Hot as well as cold water may crack the enamel. 
Tepid water is best always. A very good tooth- 
powder is composed of orris root, English prepared 
chalk, and powered Eucalyptus1 leaves. 
5. The teeth are not intended to be used in 
cracking nuts, breaking thread, and tearing cloth ; 
and whether false or natural, the same care of them 
is required for cleanliness and health. 
6. Very hot or very cold food may crack the 
enamel of the teeth. In smoking there are very 
sudden changes of the temperature of the air in con- 
tact with the teeth, and for the same reason this 
must injure them. The teeth of pipe-smokers be- 
come more or less worn away by the grinding of the 
pipe-stem. If we consider the great importance of 
thorough mastication of our food, and that good 
digestion and good health depend so greatly upon 
good teeth, we shall see the importance of preserving 
our teeth by careful and regular attention to their 
cleanliness, and by avoiding all habits that will injure 
them. 
1 Pronounced u ka lip' tus. FOOD AND DRINK. 
LESSON I 
WHY WE NEED FOOD. 
(a) Food, and Hunger.— 1. Waste and worn-out 
material is constantly being cast out from our bodies. 
The lungs and the pores of the skin are busily en- 
gaged in this work. 
2. If new material be not supplied to take the 
place of the worn-out substances, the body will 
dwindle and die. Without food, a man will starve 
in a few days. 
3. When the body needs material to take the 
place of that which is worn out, the nerves of the 
stomach become active in a peculiar way; and, when 
the sensation is carried to the brain, we recognize it 
as hunger. 
(Jy) Food and Force. —l. All the strength of 
our bodies comes from the food we eat. After the 
food has been changed into blood it gives up to the FOOD AND DRINK. 
17 
blood substances that supply the body with nourish- 
ment and strength. Just as new fuel feeds the fire, 
so does food keep up the forces of the body. 
2. The waste of bodily substance varies in differ- 
ent persons, and in the same person under different 
circumstances. Great bodily action causes great 
waste or wearing out of the particles. 
(c) What to eat. —l. Our bodies are composed 
of about fifteen simple substances or elements, and 
our food should he of a kind that will supply all 
of these. No one article of food contains enough 
of all of these elements to properly nourish em- 
bodies ; and so it is best to eat a few articles to- 
gether, and not to depend too much upon a single 
kind. 
2. A mixed diet is best, and this consists of ani- 
mal, vegetable, and mineral food. Thus, eggs, milk, 
lean meat, etc., supply the body with one kind of 
substance ; the fruits and vegetables, such as wheat, 
rye, rice, beans, and potatoes, contain starch and 
sugar, which supplies other substances ; butter, milk, 
meat, and certain vegetables, contain fats and oils, 
which help to keep the body warm; while minerals, 
such as salt, lime, etc., supply other needed elements. 
In very cold climates the people eat food that con- 
tains much fat, in order to keep their bodies warm. 
In very warm climates the people should live mainly 
upon fruits and vegetables, because these are not 
so heating. In a variable climate like that of our 
country, we find a mixed diet best suited to our 18 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
wants. The savage, like the animal, snatches his 
food wherever he can get it, and swallows it regard- 
less of proper cooking or the proprieties of a well- 
ordered table. But as people become civilized and 
rise in the order of life above the animal, they 
learn that their health, happiness, and usefulness 
are greatly affected by the kind of food they eat, 
the way in which it is cooked, and the manner in 
which it is eaten. 
3. Food is often made unhealthful by bad cook- 
ing. Sour or “ heavy ” bread, fat mixed and cooked 
with flour, and food too highly seasoned, are inju- 
rious. Frying in fat is one of the worst ways of 
cooking food. The particles of such food become 
covered with a coating of fat, which is not acted 
upon by the gastric juice. The digestion of such 
food is, therefore, delayed until it passes out of the 
stomach into the intestines, where it is acted upon 
by the bile and pancreatic juice. This is a frequent 
cause of indigestion. Food with few mixtures in 
cooking it is more easily digested and more healthful. 
4. When our food causes discomfort, we should 
omit first one article and then another, till the one 
that troubles us is discovered, and then omit that 
altogether. Constant carelessness in our habits of 
taking food will cause us to pay the penalty of dys- 
pepsia, with its long train of evils. We should 
begin early in life to form good sensible habits. 
5. A great man has said, “To judge of the degree 
of a man’s civilization, you should see him eat.” In FOOD AND DRINK. 
19 
every home the table should be neatly set, the food 
should be well cooked and well served. Plenty of 
time should be taken for the meal, which should 
never be accompanied with angry, fault-finding words. 
Unkind words, always out of place, are never more 
so than at the table. It is said of a distinguished 
man who has lived a life of unusual usefulness, that 
he always saves his best jokes and kindest words for 
his family table-talk. Food eaten in a hurry, or in 
a depressed or irritable frame of mind, will not digest 
as well as when eaten slowly, with cheerful conver- 
sation, or in a happy mood. 
6. No young person’s education is complete who 
does not know how to prepare, and cook, and serve 
well, the various foods that are essential to the proper 
nourishment of the body. It is a great mistake to 
leave the entire charge and preparation of food to 
untrained, careless, or ignorant hands. Many a 
valuable life has thereby been shortened and its 
power for work greatly lessened. 
7. It is to be regretted that the industrial life of 
many young girls in shops and factories leaves them 
little chance for practical training in good house- 
keeping. The school and the cooking school ought 
to make up this deficiency. Every young woman 
who has not had this training, should get it in some 
way before going into a home of her own. HEALTH LESSONS. 
LESSON 11. 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
(a) Danger of Impure Water.— 1. Good drink- 
ing-water is of the utmost importance to health. If 
we drink impure water, we may be attacked by fevers, 
dysentery, or cholera, as these are known to be fre- 
quently caused by bad drinking-water. There is 
scarcely a well to be found in any of the older cities 
or villages, the water of which it is safe to drink. 
And yet people go on drinking the water of these 
wells and becoming sick, never thinking of the real 
trouble until an epidemic of deadly fever or cholera 
carries off scores or hundreds. 
2. We cannot always detect impure water by its 
taste or smell. It is only when it is extremely foul 
that this can be done. Water may appear pure; 
and yet, when examined by those who know lioav to 
test it, it may be found unfit for use and dangerous 
to health. But we may all easily learn what causes 
water to become unfit for drinking. 
(h) Sources of Impurity. —l. Streams, springs, 
and wells may be made impure by filth washed into 
them from the surface of the ground by rains, or by 
filth soaking down through the soil and finding its 
way into them with the water that feeds them. Just 
as a ditch fills with water from a wet field, so does 
a shallow well drain water from the surrounding 
ground; and if the ground near the well is soaked FOOD AND DRINK. 
21 
with filthy matter, much of it will get into the 
water. 
2. When wells are first dug in country districts, 
the water is pure, and many remain so a long time if 
cesspools, closets, and stables are not near, and if 
kitchen slops, wash-water, etc., are not thrown upon 
the ground in the vicinity. In cities and towns 
where there are many sources of filth sometimes 
leaky sewers and drains, or no drains at all the 
ground becomes filth-soaked, deeper and deeper, and 
the impure matter at last appears in the water of the 
wells. 
3. It is not pleasant to think that, when we are 
careless about cleanliness and good drainage, we are 
drinking water that is both filthy and dangerous to 
health. And still, when cities and villages are with- 
out sewers, or when our wells are surrounded by out- 
houses, cesspools, and slops, refuse matter collects 
without end, and the wells are sunk in filthy ground. 
When other water can be obtained, the water of 
such wells should not be drunk. There is a lesson 
that should be learned by all,—that there is disease 
and death in cesspools and filth, and safety in good 
drainage and cleanliness. “It should be distinctly 
understood that no amount of artificial ‘ disinfection’ 
can ever take the place of pure air, good water, and 
proper drainage; and these cannot be had without 
prompt and thorough removal of all filth.” 
4. The terrible epidemic of fever that recently 
caused the death of scores of people in a single 22 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
town, gave a fearful example of the dangers that 
may, at any time, come from carelessness or igno- 
rance. The slops from the sick-room of a person 
having a deadly fever were thrown upon the ground 
and washed into a stream, poisoning its water and 
carrying death or disease to all who drank it. 
LESSON 111. 
ALCOHOL A POISON, AND HOW IT IS PRODUCED. 
(a) Natural and Artificial Drinks. —l. Pure 
water is the natural drink of the animal world, 
including man. The demand for water is, therefore, 
great; but the supply is still greater. In most parts 
of the world, springs, rivers, lakes, rain, snow, and 
dew furnish it in great abundance. Man alone has 
O 
sought other drinks. He has tried to improve upon 
water by mixing it with various substances, as tea, 
coffee, and other things. But he has never been able 
to obtain a drink better than water for quenching 
thirst or keeping the body in a healthful condition, 
while some of the artificial drinks he has made have 
done him untold harm. 
2. The juices of ripe fruits, like the grape, apple, 
peach, and juicy berries are composed largely of water, 
and are, perhaps, the best things for quenching thirst 
when water cannot be obtained. If, however, such 
juices are pressed out, they quickly change and FOOD AND DRINK. 
23 
become harmful instead of helpful. We do not eat 
putrid meat, rotting apples, nor mouldy bread. We 
know that these are unfit for food, and that they 
would make us ill if we should eat them. However 
wholesome they once were, they are so no longer, 
for something has changed their nature. 
3. When the juices of fruits are pressed out and 
allowed to remain in moderately warm air, they, too, 
undergo a change that corresponds to the putrefying 
of meats, the rotting of fruit, or the moulding of 
bread and cheese. These changes are all steps in the 
process of decay. 
(6) Ferments. —l. What causes these changes? 
Not the air, as was once supposed, but tiny forms 
of life that float about in the air and settle with the 
dust upon various objects. Many of these tiny forms 
are so small that no human eye ever saw them until 
the microscope 1 was invented. By the aid of this 
instrument men have studied these tiny specks, and 
find that they are really little plants, though they 
have no roots nor other parts usual to the plants we 
see. There are many kinds of these little plants. 
Some cause apples to rot, others cause bread to mould, 
and still others cause meat to spoil. Another kind 
acts upon the juices of ripe fruits and causes them to 
begin to decay; but they cannot do this until after 
the juices have been pressed out of the fruit. The 
little plants that act upon these juices are called fer- 
1 A microscope is an instrument for seeing or examining things 
that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. 24 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
merits. Since some of the drinks frequently used by 
man are due to the action of these ferments, it is 
necessary to know more about them and the work 
they do. 
2. On nearly all ripe fruits, when they are first 
picked from the trees or vines, there is a thin coat- 
ing of dust. When this dust is put under a micro- 
scope there can be seen in it these tiny specks of plant 
life, or ferments. When the fruit is crushed and its 
juice is pressed out, the ferments are washed into it 
and change it into a poisonous liquor. 
(e) What is a Poison ? 1. Any substance whose 
nature it is, when absorbed into the blood, to injure 
health or destroy life is a poison. 
Not every poison kills at once. The effects of 
some poisons, if continuously taken in small quan- 
tities, may extend over a varying period of time 
without destroying life. The individual may become 
so accustomed to their effects as not to trace them 
to their right cause. The stomach and other organs 
of the body may seem, for a time, to adapt them- 
selves to the intruder; but it is, in reality, only 
seeming, for, in such a case, the mind, character, 
and general health are being injured, and life will 
be shortened finally. FOOD AND DRINK. 
25 
LESSON IV. 
WINE. 
(V) Fermentation. —l. Grapes, as we know, are 
sweet because a kind of sugar forms in them while 
they are ripening. We have seen that when they are 
ripel there are ferments on their skins and stems. 
When the juice is pressed out of ripe grapes, these 
ferments are washed into it as it runs out of the 
crushed mass. In this liquid they grow and multi- 
ply very rapidly. These ferments take from the sugar 
in the grape-juice something they need to live upon. 
As they do this, the remainder of the sugar is thereby 
changed into two new substances. One of these is 
called carbonic acid gas,2 which can be seen coming 
to the top of the liquid in tiny bubbles as it passes 
off into the air. The other is a liquid called “alco- 
hol,” which remains in the grape-juice. Alcohol is a 
poison. Grape-juice is said to be fermented when the 
ferments have changed its sugar into alcohol. Fer- 
mented grape-juice is called wine, and has led many 
to drunkenness. 
(5) The Nature of Wine.— 1. Wine is a poison- 
> . 
1 M. Pasteur has tried numerous experiments to find out the time 
of year when the ferments appear on the surfaces of the grapes. He 
says, “As long as the grapes were green, about the end of July 
and during the first fortnight in August, we obtained no fermenta- 
tion in our must” (that is to say, in the juice obtained from the 
unripe grapes). —Pasteur’s Studies in Fermentation, p. 160. 
2 Carbon dioxide. 26 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
ous and dangerous drink. The alcohol in it has the 
power to create the craving for more that leads to 
drunkenness. 
2. Wine is also made from other fruits than grapes. 
Housekeepers, who make wine from garden fruits 
and berries, often add sugar to give more body to the 
juice. Such home-made wines contain even more 
alcohol than the wines of commerce, because there is 
more sugar for the ferments to change into alcohol. 
3. A liquid may contain so much sugar that these 
ferments cannot work in it, as in the case of syrups, 
preserves, and jellies.1 On the other hand, the fer- 
ments cannot work when they have produced an 
amount of alcohol equal to seventeen parts in one 
hundred of the liquid they are working in. They 
seem then to be destroyed, poisoned by the alcohol 
they have themselves produced. 
4. Wines made from grapes that contain but little 
sugar have only a small amount of alcohol, and these 
are called “light wines.” The notion that these are 
harmless is not sustained by either science or experi- 
ence. A law that holds throughout all nature is, 
The character of a substance does not depend upon its 
quantity, but its quality. The sixteenth part of a grain 
1 We have seen that there are many varieties of the tiny forms 
of plant life that cause decay, each having its own special work to 
do. Some of these work upon stewed and preserved fruits which 
are not closed against them, causing them to sour and spoil. These 
are different from the ones that work in expressed fruit juices, and 
produce different results. See Trouessaet’s Microbes, Ferments, 
and Moulds, p. 46. FOOD AND DRINK. 
27 
of arsenic is just as truly arsenic as a whole half- 
pound is. The small amount of alcohol in light 
wines has the same power to create an uncontrollable 
and destructive appetite for more as that in other 
liquors.1 
1 Travellers and residents in wine-making countries testify that 
the wine-drinking common in those places leads to an alarming 
amount of drunkenness. A clergyman who recently spent several 
months in Switzerland, where the people are mainly employed in 
the vineyards, where wine is cheap and unadulterated, and where 
it is more freely drunk by the laboring classes than water, and 
where none think of making a dinner without a bottle of wine, says, 
“ Here more intoxication was obvious than in any other place it was 
ever my lot to live in. On holidays and festal occasions, you might 
suppose all the male population drunk, so great are the numbers in 
this deranged and beastly condition.” 
Dr. Kirk, of Boston, says: “I never saw before such systematic 
drunkenness as I saw in France during a residence of sixteen 
months. I never saw before so many women drunk.” 
Similar testimony concerning the tendency of wine-drinking 
towards drunkenness comes from nearly all the wine-making coun- 
tries. 
In closely policed cities, like Paris, where everybody seems to 
be drinking wine, only a small part of the real drunkenness may 
be apparent to the casual visitor. A drunken man hardly appears 
on the street before he is arrested. Much of the heavy wine-drink- 
ing goes on in the wine dens and outside of the city. 
M. Le Clerc, in a work on French wines, says: “ Laborers leave 
their work and derange their means to drink irregularly, without 
the walls of their towns, the wine which would be taxed the moment 
it enters within the walls, and, at a distance from their homes, trans- 
form into drunken debauch the time which should have been spent 
in profitable labor.” 28 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
LESSON T. 
CIDER. 
1. Cider is made from apples. It is easily made, 
and therefore very common in all apple-growing 
countries. The apples are ground, and their juice 
pressed from the pulp. As this is done, the ferments 
from the skins and stems of the apples are washed 
into the juice. There they change the sugar of the 
juice into carbonic acid gas, which escapes as in the 
case of the wine, and to alcohol, which stays in the 
cider. This alcohol makes cider a poisonous drink. 
Cider is usually made in mildly warm weather. Al- 
cohol will then be found in it within about six hours 
after it has come from the press, and the ferments 
will continue to produce alcohol until the sugar in 
the juice is thus changed. This may take several 
weeks, even months, if it is kept in a cool place. If 
a person begins with the new cider and drinks daily 
the same amount, he will get each day an increasing 
amount of alcohol. Cider has the power to change 
the disposition and character and to make the drinker 
ill-tempered, ugly, and cross. The alcohol it con- 
tains has the power to create an uncontrollable appe- 
tite for more. 
2. The men of ancient Troy who took into their 
city the wooden horse containing the armed soldiers 
who stole out in the night and opened the gates to 
the enemy, made no greater mistake than is made by FOOD AND DRINK. 
29 
the family that puts into its cellar, as a part of its 
winter supplies, the barrel of new cider. Within 
the cider barrel, increasing in strength from day to 
day, is an enemy that has power to wreck the lives 
and ruin the happiness of the members of the family. 
3. The ferments that turn the sugar of fruit juices 
into alcohol are called alcoholic ferments. The pro- 
cess is called Vinous Fermentation. As we have 
seen, it is the first step in the decay of juices that 
have been pressed out of fruits. Other kinds of 
ferments follow the alcoholic ferments and enter the 
cider. They change the alcohol to acetic acid, and 
thereby turn the cider into vinegar. Wine will also 
be changed into vinegar by these same ferments, if it 
is left exposed to warm air. 
4. The fermentation these last ferments set up is 
called Acetous Fermentation, and is the second step 
in the process of decay. Vinegar is entirely different 
from wine or cider, and contains no alcohol, and is 
another illustration of the law that fermentation 
changes the nature of the substances it works upon. 
5. If vinegar is left standing in a warm place, 
other ferments cause still further change, until it be- 
comes a putrid mass that finally dries away, leaving 
only a little solid or earthy matter. The process of 
decay begun in the sweet fruit juices is then finished. 30 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
LESSON YI. 
BEER. 
(a) Is Beer a Food? —l. A great many people 
think that beer is a food because it is made from 
grain. It is true that grain contains starch and other 
food substances, but fermentation, as we have seen, 
changes the nature of whatever is fermented, and fer- 
mentation is employed in the process of beer-making. 
In making beer, the barley is first kept warm and 
moist until it begins to sprout. This changes 1 its 
starch, which becomes sugar. The sprouts are then 
killed by heat, the whole is ground or mashed, and 
the sugar soaked out with water. Yeast, which is a 
kind of ferment, is added to this sweet liquid, and 
alcohol and carbonic acid gas are formed, as in the 
case of wine and cider. 
2. We see therefore that it is an absurdity to call 
beer a food, because, when beer is made, starch, which 
is the chief food-substance in the grain, is changed 
and becomes sugar, and the sugar in turn becomes 
alcohol, which we know is a poison. The slight 
1 There is an intermediate step in the change of starch to sugar. 
A substance called diastase is formed at the base of the sprout. 
Moistened starch, when subjected to the action of only a minute 
quantity of diastase, soon becomes disorganized and converted into 
soluble starch, dextrine, and grape sugar. If kept at a certain 
temperature, the diastase, acting still further upon the dextrine, 
changes that into sugar. See Appleton's American Cyclopaedia, 
Yol. YL, p. 80; also Vol. 111., pp. 258 and 259. FOOD AND DRINK. 
trace of food left in the beer is not worth mention- 
ing, while the alcohol in it makes it too dangerous 
to be used as a drink, even though the food value 
were a hundred times what it really is. 
(h) The Nature of Beer; Three Reasons against 
Drinking it. 1. Beer contains a poison whose 
nature is to make those who take it want more.1. 
2. Beer dulls the conscience and the mind, and 
tends to make the drinker stupid, coarse, and brutal.2 
3. Beer-drinking, even when moderate, tends to 
shorten life.3 
(e) Home-made Beer. A kind of beer is made 
by adding yeast and sugar to water in which various 
1 “ All poison habits are progressive, and we have seen that the 
beer-vice is always apt to eventuate in a brandy-vice, or else to 
equalize the difference by a progressive enlargement of the dose. 
Common brandy contains fifty per cent, of alcohol, lager beer about 
ten; so if A drinks one glass of brandy and B five glasses of beer, 
they have outraged their systems by the same amount of poison, 
and will incur the same penalty. Total abstinence is the safe plan, 
nay, the only safe plan, for poisons cannot be reduced to a harm- 
less dose.” Felix Oswald, M.D., in The Poison Problem. 
2 “ Of all intoxicating drinks, it (beer) is the most animalizing. 
It dulls the intellectual and moral, and feeds the sensual and 
beastly nature. Beyond all other drinks it qualifies for deliberate 
and unprovoked crime.” Colonel Greene, President of the Con- 
necticut Life Insurance Company. 
3 John S. Ford, writing from Milwaukee, Wis., to the Boston 
Traveller, says; “Physicians of this city who have had wide ex- 
perience are of the opinion that the person who uses beer habitually 
is more liable to contract disease and less liable to throw it off than 
one who abstains from its use.” Similar testimony is given by 
leading physicians and the officers of life insurance companies 
everywhere. 32 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
roots, barks, and herbs have been boiled. The yeast 
acts on the sugar and produces carbonic acid gas and 
alcohol. Since any liquor in which alcoholic fermen- 
tation has taken place contains alcohol, home-made 
beer is not a safe drink.1 
(c?) Fermentation and Bread.— 1. Grains are 
among the most valuable of foods; wheat, especially, 
is nearly a perfect food. Bread made from grain is 
so necessary that it is called the “staff of life.” In 
making bread the aim is to secure a light, spongy 
mass instead of a solid lump. Yeast is commonly 
used to produce this sponginess. In the flour is a 
very small amount of free sugar which the yeast 
breaks up into carbonic acid gas and alcohol. The 
gas, forcing its way up through the dough, makes 
the bread light. But in the case of bread, Ist, the 
fermentation is stopped when it has changed only 
a little of the substance of which the bread is com- 
posed, and 2d, the alcohol does not remain as in 
the case of cider, wine, and beer, because when the 
bread is baked the heat of the oven turns the alcohol 
to vapor, and drives it and the gas out of the bread. 
There is no alcohol in well-baked bread. 
2. We see, therefore, that the results obtained 
from fermentation in bread-making and in beer-mak- 
ing are very different. In making bread, the small 
quantity of alcohol is driven off in the oven; while 
in making beer, the alcohol remains in the beer and 
makes it poisonous. It is an error, therefore, to sup- 
1 Dr. E. S. Tracy of the New York Board of Health. FOOD AND DRINK. 
33 
pose that because the process of fermentation pro- 
duces a healthful food in the case of bread, it must 
also produce a healthful drink in the case of beer. 
(e) Effervescent Drinks. —l. The foaming of 
certain drinks is caused by the escape of gases. 
Some alcoholic liquors when drawn from the cask or 
bottle, foam at the top because the carbonic acid gas 
produced by fermentation rushes through them into 
the air. 
2. Not every liquor that foams or “effervesces” in 
this way contains alcohol. Carbonic acid gas is 
sometimes forced into a liquid that has not been fer- 
mented, as in the case of soda-water. Soda and 
cream of tartar cause effervescence when they are 
dissolved and mixed together at the right temper- 
ature and in sufficient quantities, but they do not 
produce alcohol. 
LESSON YII. 
THE ALCOHOLIC APPETITE. 
(a) Distilled Liquors. l. When the appetite for 
alcohol has become so strong that there is not enough 
alcohol in beer, wine, or cider to satisfy it, stronger 
liquors are sought. The fermented liquors cider, 
wine, etc. consist of water and alcohol, there be- 
ing much more of the former than of the latter. 
Alcohol boils sooner than water, and if wine or cider 
is heated a little below the boiling point of water, the HEALTH LESSONS. 
alcohol and part of the water will be driven off in the 
form of steam. If this steam is conducted into a 
cold vessel, it will condense, and the liquid thus 
obtained will contain all the alcohol and some of the 
water. This process is called distillation. In this 
way distilled liquors are made from fermented liquors. 
2. Brandy is distilled from wine, and contains 
from fifty to sixty per cent, alcohol. Whiskey is 
distilled from cider and grains, and contains from 
fifty to sixty per cent, alcohol. Rum is distilled 
from waste sugars and molasses, and contains sixty 
to seventy per cent, alcohol. 
(h) The Alcoholic Appetite. —l.lt is the nature 
of healthful drinks, like water or milk, to satisfy 
thirst. It is the nature of drinks that contain alco- 
hol to create thirst. The desire for water and other 
harmless drinks is a natural appetite, and has a 
natural limit that is, a feeling that one has had 
enough. Only natural appetites have natural limits. 
2. It is the nature of food to satisfy the appetite 
for food. When enough has been taken to meet the 
needs of the system, no more is craved.1 Food has 
no power to create for itself an unnatural appetite 
that has no limit. The appetite for food is a natural 
one. The appetite for alcohol and other narcotics is 
an unnatural one that if indulged to the extent of its 
demands destroys its victims. This unnatural, dis- 
1 ‘ ‘ There are no milk-topers, no suicidal potato-eaters, no vic- 
tims of a chronic porridge passion,” Felix Oswald, M.D. FOOD AND DRINK. 
35 
eased craving caused by tlie use of alcoholic drinks 
is known as the alcoholic appetite. 
3. The alcoholic appetite is very easily formed 
and very difficult to cure. It steals so gradually 
upon the beer, wine, or cider drinker that he is not 
aware of its coming. He continues to praise his wine 
or beer, and tries to induce others to drink. He re- 
fuses to believe that the alcohol in it is a poison, 
though the best chemical and medical authorities 
declare that it is. He scorns the idea that he cannot 
drink or let it alone as he pleases. When at last he 
finds that this ruinous craving is really upon him, he 
has usually become too weak to resist it.1 
4. Very few people who have acquired the appetite 
for alcohol are able to overcome it. To do so usually 
takes years of resistance. When it seems to be nearly 
cured, the slightest smell or taste of alcohol may 
rouse it again. For this reason it is very wrong to 
use wine or brandy as a flavoring for pies, jellies, 
pudding-sauces, or other kinds of food. None can 
tell what harm this may do in the case of some one 
who has acquired or inherited an appetite for alco- 
1 A leading journal of New York City, the Independent, printed 
recently a collection of medical opinions on the ‘1 Causes and Cure 
of Inebriety.” Among the contributors were Dr. Charles L. Dana, 
visiting physician in Bellevue Hospital; Dr. L. D. Mason, con- 
sulting physician of the Inebriates’ Home at Fort Harflilton, N.Y. ; 
and others. It is the united testimony of these and other ex- 
perienced experts that nothing is more difficult to bring about 
than a permanent cure of one who has become a victim of the 
drink habit. HEALTH LESSONS. 
holic drinks. As a rule, the appetite for alcohol is 
readily formed and grows very rapidly, though it 
does not gain so fast upon some persons as upon 
some others; but no one can tell how soon it may 
master him if he begins to drink even the fermented 
liquors—beer, wine, or cider.1 
5. It is the extreme of folly to drink in any quan- 
tity the liquors that have the power to form this 
appetite from which is so difficult to reform.2 The 
1 “People sometimes wonder,” says Dr. Jennings, “why such 
and such men, possessing great intellectual power and firmness of 
character in other respects, cannot drink moderately and not give 
themselves up to drunkenness. They become drunkards by law 
fixed, immutable law. Let a man with a constitution as perfect 
as Adam’s undertake to drink alcohol, moderately and persever- 
ingly, with all the caution and deliberated determination that he 
can command, and if he could live long enough he would just as 
certainly become a drunkard, get to a point where he could not 
refrain from drinking to excess as he would go over Niagara Falls 
when placed in a canoe in the river above the Falls and left to 
the natural operation of the current. And proportionately as he 
descended the stream would his alcoholic attraction for it increase, 
so that he would find it more and more difficult to get ashore, 
until he reached a point where escape was impossible.” Medical 
Beform, p. 176. 
2 In a recent work on the cause and cure of the alcoholic 
appetite, the following experience of a reformed drinker is given: 
“ After I had determined to stop drinking, I had a great fight with 
myself daily at about noon, the time I had been accustomed to 
take a cocktail with my lunch. I resolved to break myself of this 
habit. I conquered in this way: instead of going into a place 
where they had alcoholic liquors, I went into a bake-shop and just 
ate a 1 turnover ’ and drank a glass of milk. I kept this up for a 
long time : then I made it a habit to carry a biscuit, cracker or an 
apple in my pocket, and when I felt the craving coming on for FOOD AND DRINK. 
only hope for one who has either acquired or inherited 
appetite for alcohol is to abstain at once and forever 
from all alcoholic liquors or other narcotics. 
1. When a child has hair, eyes, or other features like 
its father’s or mother’s-, we say it has inherited these 
from its parents. One of the most terrible evils of 
the alcoholic appetite is, that it can be and often is 
inherited by innocent children from drinking par- 
ents. Even a small quantity of an alcoholic liquor 
may rouse an appetite in the person who has had 
drinking parents or grandparents. 
(c) The Inherited Appetite for Alcohol. 
LESSON VIII. 
TOBACCO AND OTHER NARCOTICS. 
(a) Narcotic Poisons.— Narcotics are substances 
that have the power to cause sleep or stupor, and, 
when taken, in sufficient quantity, to cause death. 
They produce these effects by numbing the brain and 
nerves, or by paralyzing them entirely. Alcohol, 
opium, tobacco, chloral, etc., are a few of a large 
number of narcotics. They are much alike in some 
drink I would eat this food, and thus the temptation was defeated 
by changing the current of my mind from a craving, demanding 
poison, to a natural appetite for food. Thus it was that I soon 
convinced the fiend, who had held possession of me so long, that I 
was determined to be master once more, and so I drove him out 
for good.” 38 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
of their bad effects, and the common use of one may 
lead to the use of the rest. 
(6) Tobacco and its Effects. —l. Tobacco is a 
poisonous plant, the dried leaves of which are manu- 
factured into smoking and chewing tobacco and into 
snuff. Its harmful effects when smoked, chewed, or 
otherwise used, are mainly due to a substance in it 
called nicotine, which is a deadly poison. Two drops 
of nicotine placed on the tongue would be sufficient 
to destroy life in three or four minutes. 
2. The question may be asked why nicotine, being 
so deadly a poison, does not kill at once every one 
who uses tobacco. The answer is that the ordinary 
smoker or chewer does not get enough of the poison 
at one time to kill him; but he usually gets enough 
to make its evil effects plain to the careful observer, 
though he may be unconscious of them himself. 
3. “In its action upon the system,” says Dr. 
Wood,“nicotine is one of the most powerful poisons 
known.” Dr. Taylor, another eminent writer on 
poisons, gives an account of the death of a child 
caused by having its head washed with water in 
which tobacco had been steeped. The mother ap- 
plied the tobacco solution on the supposition that it 
would cure a slight eruption on the scalp. Instead, 
the child became suddenly very ill, and died in a few 
hours. 
4. Tobacco, as we know, is used in several 
forms chewing, snuffing, “ dipping, ” and smoking. 
For smoking, the tobacco is made up into cigars and FOOD AND DRINK. 
39 
cigarettes, or smoked loose in a pipe. In whatever 
way used, the person using it gets some of the poison 
into his system. In chewing, more or less of the 
nicotine is dissolved by the saliva. Snuffing and 
snuff-dipping are equally injurious, and both are 
degrading and disgusting. 
(c) Cigarette-Smoking'.—l. Perhaps no form of 
tobacco-using is doing more harm than cigarette- 
smoking. While the tobacco itself is very injurious, 
it is reported that opium is sometimes added. This 
gives the cigarette a power to create even a more 
uncontrollable and destructive appetite than that 
caused by tobacco alone. Many leading physicians 
of Philadelphia united in making the statement that 
cigarette-smoking is one of the most destructive evils 
that ever befell the youth of any country. Its direct 
tendency is to make the race inferior. Similar testi- 
mony is given by.leading physicians everywhere. 
2. After much observation, Dr, Hardwicke says 
that he thinks “no one who smokes is perfectly 
healthy. Smokers may say they are, but if you con- 
verse with them you will find them complaining 
sometimes of very serious diseases.” 
The President of Union College, New York, 
says: “The lives of some and the health of many 
have been destroyed by persisting in the use of this 
poisonous narcotic [tobacco], which, next to intoxi- 
cating liquors, in my opinion, is more destructive 
to the health of the youth of our country than any 
other agent.” 40 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
(d) The Children of Tobacco-Users. —ln the 
case of a naturally very strong man, who is much in 
the open air, the evil effects of tobacco-using may he 
most apparent in his children, who are often weak, 
nervous, and incompetent, and show a tendency to 
strong drink. 
(e) Tobacco-Craving-. Tobacco, like alcohol and 
other narcotics, has the power to create a desire for 
more. A person who has the habit of using tobacco 
in any form finds it very difficult to abandon its use, 
although he may be conscious that it is injuring 
him.1 
(/) Opium and its Effects. —l. Opium is the 
dried juice of the white poppy. It is a deadly 
poison. One grain of it may kill a person. It is a 
powerful narcotic, and possesses in a still greater 
degree than even alcohol or tobacco the power to cre- 
ate in those who begin to use it an irresistible and 
continuous craving for more. Its evil effect upon 
character is quite as bad as that caused by alco- 
hol. Opium may not lead the user to quarrel and 
kill, as alcohol does, but it makes him untruthful, 
idle, and degraded, while he is ready to do almost 
anything to procure more opium. 
2. Opium is often put into cordials and soothing- 
syrups which are given to young children to keep 
them quiet. This is a great wrong to the child. It 
may cause an injury to the brain and nerves that may 
1 An eminent physician says that tobacco creates a thirst, to 
remove which alcoholic drinks are often resorted to. 41 
FOOD AND DRINK. 
last through life. In many cases children have been 
killed by a quantity of opium in such syrups that was 
not supposed at the time to be an overdose. 
(g) Chloral. Choral is an oily liquid formed 
from alcohol by passing chlorine gas through it. 
Mixed with a little water, it forms a white crystal. 
Like opium, it is a very dangerous drug. People 
are frequently killed by it. 
LESSON IX. 
HOW POOD IS DIGESTED. 
(a) What Digestion is. —l. Food is not in con- 
dition to be taken into the blood from the stomach 
as soon as it reaches that organ. 
2. The food must be changed in various ways to 
prepare it for the use of the body. These changes 
are called digestion. 
(V) The Digestive Machinery or Organs. 
1. An organ is a part of the body that has some spe- 
cial work to do. The organs of digestion are,— 
1. The mouth and salivary glands. 
2. The stomach. 
3. The pancreas. 
4. The liver. 
5. The intestines. 
2. These organs, together with the passages that 
connect them, form the alimentary canal. Fig. 9. 
Explanation of Fig. 9. 
This figure represents the organs of the chest and abdomen in natural posi- 
tion, the breast-bone and ribs being removed. 
B, the windpipe. 
C, gullet. 
E, diaphragm. 
F, liver. 
T, spleen. 
D, stomach. 
G, intestines. 
H, heart, the sac enclosing it being 
laid open. 
A, lungs. 
J, bladder. FOOD AND DRINK. 
43 
(c) Work of the Mouth. —l. When food is put 
into the mouth, the tongue rolls it about and keeps 
it in place between the teeth, and the teeth cut and 
grind it to a fineness suitable to the stomach. 
2. While the food is being moved about by the 
tongue, saliva or moisture is poured into the mouth 
from little glands or sacs situated in the cheeks and 
under the tongue. The saliva moistens the food, 
brings out its taste, and changes starchy particles 
into a kind of sugar, and thus begins the work of 
digestion. 
3. When the food has been acted upon by the 
teeth and saliva, it is pushed backward and passes 
into the gullet or upper opening of the food-tube, 
which leads downward to the stomach. This tube, 
called the oesophagus, is covered by layers of mus- 
cles, one of which extends lengthwise, while the 
other winds around it from end to end; and when 
food enters it from the mouth, the uppermost band 
of muscle closes upon it and forces it downwards. 
Each successive band repeats the act of the first, till 
the food is finally deposited in the stomach. 
(cT) Work of the Stomach. —l. The stomach 
is situated mainly on the left side of the body, just 
within the lower ribs. Its shape is like that of a 
shot-pouch, and it is composed of three coats, the 
outer one being tough and strong, the middle one 
muscular, and the inner one loose and spongy. 
2. In the inner coat of the stomach, on its inner 
surface, is a network of tiny blood-vessels with very 44 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
thin walls. When food enters the stomach, a liquid 
called gastric juice pours out from the inner coat; 
the muscular coat contracts and expands, and keeps 
the food in constant motion, mixing it with the gastric 
juice. This juice dissolves some portions of the food, 
and as fast as it is dissolved, it soaks through the 
thin walls of the tiny blood-vessels into the blood. 
The food not dissolved is changed into a pulpy mass 
called chyme. It passes out of the stomach through 
an opening at its right, and into a long tube called 
the bowels, or intestines. 
1, the oesophagus. 
2, the left opening of the diaphragm. 
3, the upper opening of the stomach. 
4, the small curvature of the stomach. 
5, the great curvature of the stomach. 
6, the base of the stomach. 
8, 9, 10, the duodenum or “ second 
stomach.” 
Explanation of Fig. 10. 
Fig. 10. 
(V) Work of the Intestines, etc.— 1. When the 
chyme enters the intestines from the stomach, the 
liver pours into it a bitter liquid, the bile; and 
another organ, called the pancreas, pours in pan- 
creatic juice. These two juices act upon fatty atoms 
of the chyme, and upon starch or sugar not changed FOOD AND DRINK. 
45 
by the saliva. The chyme is thus changed into a 
milky liquid called chyle. 
2. In the inner lining of the intestines are more 
thin-walled blood-vessels. As the chyle passes on 
through the intestines, the portions that have been 
there prepared for entering the blood soak through 
these blood-vessels into the blood. 
LESSON X. 
HINTS ABOUT EATING. 
(a) When to eat.— 1. Meals should be eaten 
at regular hours. If we eat at irregular hours and 
between meals, the stomach is kept almost constantly 
busy, and may become so weak as to be unable to do 
its work. It is best to take three meals a day, five or 
six hours apart. 
2. The stomach does its work best when the mind 
is at ease and the body is rested. Children should 
not take a meal when they are heated and excited by 
play. It is best to give the body a short rest, and 
the nerves a chance to become quiet, before eating. 
Again, it is best to keep the body quiet for a time 
after a meal. Moderate exercise will do no harm; 
but running, leaping, jumping rope, etc., should not 
be engaged in for at least a half-hour after eating. 
A meal should not be eaten just before gfoing to bed, 
for rest may be disturbed in this way. 46 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
(6) How to eat. —l. We should not eat hur- 
riedly. The food should be well chewed and mixed 
with the saliva. “Food well chewed is half digested”; 
and the stomach cannot do the chewing. 
2. We should guard against eating more food at 
one time than the stomach can change into chyme. 
If food is not properly digested, it becomes sour and 
even putrefies in the digestive organs. 
3. It is not best to take a swallow of tea, coffee, 
or water, with every mouthful of food. These liquids 
dilute the saliva and gastric juice, and in this way 
interfere with digestion. If cold liquids are swal- 
lowed, the temperature of the stomach will be low- 
ered, and digestion delayed till the stomach regains 
its warmth. It is best to quench thirst between 
meals, as a rule. 
(c) Alcohol and Digestion. —l. Alcohol ab- 
sorbs moisture from the lining of the stomach, and 
leaves it parched and inflamed. When much alcohol 
is drunk, it thickens the lining of the stomach, de- 
stroys some of the glands that prepare the gastric 
juice, and sometimes causes ulcers in the stomach. 
It hardens and toughens some articles of food in the 
stomach so that the juice cannot dissolve them; and 
besides, it changes the nature of the juice itself, 
and unfits it to dissolve food properly. In these and 
other ways it makes a diseased stomach, spoils appe- 
tite for food, and injures health. 
2. Benjamin W. Richardson, M.D., Fellow of the 
Royal College of Physicians, says: “ I support the FOOD AND DRINK. 
47 
statement of the late Dr. Cheyne, that nothing more 
effectively hinders digestion than alcohol. I hold 
that those who abstain from alcohol have the best 
digestion; and that more instances of indigestion are 
produced by alcohol than by any other single cause.” 
3. Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, founder of the 
American Medical Association, says, “ Alcohol can- 
not be made into flesh and blood. It is a fallacy 
that the human system is ever benefited by alcoholic 
beverages. The only use that can be made of them 
to benefit mankind is to throw them into the lake.” 
4. If the people who drink cider for its acid would 
take lemon or lime juice in its stead, they would get 
a healthful acid without the evil effects of the alcohol 
which the cider contains. It is an error to suppose 
that wine, cider, or beer will aid digestion; on the 
contrary, the use of these, as well as of stronger 
liquors, is a frequent cause of dyspepsia. 
5. Alcohol often inflames both the liver and the 
kidneys ; or it clogs them with fat and interferes with 
their work. It has been known to shrink the liver 
into a hard, lumpy mass. This is called “ Drinker’s 
Liver.” When the kidneys become clogged, they 
cannot cast out waste matter from the blood, and this 
causes disease. Anything that interferes much with 
their work Avill cause disease and death. The ter- 
rible “ Bright’s disease ” may be caused by drinking 
liquor. 
(d) Tobacco and Digestion. —l. Smoking and 48 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
chewing tobacco weaken the glands that pour out 
the saliva, and make it flow too freely. This is inju- 
rious because the saliva is needed to aid in digesting 
our food, to moisten it, and keep the mouth moist. 
When it is wasted in being spit out, it can do none 
of these things. Besides, tobacco lessens the appe- 
tite for food and weakens the stomach. It may cause 
diseases of the mouth, tongue, and throat. Many 
tobacco-users suffer* from dyspepsia. Tobacco is most 
harmful to young people. 
(e) Opium and Chloral. Both of these drugs 
when commonly used destroy appetite for food and 
interfere with its digestion. They check the flow of 
the juices that dissolve the food. Both are very 
stealthy. They fix a terrible appetite for themselves 
upon the foolish person who begins to use them, and 
before he knows it he is bound to keep on using 
them or to be almost or quite crazy when he does not 
take his regular dose. They should never be used 
unless by the doctor’s orders, and then just as he 
directs. They often cause the death of people who 
had no intention to commit suicide.1 
1 The first indulgence in opium, chloral, or other opiates is 
often prescribed by a physician to allay acute pain or chronic 
sleeplessness. The latter is, perhaps, the most dangerous. The 
pain, if it lasts for weeks, forces recourse to the physician before 
the habit has become incurable. Sleeplessness is a more persist- 
ent, and to most people, a much less alarming thing; and it is, 
moreover, one with which physicians can seldom deal save through 
the very agents of mischief, and the narcotic habit once formed, 
neither pain nor sleeplessness is all that its renunciation would FOOD AND DRINK. 
49 
involve. The narcotist who attempts to go for a whole day with- 
out his accustomed dose suffers more, perhaps, in the twenty-four 
hours than the drunkard deprived of alcohol, in as many days. 
The effect upon the stomach and other organs, upon the nerves as 
well as on the brain, is one of indescribable, unspeakable dis- 
comfort, but to continue the use of these destructive agents is sure 
ruin. THE BLOOD. 
LESSON I. 
THE BLOOD. —WHAT IT IS AND DOES. 
What and where. —l. The blood is the liquid 
that circulates through the various parts of our 
bodies, and conveys material to build up and make 
good the wear and waste. It is made out of the 
food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we 
breathe. If we would have pure, rich blood, we 
must eat good food, drink pure water, and breathe 
pure air. 
2. It contains, or should contain, all the materials 
for making every organ of the body. When it does 
not contain the proper building-material, something 
is wrong. Either the food is not of the right kind, 
the water is bad, or the air breathed is not good. 
3. The blood consists of a colorless liquid, called 
plasma, in which countless numbers of little circular 
bodies, or corpuscles, float. The greater number of 
these are red, others are white. The red ones are 
about -g^oo- of an inch in diameter, and it would THE BLOOD. 
51 
require 12,800 of them to make a little column an 
inch high. The white ones are a little larger. The 
corpuscles carry the oxygen of the blood, which they 
receive while in the lungs. 
4. The blood moves constantly while we live. A 
current is always flowing from the heart to all parts 
of our bodies, and from these a current is returning 
to the heart. These movements are called the circu- 
lation of the blood. The organs of the circulation are 
the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins. 
LESSON 11. 
THE HEART AND OTHER BLOOD-VESSELS. 
(a) Position. —l. The heart is the organ which 
the blood, and is situated just to the left of 
the centre of the chest. 
(h) Construction.—1. The heart is a hollow, 
muscular organ, shaped like a strawberry, and sus- 
pended with the point downwards. Its size is 
roughly estimated to be equal to that of the fist. 
2. It is surrounded by a loose sack of membrane, 
which is as smooth as satin, and gives out a liquid 
which keeps it moist and pliable. 
3. The heart is partitioned into four chambers. 
The two upper ones are called auricles (aures, 
ears), because of the shape of the flaps on their Fig. 12. 
Explanation op Fig. 12. 
The double heart of man. 
q, the great vein descending from the 
head. 
0, the great vein carrying blood from 
the trunk and lower parts of the body. 
n, the right auricle. 
b, the right ventricle. 
Jc, the artery that carries the blood to 
the lungs. 
1, I, the right and left branches of 
this artery, going to the lungs on either 
side of the chest. 
m, m, the veins of the lungs, which 
return wThat the artery sent in, to r, 
the left auricle, 
a, the left ventricle, 
c, e, f, the aorta, or great artery 
of the body, rising out of the left 
heart. 
g, the nameless arteries. 
h, the artery going up the side of the 
neck to the head. 
i, the artery going to the left arm. 
Note.—The arrows show the course the blood moves in each of the vessels 
demonstrated with the heart: n, the right auricle; m, m, veins of the lungs; 
s, the left coronary artery; p, the veins returning blood from the liver and 
bowels. THE BLOOD. 
53 
outside walls. The lower chambers are called ven- 
tricles. 
4. The auricle and the ventricle on the same side 
communicate with each other by means of openings 
(valves') ; but the right and left sides of the heart 
are entirely separated by a muscular partition in 
which there is no opening. 
5. The walls of the ventricles are thicker than 
those of the auricles. This is a wise provision; for 
it is by the powerful action of the ventricles that the 
blood is forced to the remotest regions of the body. 
6. The auricles need much less power, for they 
simply discharge their contents into the ventricles, 
which are near at hand, and their walls are not so 
thick. 
(c) Arteries. The arteries are the tubes that 
conduct the blood from the heart. One great artery 
is given off directly from the heart, and its branches 
extend to all parts of the body. The arteries 
nearly all lie deep so as to be out of danger, for, 
when cut, the flow of blood from them cannot be 
stopped as easily as from a vein. Their walls are 
thick and elastic, and aid in keeping up the move- 
ment of the blood. Their ends are extremely small. 
When an artery is cut, the blood spurts out at every 
beat of the heart; but blood from a vein flows off 
slowly and steadily. 
(cl) Capillaries. —At the ends of the arteries and 
the beginnings of the veins there are exceedingly 
small tubes, finer than the finest hair. They form a 54 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
network between the arteries and veins. They are 
called capillaries, and are everywhere in the body. 
Those in the skin, when very full of blood, give the 
red or pink color to it and to the lips. The walls of 
these little tubes are very thin. The oxygen and the 
nourishing materials in the blood soak through them 
and build up the muscles, bones, etc. 
(e) Veins. The veins are the tubes that convey 
the impure blood back to the heart. They begin as 
tiny tubes in the capillaries, but they unite and 
become larger and fewer. At last they form two 
great veins, one of which brings the blood back from 
the head and arms, and the other from the trunk and 
lower limbs. Both of these empty into the right 
upper chamber of the heart. The blood in the 
arteries is red, but that in the veins is dark. It 
regains its bright color when the air in the lungs 
comes in contact with it. It is supposed that all 
of the blood passes once through the heart in about 
two minutes. 
(/) Work of the Heart. —l. The action of the 
heart consists of alternate contractions and dilations. 
During contraction, the walls come forcibly together, 
and thus the blood is driven out. In dilation or 
expansion, the walls open or separate, and thus make 
room for a new supply of blood. 
2. The contraction of the right auricle drives the 
blood into the right ventricle ; the right ventricle then 
contracts, and forces the blood through an artery 
into the lungs. THE BLOOD. 
55 
3. Leaving the lungs where the blood is purified, 
it returns by four veins to the left auricle; the con- 
traction of the left auricle drives the blood into the 
left ventricle ; the left ventricle contracts, and drives 
the blood into a large artery, the branches of which 
convey it to all parts of the body, except the lungs, 
to which it is returned, as first described, after cir- 
culating throughout the entire body . 
LESSON 111. 
HEALTH AND THE CIRCULATION. 
(a) Bad Effects of Improper Clothing. 
X. While good food and pure air make good blood, 
it must circulate freely if we are to have good health. 
This being true, no article of clothing should fit so 
closely or be worn so as to prevent the blood from 
flowing freely through every organ of the body. 
2. Tight clothing about the neclc, tight collars, etc., 
press upon the blood-vessels that convey the blood 
to and from the head. The flushed face, feeling of 
fulness and pressure, headache, or giddiness and 
fainting are often caused by pressure upon the veins 
about the neck. The impure blood is prevented 
from flowing back to the heart, and the pressure may 
cause the blood-vessels to give way, in which case 
paralysis or death from apoplexy may occur. 56 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
3. Tight clothing and tight lacing about the waist 
obstruct the movements of the blood at this point, 
and interfere with full breathing. “If a foolish girl,” 
says an author, “ by squeezing and lacing secures a 
wasp waist, she is tolerably certain to gain an addi- 
tion she did not bargain for, and that is a red nose, 
which, in numberless instances, is produced by no 
other cause than obstructing the circulation and 
causing stagnation of the blood in that feature.” No 
less harmful is the custom among men and boys of 
buckling vest or pantaloons tightly about the waist. 
It is much better to suspend the clothing from the 
shoulders. 
4. Tight bands about the limbs interfere with the 
circulation of blood, and may cause enlargement and 
rupture of the veins. At least, discomfort and pain- 
ful limbs are caused by them. 
5. Tight shoes and tight gloves obstruct the flow of 
the blood and cause cold feet and cold hands. Be- 
sides, they make the body generally uncomfortable, 
and lead to irritation and ill-nature. 
G. Insufficient clothing of any part of the body 
allows cooling or chill, which drives the blood away 
from the surface of the part exposed. 
(5) The Mind affects the Circulation. 
1. Anger and other exciting passions increase the 
force of the heart’s action, frequently to an alarming 
extent. There have been instances of the bursting 
of blood-vessels from a fit of passion. 
2. Sorroiv and grief cause the blood to move too THE BLOOD. 
57 
slowly, and then the power to resist disease is much 
less. 
3. G-ood nature and cheerfulness keep the circula- 
tion regular, and in this way aid in maintaining good 
health. 
(c) Bathing and Muscular Exercise. —l. Bath- 
ing and friction of the skin cause the blood to circu- 
late freely toward the surface of the body, and keep 
the skin in healthy condition. 
2. Muscular exercise increases the movements of 
the heart. The contraction of the muscles, by press- 
ing upon the veins, forces along the current of the 
blood, and in this way supplies the demand for new 
material, while the waste particles are taken up and 
removed more rapidly by the lungs, skin, kidneys, 
etc. 
(di) What to avoid. —l. Avoid all things which 
tend to obstruct the free and natural movements of 
the blood, and which must always result in disease 
and shortening of life. 
2. Avoid all causes whidh unduly excite the heart 
to overwork, for the heart, like any other muscle, 
may be weakened and made unable to perform its 
ordinary work. For both of these reasons avoid 
all alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and other narcotics. 
(e) Effects of Alcohol on the Blood, etc. 
1. The effect of alcohol is to shrink the little 
corpuscles, and then they cannot carry enough oxy- 
gen to purify the blood and keep the body properly 58 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
warm. It makes the blood impure, and induces 
fevers and inflammation. It is well known that 
yellow fever, and some others, are nearly always 
fatal to those who drink much liquor. Impure 
blood is the ready-made ground for the seeds of 
disease. 
2. Alcohol makes the heart beat too fast and 
tires it. This overwork weakens the heart and 
wears it out. Worse than this, alcohol has the 
power to change muscle into fat. When this takes 
place in the heart, it becomes so soft that it may 
burst when it is made to work a little faster than 
usual. If the walls of the blood-vessels of the brain 
change into fat, the pressure of the fast-flowing blood 
may burst them, and this would cause apoplexy, and 
end in sudden death. 
3. People imagine that alcohol will keep them 
warm in cold weather. This is a great mistake. At 
first it hastens the flow of the blood, and the little 
blood-vessels near the surface of the body become 
crowded with the warm blood. This causes a feeling 
of greater warmth there for a short time. But soon 
the blood ceases to be urged along so fast, and it 
does not rush to the surface as it did. Then the body 
is chilled and cannot bear the cold. Alcohol does 
not protect any one from severe cold. Those who 
use it cannot bear the cold as well as those who do 
not drink it. 
(/) Effects of Tobacco.—The poisonous nicotine 
of tobacco being absorbed into the blood causes it to THE BLOOD. 
59 
become thin. Like alcohol, it tends to fatten and 
weaken the heart, and causes it to palpitate and act 
irregularly. Very many tobacco-users suffer from 
disease of the heart. We sometimes hear of a “ to- 
bacco heart.” Physicians whose duty it is to examine 
boys who wish to enter the United States naval and 
military schools, say that the most prominent cause of 
rejection of such applicants has been from irritable 
heart, found most frequently in boys who use tobacco. 
2. A very eminent physician says: “Youths are 
far more affected by tobacco than men are. They 
accustom themselves to it more slowly, and it fre- 
quently, for a long time, lessens their appetite. 
When a boy takes to smoking, he frequently becomes 
pale, and has an unhealthy skin. And, besides, boys 
who smoke weaken their muscles and are much less 
disposed to bodily activity. Smoking, then, interferes 
with appetite, impairs bodily activity, and in some 
way must damage the circulation and the composi- 
tion of the blood. Add to this that a young man, 
without the least good to himself, is forming a habit 
which will become a great burden, and is spending 
time and money for which there are so many better 
and more pleasing uses. Is it not wise to keep from 
a practice which brings with it very certain harm ? BREATHING. 
LESSON I. 
THE ORGANS OF BREATH. 
(a) The Air-Passages. Air gets into the kings 
through the nose and mouth, the larynx, the trachea or 
windpipe, and branches of the windpipe, called bron- 
chial tubes. 
(h') The Larynx, or “Adam’s Apple.”—l. It is 
the upper end of the windpipe. Its form is seen as a 
bulge in the front of the throat. It is composed of 
pieces of cartilage which move upon each other. It 
opens into the windpipe by a narrow chink, called 
the glottis, which is open except when we swallow 
anything. It has a small, spoon-shaped trap-door 
which closes down when we swallow, so that food 
may glide over it into the food-tube, which is 
back of it. This little lid is the epiglottis. If we 
attempt to breathe when we swallow, particles of 
food drop into the windpipe because the door is 
open. BREA THING. 
61 
2. The larynx is the instrument of voice. The 
opening, or glottis, consists of lips of membrane with 
very thin edges. These are called “vocal chords.” 
These lips, or chords, spread apart when we breathe, 
and leave a Y-shaped opening; but when we make 
sounds, they narrow or widen the chink, and thus the 
sounds made are high or low, etc. The air passing 
etween them causes them to vibrate and make 
s_ands. At about the fifteenth year, the larynx of 
boys nearly doubles in size, and the voice becomes 
manly. 
(c) The Trachea, or Windpipe. —l. This main 
air-tube extends down to the lungs. It is composed 
of tough membrane, and its sides are kept apart by 
stiff rings of gristle. These may be felt in the front 
of the throat. At the lungs it sends off two large 
branches, one into each lung. These large branches 
send out smaller ones, and these still smaller ones. 
The tiny branches end in clusters of little air-cells. 
2. The air-tubes and passages are lined with a 
very delicate skin, called mucous membrane. This 
lining is very sensitive and may be injured in various 
ways. # 
(cZ) The Lungs.—l. The lung£ are situated in 
the chest, one on the right and the other on the left, 
with the heart between them. They are spongy and 
elastic, but not muscular, being composed mainly of 
small tubes and air-cells. They are of a grayish- 
rose color. No doubt you have seen the lungs, or 
“ lights,” of sheep, pigs, or cattle. These have given 62 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
you a better idea of the lungs than a written descrip- 
tion of them can. They have no power to move for 
themselves in breathing, but are pressed upon by the 
walls of the chest, moved by muscles. After the air 
has been forced out of thorn in this way, the chest is 
made to expand again, and the air rushes into the 
lungs by means of the air-tubes, and fills them. 
Explanation of 
Fig. 13. 
a, the left lung. 
h, the right lung. 
c, the -windpipe. 
d, the heart. 
e, the great artery- 
carrying hlood to 
the lungs. 
/, the great vein. 
g, the great artery 
carrying blood to 
the body. 
Fig. 13. 
2. The oxygen of the air passes through the thin 
walls of the air-cells and is absorbed into the blood. 
It mingles with the dark, impure blood, and changes 
it to a brilliant red. Carbonic gas and watery vapor 
come out from the blood through the same thin 
walls, and are cast out when next the air is breathed 
out. The work of the lungs, then, is to supply oxy- BREA THING. 
gen, which is necessary to life, and to remove waste 
matters that would destroy it. 
LESSON 11. 
THE AIR WE BREATHE. 
(a) Of what composed. —l. The air we breathe 
is composed mainly of two gases, oxygen and nitro- 
gen, there being about twenty-one parts of the 
former and seventy-nine of the latter. If the air 
consisted of oxygen alone, it would be too strong; 
and as nitrogen is a harmless gas, it serves to dilute 
the oxygen and make it fit to support life. 
2. Oxygen is necessary to both animal and vege- 
table life. Animals die when the air they breathe 
has lost much of its oxygen; and, without it, the 
warmth of our bodies could not be kept up. 
(5) Pure Air and Health. —l. Whether the 
blood shall carry life-giving oxygen to every part of 
our bodies, or whether it shall return to the lungs 
without absorbing the needed oxygen, will depend 
entirely upon the kind of air we breathe. 
2. So long as the blood continues to be properly 
purified, or aerated, as it is called, in the lungs, 
everything goes on well; but if the air breathed be 
impure, then uneasiness about the chest increases to 
distress, is followed by headache, and may end in 
fainting. If we breathe very foul air, the effect is 64 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
the same as by not breathing at all, only that in the 
first instance death would not be caused quite so 
rapidly as in the second. There are few persons 
who have not suffered, more or less severely, in hot, 
crowded rooms; and, in these cases, the foul air 
received into the lungs is the cause of the suffering. 
3. Whatever, then, deprives the lungs of pure 
air, sows the seeds of disease. Pure air aids in 
making pure blood; and pure, rich blood gives nour- 
ishment and strength to the entire body. But im- 
pure air air that contains but little oxygen and 
much carbonic gas and other foul matter makes 
the blood impure, starves it, and causes consumption 
or other diseases. 
(c) How Air becomes Unwholesome.— 1. We 
take into our lungs about twenty cubic inches of air 
at each breath; and air that has been in the lungs 
comes out charged with carbonic gas, and deprived 
of much of its oxygen. The air of a room, your 
school-room for instance, soon becomes impure be- 
cause so many persons have breathed it one or more 
times. The fire in the stove, or the lamps and gas 
lights, are all devouring the oxygen and giving off 
carbonic gas even more rapidly than your lungs do. 
2. Sometimes poisonous gases from sewers and 
cesspools find their way into our rooms through the 
drain-pipes; again, foul air arises from decaying 
vegetables in the cellar, from garbage and slops, if 
thrown near the house, or from stagnant pools of 
water. When filth from the streets or other source BREA THING. 
65 
is dried or pulverized, it finds its way into our apart- 
ments, and is kept circulating by our every move- 
ment. These are some of the ways in which the air 
of our living-rooms, sleeping-rooms, and schools may 
become unwholesome, and dangerous to health. We 
must learn to guard ourselves against this danger by 
careful attention to cleanliness, and by letting in the 
pure, fresh air. 
3. Too many people seem to think there is little 
occasion to raise windows, except to wash them or to 
close the blinds; and so the lungs and skin are dried 
and baked in the hot, dry, unwholesome air, and 
people breathe, over and over, the cast-off air from 
each other’s lungs. 
4. We should not fail to caution our boys and 
girls against the habit of sleeping with the head 
under the bed-clothes, in this way breathing the 
breath again and again. Such unwholesome air will, 
assuredly, cause them to grow pale, weak, and sick. 
Serious disease in children before healthy has been 
caused by this habit, and health returned when the 
habit stopped. 
Better a nightcap than head under clothes; 
For, surely, no such cap e’er covered the nose ! 66 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
LESSON 111. 
WHY WE BREATHE. —HOW TO BREATHE. 
Bad Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco. 
(a) Why we breathe. —l. While food is needed 
to supply our bodies with material, air is needed to 
supply the greater amount of oxygen to purify the 
blood and to kindle the slow fire that warms the 
body. 
2. The oxygen we breathe is carried to every part 
of the bod}'- in which blood circulates, and every- 
where unites with particles and burns them, causing 
warmth. The product of this burning is the same 
as that of oil burned in a lamp, viz., carbonic gas 
and watery vapor ; and these are sent out from the 
lungs. If a man is struck down by a blow, or a poi- 
son, or an apoplexy, so that he hardly breathes, his 
body becomes cold; the fire is almost extinguished. 
If he exercises, or has a fever, he breathes more 
rapidly than usual, and becomes heated; the fire is 
increased. 
3. We breathe, then, that our bodies may be 
warm, and that the gases from the fire that keeps us 
warm may be cast out from the blood; in short, that 
we may live. 
(d) How to breathe. —l. In breathing it is 
best to breathe through the nose. In this way the 
air passes over the warm lining inside the nose, 
and becomes heated before it goes into the lungs. BREA THING. 
67 
Air should not be breathed through the mouth, as a 
habit, because it does not become so well warmed 
in that way; and cold air taken into the lungs some- 
times causes colds, sore throat, and sore lungs. 
2. We should breathe sufficiently. That is, we 
should draw in sufficient air, at each breath, to fill 
the lungs and supply the air they need. If we do 
not take in enough air at each breath, we must 
breathe oftener, and this tires the muscles that move 
the lungs. Besides, the air is not held long enough in 
the lungs to do its work, to give up its oxygen, and 
to take up carbonic gas. 
3. We cannot breathe properly if we wear tight 
clothing about the chest and waist, nor if we stand, sit, 
or lie in bad positions. We should stand and sit 
upright, lie so that the lungs may be filled with 
air, and may not be pressed upon and cramped so 
that they cannot work. A healthy person, breathing 
quietly, fills his lungs about fifteen times per minute ; 
but from bad habits of dress or posture, many people, 
young and old, only partly fill their lungs at each of 
the twenty or twenty-five short breaths they take per 
minute. 
(c) Bad Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco. —- 
1. The effect of alcohol is to thicken the delicate 
lining of the cells of the lungs, and this makes it 
difficult for the oxygen of the breath to pass through 
it into the blood, and for waste matter to get out. 
A “ cold ” then becomes a very serious thing, and 
inflammation of the lungs is very hard to cure in those 68 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
who drink much liquor. Alcohol, then, interferes 
with the purifying of the blood. 
2. Tobacco-smoke irritates the lungs and does much 
harm. A physician says, “ I lost a young man seven- 
teen years of age, who died of lung consumption 
caused by smoking.” 
Cigarettes are more injurious than pipes or cigars. 
The poor tobacco of which most of them are made 
(sometimes soaked in opium) and the burning paper 
increase the bad effect. 
LESSON IV. 
VENTILATION AND HEATING. 
(a) What Ventilation is. —l. The long word 
ventilation comes from the Latin word ventus, which 
means air, or wind ; and to ventilate a room or place 
means simply to cause a change of air in it, or to 
cause the air to pass through it. When we can pro- 
duce this much-needed change by admitting pure air 
from out of doors, without dangerous draught, we 
have good ventilation. 
2. In the former lesson you were told how the air 
of our living-rooms, sleeping-rooms, school-rooms, 
etc., may become unwholesome and dangerous to 
health and life. Yet how often we are careless about 
the ventilation of these places I It is not only in the BREA THING. 
69 
small and crowded houses of the poor, but also in the 
more spacious houses of the rich that the same care- 
lessness is seen. 
3. Many people have so great dread of draughts 
and catching cold, that they scarcely ever open a win- 
dow ; and so, when we enter such houses, the air 
feels oppressive, smells musty and offensive, and 
sometimes turns us sick. Other people throw every 
door and window open, and the house is blown 
through and through by draughts of air. This, in- 
deed, makes the air pure and fresh ; but it is danger- 
ous to health if these cold currents blow upon those 
in the room; but we must have some way to change 
the air constantly, and thus keep it quite pure all the 
time. 
(6) Pure Air in Bed-Rooms, etc. —l. In any 
room that does not communicate freely with the 
outer air we soon consume much of the oxygen. The 
air in such a room is injurious to health, for with every 
breath we spoil half a barrel of air. 
2. We spend about one-third of our lives in sleep- 
ing-rooms, breathing the air of them, good or bad ; 
and some pass this large part of their lifetime in small 
bed-rooms with windows and doors closed, and without 
other arrangement to admit fresh air while they 
slumber. They arise in the morning feeling dull 
and unrefreshed, often without appetite for breakfast, 
and frequently with headache. Do you wonder that 
this is so ? It is of the utmost importance that fresh 
air be allowed to enter our sleeping-rooms, by night HEALTH LESSONS. 
as well as by day; and this can be managed so that 
we shall not take colds. 
(c) How to ventilate.— 1. Men have devised 
many plans to ventilate rooms. Sometimes these 
methods are costly, and for that reason are not used. 
How may we ventilate our rooms when they are not 
supplied with patent ventilating apparatus, and when 
we must depend upon window ventilation ? 
2. To admit fresh air into our rooms, one simple 
and good plan is to fit boards under the lower sashes 
of the window raised a few inches. Air will then 
enter upward between the two sashes, not causing a 
draught upon any in the room. Another good plan 
is to tack a piece of cloth, a few inches wide, across 
the lower part of the window frame, from side to 
side, and then raise the lower sash not quite as high 
as the upper edge of the cloth. Still another is to 
fix an upward-sloping board across the upper part of 
the window-frame, six or eight inches below the top, 
and then lower the upper sash a few inches, but not 
lower than the board. In all these ways, the in-flow- 
ing air is directed upward, and there is little or no 
danger from draught. Any clever boy can, in these 
simple ways, ventilate his bed-room, the sitting- 
room, or his school-room. 
(d~) Heating Rooms. —l. Rooms in which we 
sit, our sitting-rooms, school-rooms, churches, etc., 
should have a Warmth of 68° to 70°. Rooms in 
which we are required to move about or work should 
not be so warm. Often, through thoughtlessness, BREA THING. 
71 
rooms are allowed to become uncomfortably warm; 
and then, for instant relief, the windows and doors 
are thrown wide open, causing sudden and great 
reduction of the temperature, chill, and colds. This, 
too, may happen many times a day. An even 
warmth should be kept. The thermometer should 
be our guide in this, and it should be consulted 
frequently. If we keep our rooms too warm, we 
soon become very sensitive to cold air, and are chilled 
when we go outside, even though the air is not very 
cold. In this way children sometimes become so 
tender that their parents fear to allow them to leave 
the over-heated rooms, and they are thus deprived 
of health-giving exercise in the fresh, pure air. 
2. When stoves or furnaces are used, great care 
should be taken that gases from the burning coal do 
not escape into the rooms. As a rule, they should 
not be filled with fresh coal while the rooms are 
occupied. Again, the air of rooms, to be heathful, 
must contain a certain amount of moisture; and as 
stoves and furnaces cause the air to become very 
dry, some means of moistening it should be employed. 
A shallow pan of water placed on the stove or over 
the heat-register will, if properly heated, send out 
vapor and moisten the air. Sometimes these water- 
holders do not become heated, and then are of no 
use. 72 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
LESSON V. 
BUILDINGS.—LOCATION, CONSTRUCTION, LIGHT, ETC. 
(a) Where to build. —l. School-houses and our 
homes should be built on dry ground or on ground 
that is well drained. If the ground is such that a 
cellar would be damp, it is best to build on a founda- 
tion high enough above the level to permit air to 
move freely underneath. 
2. The ground should be made to slope in all 
directions from the house, so that water may run off 
instead of soaking in near the foundation and causing 
dampness. 
3. Buildings should not be closely surrounded by 
trees, or by other buildings, on the sides where there 
are windows. Houses covered by vines, whose win- 
dows are choked by shrubs, and whose roofs are 
overhung by branches of trees, will be damp. A 
free circulation of air should be allowed all about 
the house, and shade trees so placed as to leave 
openings for light and sun to enter. Too much sun- 
light may be prevented by blinds, outside or inside. 
The best light is usually obtained when the corners 
of the house point east, west, north, and south. 
Such facts should be kept in mind when you build 
houses, and when you plant trees and shrubs about 
them. Slops of no kind should be thrown near the 
building. BREA THING. 
(b~) Something about how to build. —l. The 
material used in building school-houses should be as 
good as that used in the best dwellings, and the size 
of the rooms should be governed by the number of 
pupils that must occupy them. Air or breathing- 
space must be considered as of first importance. 
The best authorities say that a room 88 by 23 feet, 
with ceiling 12 feet high, is suited to about 40 pupils, 
but not more. If the space for each pupil is less 
than 300 cubic feet, the danger to health and life is 
great, unless there is good ventilation. 
2. Windows should be placed 3f or 4 feet above 
the floor and extend nearly to the ceiling. It is best 
to have light enter above the level of pupils when 
seated. The ceiling should be white, that it may 
reflect the light downward; and the walls should be 
gray, or of a tint that will not cause a strong reflec- 
tion or glare. 
3. Light should not enter directly in front of 
where the pupils sit, and therefore the desks should 
not face the windows. The light should enter from 
the left, and so particular are the Germans about 
this, that they place windows on the left side of the 
room only. Eyesight is injured by exposing the eye 
to glaring light, and the sun should not shine directly 
upon the book or work. Blackboards situated be- 
tween window's receive the light very unfavorably, 
and should not be placed there, if it can be avoided. 
If placed between wdndows, the inner blinds should 
be arranged to shut out glaring light. In short, 74 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
there should be plenty of light in every part of the 
room, but no eye-injuring glare. We should all 
learn to be very careful in managing the light, for 
eyesight is too often injured, little by little, in our 
school-rooms. 
4. Outer doors should be wide and open outward. 
In case of fire or panic, this is very important. Tran- 
som windows over the doors are useful in ventilating, 
and should be provided with cords to open and close 
them easily. Stairs should be wide and of easy 
rise. Much stair-climbing is, for many, not good 
exercise. 
5. School desks should not be placed near a heat- 
register or stove, against the walls, nor facing the 
windows. A line dropped from the edge of the desk 
should just strike the edge of the seat, and each 
pupil should be able to place his feet upon the floor, 
or upon a foot-shelf. Proper posture, comfort, and 
health demand this. When too high or too low, 
desks are unfit for use. 
6. Outer garments, wet clothing, lunch-baskets, 
etc., should not be kept in the school-room. There 
should be a room for these, and pegs or hooks in 
plenty, so that the clothing may air and dry. This 
room should be well ventilated. A “wash-stand and 
basin, too, should be placed here, for there is nothing 
more vulgar than uncleanliness and untidiness. THE MUSCLES. 
LESSON I. 
WHAT MUSCLES ARE, ETC. 
(a) What Muscles are. —l. The muscles are the 
instruments of motion. While the body owes its gen- 
eral form to the bones, its power of motion and its 
beautiful proportions are given by the muscles. 
2. The muscles and tendons are to the human body 
what the ropes and sails are to the masts and spars 
of a ship. As a ship without sails and ropes would 
be a very unmanageable thing, so the body without 
muscles and tendons would have no power to move 
or direct its position. 
3. In the bones of the body we find the columns, 
levers, and pulleys of a complex machine; and in 
the muscles and tendons we have the cords, belts, or 
springs, which move the bony levers and pulleys. 
4. The muscles of an animal body are the lean 
meat. Lean beef, the deep-red flesh of the cow or ox, 
is the muscular part of the animal’s body. There 
are more than five hundred muscles in the human 
body. All muscles, have the power of contracting. 76 
HE AL TH LESS ONS. 
(h') Position. —l. The muscles are situated in 
all parts of the body. The great mass of flesh cover- 
ing the skeleton is mainly composed of them, while 
the organs situated in the cavities of the body are 
either muscles, or have muscles connected with them. 
Among the muscles situated within the framework 
are the heart, the diaphragm, the muscular coat of 
the stomach, and the tongue. 
(c) Construction. —l. The muscles are com- 
posed of fine fibres or strings held together by a 
connecting network of tissue, and bound up in 
smooth, silky casings. 
2. The muscles are laid one over the other, sepa- 
rated by layers of fat that enable them to move with- 
out interfering with each other. These layers of fat 
give a plumpness of form which the body would not 
otherwise have. 
3. In shape and in length, the muscles vary greatly. 
Some are round; others flat, square, or triangular. 
Some of the muscles of the larynx are only about 
one-eighth of an inch in length, while the sartorius, 
or “ tailor’s muscle,” by which the legs are crossed, 
is nearly three feet in length. 
4. Muscles are large and thick in the middle, but 
small at the ends. The middle part is called the 
body, or swell, and it possesses the power of contrac- 
tion. The extremity of a muscle attached to the 
bone which is moved is called the insertion, or free 
end of the muscle: the extremity towards which it 
draws in contraction is called the origin, or fixed end THE MUSCLES. 
77 
of the muscle. Generally the origin of a muscle is 
nearest the trunk. 
5. At the ends, the threads or fibres of the muscle 
change into strong, tough tendons, of a bluish-white 
color, which are firmly fastened to the bones. The 
tendons have no power of contraction, and are 
merely the ropes, as it were, by which the body of 
the muscle is fastened to the bone, or other part, 
which is moved by the contraction. 
6. At least one artery enters each muscle, and 
supplies it with blood for its nutrition. A nerve 
also penetrates each muscle, and connects it with 
that great central office of the nerves, the brain, so 
that it may be subject to the will. 
LESSON 11. 
(a) How Muscles contract.— 1. All movements 
of the different parts of the body are caused by the 
contraction of muscles. 
WHAT MUSCLES DO.— CLASSES. 
2. The muscles are elastic, something like India- 
rubber. Each fibre of the muscle has the power 
to widen out and become shorter and thicker. 
This is called the power of contraction. It is 
the cause of all bodily movements. The con- 
tracting muscle shortens and thickens, and pulls 
the movable part to which it is attached with 78 
HEALTH LESSONS.. 
it. A good illustration of this action is found in the 
work of the muscles that bend the arm. The biceps 
Explanation op 
Fig. 14. 
In this figure the 
hiceps muscle is 
shown at C, and the 
two tendons which 
attach it to the 
shoulder are seen 
at G-, the point of 
origin. 
Fig. 14. 
The attachment of 
the muscle to the 
radius is shown at 
A, the point of in- 
sertion. 
The Bones op the Upper Extremity and the 
Biceps and Triceps Muscles. 
The triceps muscle is represented at F, and the tendon hy which it is attached 
to the radius is shown at B. These two muscles are antagonistic muscles. 
muscle contracts, and pulls the bones of the lower 
arm upward, toward the shoulder: the triceps con- 
tracts, and pulls the bones of the lower arm back 
again, thus straightening the arm. If both of these 
muscles contract at the same instant, there can be no 
movement of the elbow-joint, and thus we see the 
antagonistic nature of these two muscles. There are 
muscles that bend a joint, or move any part, and 
muscles that restore the parts to their former position. 
Figs. 15 and 16 present front and back views of the 
fore-arm in which both kinds of these muscles are 
represented. 
3. More than two hundred muscles are arranged 
in pairs, one to draw a part in one direction, and the 
other to restore it to its former position, or to hold it Explanation of Fig. 15. 
f, the muscle that straight- 
ens the fingers. 
h, the muscle that straight- 
ens the little finger. 
i, the muscle that assists 
in straightening the wrist. 
l, the muscle that assists 
in extending the fore-arm. 
d, the muscle to extend 
the second bone of the 
thumb forward. 
e, the muscle to extend the 
fore-finger. 
Ic, the muscle to draw the 
little finger outward. 
m, the muscle to roll or 
turn the fore-arm, and turn 
the hand. 
g, the ligament which 
binds down the muscles at 
the wrist. 
Explanation op Fig. 16. 
a, the muscle to turn the 
hand inward. 
b, the muscle to bend the 
wrist. 
c, d, the muscles to bend 
the hand. 
e, the muscle to assist in 
bending the hand. 
g, the muscle to bend the 
thumb. 
Fig. 16. 
Fig. 15. 80 
HE AL TH LESS ONS. 
motionless at any required point in the range of its 
motion. These pairs are called antagonists. 
4. All muscles do not move bones and bend joints ; 
but some have quite different work to perform. The 
heart, which is a muscle, exerts its powers in forcing 
the blood through the arteries. The stomach and 
other muscles of the digestive organs exert their 
force in mixing, churning, and moving the food in 
preparing it for the nourishment of the body; and 
the muscles of the eye move that organ. 
5. In the human face, all the various expressions 
that indicate the emotions of the mind—joy, sorrow, 
hatred, affection, pleasure, and pain-—-are caused by 
the contraction and swelling of the muscles which 
produce the lights and shadows of the countenance. 
O. Strong bands of ligament bind down the mus- 
cles, keep them in place, and add to their strength. 
The muscles at the wrist and ankle are thus firmly 
held in place, and prevented from flying from the 
bones when strongly contracted. 
(h) Voluntary and Involuntary Muscles. —l. 
The voluntary muscles are those that are under the 
control of the will. They move, or cease to move, 
when the mind wills it. The muscles of the fingers, 
limbs, trunk, and many others, belong to this class. 
2. The involuntary muscles are those that act 
independently, and are not under the control of the 
will. The muscles of the stomach, heart, and those 
that move in sneezing, coughing, and shivering as 
from a chill, are among the muscles of this kind. Fig. 17. 
A closes the eye; B raises the eyebrows, and wrinkles the forehead; C raises 
the lower jaw; D closes the lips; E compresses the wings of the nose; F draws 
the corner of the mouth downward. Each muscle has a name given to it because 
of the work it perforins, its shape, or size. 
Explanation of Pig. 17. 82 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
(c) Why Muscles contract. —l. The muscles 
receive their power from the brain and nerves. 
Fig. 18. 
Explanation op Fig. 18. 
In this figure the muscles of the lower part of the leg and of the foot are 
represented. Those used in extending the toes, and bending the foot upward, 
are situated in front of the leg and upper part of the foot; while those that bend 
the foot downward, and bend the toes, are located at the back of the leg and 
on the sole of the foot. These muscles are attached to the toes by round, cord- 
like tendons, that may be plainly felt, and their form seen, when the toes are 
extended or drawn upward. 
a, the broad ligament that binds down the muscles at the ankle. 
2. When the mind wills to move a muscle, the 
brain sends out a mysterious agent through the nerves 
to each fibre of that muscle, and it contracts. This 
is all that is known of that strange power by which 
bodily movement is directed. 
3. If a nerve be cut anywhere between the spinal 
cord and the muscle to which it belongs, the muscle 
instantly loses its power of motion. THE MUSCLES. 
83 
LESSON 111. 
MUSCULAR EXERCISE AND HEALTH. 
(a) Exercise of the Muscles. —l. It is a general 
law of the body, that exercise is necessary to the 
health of all its parts. Tie up a blood-vessel, and 
it becomes a withered, useless thing. The bones 
become weak, and dwindle away, when deprived of 
exercise; and so it is with the muscles. Lack of 
proper exercise causes softness, weakness, and in- 
ability to perform the work for which they are de- 
signed. This is not only true of the muscles that 
bend the joints, and move the limbs, but also applies 
to those employed in breathing, and to the vocal 
muscles. 
2. Care must be taken that exercise be not too 
severe, nor continued so long as to produce exhaus- 
tion : muscle is weakened, rather than strengthened, 
by undue exertion. Six-day walking and skating 
matches are not the best way to improve health and 
strengthen the muscles. Such over-exertion has 
recently caused the death of some foolish young per- 
sons who took part in them. 
(b} Exercise aids the Circulation. —l. When 
a muscle contracts, some of the veins are compressed, 
so that the blood cannot flow freely onward, and 
the valves of the veins forbid a backward flow. The 
arteries continue to force the blood along, and the 
veins become swollen. As soon as the contraction 84 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
of the muscle ceases, the blood rushes onward with 
greatly increased speed. 
2. Now, when a number of muscles are employed 
in strong, quick action, many veins are affected in 
this way, and the whole circulation is quickened. 
The heart must work faster to send the blood to the 
lungs, and the lungs must work quicker to supply 
the oxygen required by the greater quantity of blood 
sent to them. The purified blood is carried back to 
the heart with greater speed. 
(c) Exercise aids Appetite and Digestion. 1. 
When the blood reaches the capillaries, the quick- 
ened flow causes them to do their work faster, and 
the worn-out matter is removed more quickly. The 
organs call for new material, and the stomach de- 
mands more food to supply new blood to the system. 
Thus it will be seen that muscular exercise gives 
vigor to every part of the body. 
(d) Hints about Exercise. —l. Exercise should 
he taken in pure air; it calls for a full supply of 
oxygen .to satisfy the increased demand. 
2. Exercise should not he taken just before nor soon 
after severe mental labor, nor immediately after a 
hearty meal. In this latter instance the stomach 
requires the blood which would thus be called away 
from it, and delay its work. 
3. Exercise taken during daylight is most beneficial. 
It has been found that people can endure labor with 
much less fatigue in the sunshine than in the shade 
or at night, the temperature being the same. THE MUSCLES. 
85 
4. Exercise should he of a kind that will employ the 
largest possible number of muscles. In order to do 
this, the body must take a great variety of positions, 
and be caused to perforin many different movements 
to distribute the exercise to all its muscles. 
5. Exercise should be taken regularly. It will do 
but little good to take exercise to-day and not again 
till next week or next month. And it should be 
gradual, increasing with the strength that it pro- 
duces. Sudden and extreme efforts, such as lifting 
heavyweights to exhibit strength, should be avoided, 
as they not only injure the muscles, but may rupture 
blood-vessels and the walls of the abdomen. Many 
people have had reason to sorely repent foolish 
attempts to show great strength. 
t). The mind should be pleasantly employed while 
we exercise the muscles. Exercise taken for the mere 
sake of exercise, or as an unpleasant task, fails to do 
great good. If the mind is pleasantly employed, the 
muscles will work long and actively without fatigue; 
but if the mind is gloomy or inactive, the muscles 
soon grow tired. You have already learned, from 
experience, how irksome any work is in which you 
are not interested and do not find pleasure. 
(e) Kinds of Exercise. —l. Walking is an excel- 
lent exercise to develop and strengthen the muscles 
of the lower part of the body. The trunk should be 
kept erect, the shoulders back, and the head up, in 
this way allowing full breathing. Shoes should be 
easy and broad enough to give the foot free play. 86 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
Many people are prevented from taking this kind of 
exercise because of the shoes that hurt the feet. 
2. Running being really a succession of slight 
leaps, is a more vigorous exercise than walking, and 
brings into play a larger number of muscles. When 
moderately practised it strengthens the power of the 
lungs. 
3. Swimming exercises a very large number of 
muscles of the limbs, chest, and abdomen. Probably 
no one form of exercise employs more of the muscles. 
When not indulged in too long or at an improper 
time, swimming is a most strengthening exercise. 
Besides, it is a safeguard to life. 
4. Roiving employs the muscles of the arms and 
back principally. Without care is taken, it may 
cause round shoulders and hollow chests. It is best 
to bring the trunk to an erect position when rowing 
is practised as a means to health. 
5. Gymnastics and the use of light dumb-bells 
bring into play a great variety of muscles. The latter- 
exercise the muscle of the trunk and arms, and de- 
velop the chest. Our girls as well as our boys should 
have proper exercise. And for the more especial 
object of strengthening the arms, muscles of the 
shoulders and the chest, and increasing its capacity, a 
pair of very light dumb-bells may be used, but never 
so long as to weary the arms. If dumb-bells are not 
to be had, a pound or two-pound weight in each hand, 
throwing them backward and forward, in the same 
way as the dumb-bells, will give the same exercise. THE MUSCLES. 
87 
6. In all forms of exercise the clothing should he 
sufficiently loose to permit free movement of the mus- 
cles, limbs, and body generally. Clothing which 
interferes with free movements should not be worn 
at any time. 
(e) Alcohol and the Muscles.—Alcohol benumbs 
the nerves, and then they cannot direct and control the 
muscles. Movements then become very uncertain. 
When a man has drunk much liquor, he staggers and 
reels because he cannot control his muscles. In course 
of time his nerves would be so much injured that they 
could not control his muscles very well, even when 
he was sober. He would tremble, and could not use 
his hands so exactly as he should. He would have 
to give up delicate work that requires a steady hand 
and nice touch. But alcohol does more than this. 
It weakens muscle by changing it into fat. Muscle 
then becomes soft, feeble, and easily torn. If it is a 
muscle in a blood-vessel of the brain, it may, and 
often does, break; then the blood pours out through 
the torn vessel, and causes death by apoplexy. 
It is often important to be able to make efforts 
for a long time without tiring out. The use of alco- 
hol and tobacco unfits the muscles for such endurance 
by causing disturbances that weaken them as well as 
other parts of the system. Athletes who are training 
for feats of strength and endurance are not allowed 
to use alcohol or tobacco. Use of these would cause 
failure. Boys who use tobacco lose activity and 
strength. THE BRAIN AND NERVES, 
LESSOR I. 
THE BRAIN AND ITS WORK. 
(a) Position.—l. The brain, the principal organ 
of intelligence, is situated, in the head, and is sur- 
rounded and protected by the bones of the skull. 
Fig. 19. 
Explanation of Fig. 19. 
This figure represents the left half of the hrain. CE, the cerebrum ; CER, 
the cerebellum; MO, the medulla oblongata; OP, optic nerve ; SC, spinal cord. THE BRA IN AND NERVES. 
89 
2. The brain is divided into two parts. That 
which occupies the cavity of the skull above the 
level of the ears is called the cerebrum, or great brain: 
the part which fills the cavity below the level of the 
ears, at the back of the head, is called the cerebellum, 
or little brain. A membrane, tightly stretched, sepa- 
rates the two parts, and relieves the lower brain from 
the weight and pressure of the upper one. 
(b) Construction. —l. When the bones are re- 
moved, a thick, shining membrane is seen. This is 
the firm coat of the brain, and its office is to assist in 
keeping the brain together, and to jwotect it. Beneath 
the outer coat lies the transparent coat, which is a 
very delicate, transparent membrane. It so much 
resembles a spider’s web, that it receives its name 
from that fact.1 This membrane lies over the surface 
of the brain. The third and inner coat is called the 
soft coat. It is a thin network of blood-vessels. 
2. The substance of the brain consists of two 
kinds of matter; viz., gray and white. The gray 
matter forms the outside of the brain, and the white 
the inner portions. So extremely soft is the sub- 
stance of the brain, that it would fall apart from its 
own weight if it were not surrounded by its mem- 
branes. The outer surface of the brain is not smooth 
and regular, but consists of worm-like ridges inter- 
spersed with hollows ; in other words, it is furrowed. 
(c) Work of the Brain. —l. The brain is the 
1 Arachnoides, “the spider’s web.” 90 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
seat of thought, of intelligence, of sensation, and of 
motion. It is there that we think, reason, and will. 
2. It is believed that the cerebrum is the chief 
organ of the mind, the thinking part. Various kinds 
of work have been attributed to the cerebellum. Ex- 
periments seem to prove, that, if the cerebellum be 
injured or removed, a confusion of movement of the 
muscles is caused, like that produced by alcoholic 
intoxication. It is believed, therefore, that this 
organ is the regulator of muscular motion. 
LESSOjV 11. 
THE NERVES AND THEIR OFFICE. 
(a) Location of tlie Nerves. —l. Verves spring 
from the brain and spinal cord, and extend to every 
part of the body. 
2. Certain nerves start from the base of the brain, 
within the skull, and extend to the eye, ear, tongue, 
nose, throat, stomach, heart, etc. These are named 
cranial nerves, because they begin in the cranium or 
skull. 
3. The. spinal cordy which is an extension of the 
substance of the brain, extends downward through 
the tube or canal of the backbone. Between the 
points of the bones of the spine, the spinal cord 
sends out branches, which are named spinal nerves. 
These extend to the arms, the chest, the abdomen, 
the legs, etc., and have various names. Fig. 20. 92 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
A, A, the cerebrum. 
B, B, the cerebellum. 
C, C, the union of the fibres of the 
cerebrum. 
D, D, the union of the fibres of the 
two sides of the cerebellum. 
E, E, the spinal cord. 
1, 1, the cranial nerves. 
2, 2, the branches of the spinal 
nerves that extend to the neck and 
organs of the chest. 
Explanation op Fig. 20.’ 
3, 3, the branches- of the spinal 
nerves that extend to the arms and 
fingers. 
4, 4, 4, 4, the dorsal nerves that ex- 
tend to the walls of the chest, back, 
loins, and abdomen. 
5, S, the lumbar nerves that also 
extend to the chest and abdomen. 
6, 6, the sacral nerves that unite, 
and form the great sciatic nerve of the 
legs. 
4. The nerves branch out from the spinal cord pre- 
cisely like the limbs and smaller branches of a tree. 
(5) Construction. —l. The nerves branch off in 
pairs from the brain and spinal marrow, through lit- 
tle openings in the bones. Twelve of these pairs 
spring directly from the brain, and thirty of them 
from the spinal cord, sending their branches and 
twigs to every muscle, blood-vessel, or other organ of 
the body. The nerves, although so widely distributed 
through the body, have a tendency toward the sur- 
face, and countless numbers of twigs, so small as to 
be invisible to the naked eye, terminate under the 
skin: hence the skin is the principal organ of touch. 
The brain, spinal cord, and nerves constitute the 
nervous system. 
Work. —l. The nervous system has distinct offi- 
ces to perform. While one portion (the brain) is 
engaged in thinking, and in receiving pleasant or 
painful sensations, or in sending out its commands to 
the body, another portion (the nerves) is engaged in 
conveying information and in carrying orders to the 
different organs. THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
2. The nerves are divided into two classes; viz., 
the sensory nerves and the motor nerves. The sen- 
sory nerves are connected with the organs of taste, 
smell, hearing, sight, and touch. They carry impres- 
Fig. 21. 
A, the nerve of sight connected with the eyeballs. 
3, the nerve of the muscle used to move the eyes. 
4, the nerve of the muscle which rolls the eye downward. 
5, the nerve whose three branches extend to the upper part of the face, 
to the upper jaw and teeth, to the lower jaw and teeth (this nerve is affected in 
toothache), to the tear-gland of the eye, and to the nose. 
O, the nerve of the tongue and of taste. 
P, a branch of the nerve of taste, going to the ear. 
Q, the nerve of the teeth of the under jaw, which finally comes out on the chin 
to supply the muscles of expression. 
7, the auditory nerve, being the nerve of hearing. 
Explanation op Fig. 21. 
sions to the mind of the effects produced upon them 
in these organs. The motor nerves are connected 
with the muscles. When the brain wills that a mus- 
cle shall move, a message with power is sent to that 94 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
muscle through its motor nerve, and it moves. Thus 
every muscle is moved by a nerve of motion, while 
beside it, in the same sheath, is the nerve of sensation. 
If the mind wills that a finger be placed on any- 
thing, the motor nerve moves the muscles of the fin- 
ger, and the sensory nerve instantly reports to the 
brain whether that thing is cold or hot, rough or 
smooth. So when we smell, taste, or see anything, 
or hear a sound, the nerves of sensation tell the brain 
whether it is sweet or sour, red or white, loud or low, 
etc. 
The nervous system is like a great telegraphic 
system. If a nerve or a wire be severed, communi- 
cation instantly ceases. 
LESSON 111. 
LAWS OF HEALTH OP THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
1. Healthful food, a clean skin, and daily exercise 
in the open, pure air, are, first of all, necessary, if we 
would have healthy brains and strong nerves. 
2. Have regular hours for work and for amuse- 
ment ; and let there be variety, else one set of nerves 
will be wearied by too much action, and another set 
be unemployed when they should have exercise. 
3. Loss of sleep weakens the brain and nerves. 
Take seven or eight hours sleep by night; and go to 
bed at the same hour, as a habit. When wearied by THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
95 
hard brain-work, by care, or sorrow, sleep as much as 
you can. Sleep is “tired Nature’s sweet restorer” ; 
and during it, the brain and nerves recover strength. 
The brain, when excited, as much needs rest as a 
broken limb or an inflamed eye; and sleep is one of 
the best cures for severe headache. Care should be 
taken that the pillow is not so soft that the head 
sinks into it and becomes overheated, as this may 
cause headache. 
4. Hard study at night before going to bed excites 
the brain and delays sleep. An hour’s study in the 
morning is worth two at night. 
5. In health the blood-vessels carry to every part 
of the body just the right amount of blood it needs 
to perforin its work. Some parts need more than 
others. The brain, for instance, which is filled with 
blood-vessels, needs more blood than other organs. 
There are nerves in the walls of the blood-vessels 
that cause them to expand enough to let the right 
amount of blood pass through them to the various 
organs and to contract enough to keep too much 
from passing through. 
(«) Alcohol and the Brain and Nerves. JL. 
Whenever beer, wine, cider, whiskey, or any drink 
containing alcohol is taken, the alcohol passes from 
the stomach into the blood, and quickly reaches the 
nerves in the walls of the blood-vessels. When alco- 
hol touches a nerve, or the brain substance, it dead- 
ens or paralyzes it. The nerves that control the 
flow of blood through the blood-vessels are quickly 96 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
paralyzed by even a small amount of alcoliol. This 
causes them to relax and to let the blood-vessels 
expand, and then the flow of blood is not rightly regu- 
lated. It is this sudden rushing of the blood into 
the blood-vessels of the skin that causes the feeling 
of warmth after an alcoholic drink is taken. But the 
body is no warmer, and soon grows colder, because 
more of the blood is spread out at one time over the 
surface of the body, where it cools more quickly than 
in the inward parts. 
2. While the lungs, liver, kidneys, and every part 
of the body suffer from this sudden rush of an un- 
natural supply of blood, the signs of disturbance are 
most quickly shown by the brain. The mind becomes 
excited, and thoughts and words come fast; but both 
are apt to be foolish and unreliable, because the judg- 
ment, the highest power of the mind, is unbalanced 
by the effect of the alcohol. A man, after taking a 
drink of alcoholic liquor, will say and do things that 
he would not allow himself to say or do when his 
brain is not disturbed by alcohol. 
3. The blood-vessels of the brain often become 
weakened by alcohol, and the pressure caused by the 
undue amount of blood may cause them to burst, and 
then death would be very sudden. The substance of 
the brain is greatly injured by alcohol, and is thus 
unfitted for its work. 
The brain is the seat of the will. As the brain 
becomes injured by alcohol the will is weakened. 
The nerves become unreliable, the memory fails, im- THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
97 
agination becomes dull, and reason feeble. The poor 
victim of drink descends closer and closer to the level 
of the lower animals. He loses control of him- 
self. He tries in vain to stop drinking, and will do 
almost anything to obtain liquor. His mind becomes 
weak, and he is careless about his good name. He 
neglects his business and loses his property. Alcohol 
often lets loose all the evil passions. It excites anger, 
and when it does not lead to this extreme it keeps 
the mind fretful and dissatisfied. Often it excites 
dishonesty and causes theft, and as frequently it 
leads to murder. Volumes might be filled with 
accounts of terrible deeds done by people whose 
brains have been injured by drinking. Only the 
other day a young lad shot down two innocent men 
while his brain was wild from drink. When the 
stomach becomes diseased, the brain inflamed, and 
the nerves injured by alcohol, drunkard’s craziness 
or delirium tremens sometimes sets in. One who 
has this disease cannot sleep. He trembles from 
head to foot and becomes wild. He imagines that 
snakes and other horrible creatures are about him. 
The delirium may continue till he sinks exhausted 
and dies. The drinker is not the only one who 
suffers from the evil effect of his drinks. His chil- 
dren often inherit weak nerves or a tendency to ner- 
vous diseases, such as epilepsy and insanity. The 
asylums for the insane contain thousands of the 
victims of alcohol. If we would have strength of 
mind to keep evil passions in check, we must endea- 98 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
vor to keep our bodies free from disease and our 
brains healthy. 
4. All should know that alcohol is a brain poison 
producing these sad effects upon mind and character, 
and that to use it is to be liable to any or all of the 
terrible consequences. No one can tamper with it 
and at the same time be certainly safe. Thousands 
of young men who thought themselves to be so strong 
of will as not to let alcohol deceive them if they drank 
a little beer, wine, brandy, or whiskey, have become 
drunkards. “ Those who think they will stand, and 
those whom others have thought would stand, have 
fallen by multitudes. He who would do himself no 
harm must not run such a risk.” As it is the nature 
of a little alcohol to create an appetite for more, there 
is a scientific connection between the first glass and 
the drunkard’s fate. 
(6) Opium and Tobacco. 1. In many of its 
effects opium is like alcohol. It injures the brain 
and nerves and destroys self-control. Those who 
are so foolish as to meddle with it soon become slaves 
to it, and are almost crazed when they cannot get 
their regular dose. Its effects are even worse than 
those of alcohol. 
2. Tobacco is also a brain poison. It injures the 
brain and weakens the nerves. When much used 
it causes a loss of memory. It makes many who use 
it peevish and dissatisfied when for any reason they 
are without it for a short time. Like the other nar- 
cotics, appetite for it grows stronger constantly, and THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
99 
the more the appetite is satisfied, the worse is the 
tobacco-user’s condition. 
3. Every teacher who has given the matter careful 
consideration has found that boys who smoke are 
uniformly the poorest pupils, the tobacco rendering 
them dull and stupid. 
Boys who use neither tobacco nor alcoholic liquors 
stand a better chance of securing good business posi- 
tions than those who do, for even the business men 
who use these things themselves have found that the 
boys who are free from such habits are most capable 
and trustworthy. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
THE EYE. 
LESSON I. 
THE EYE, AND HOW WE SEE. 
(a) Position.—The eye, the organ of sight, is sit- 
uated. in the upper part of the front of the skull, in 
hollows of the bones. It is surrounded, and pro- 
tected from blows and accidents, by the bones of the 
socket in which it is placed. 
(6) Construction. —l. The eyeball has three 
coats; viz., the outer coat, the middle coat, and the 
retina or inmost coat. These coats lie one within 
another, like the layers of an onion, and hold the eye 
in globular shape. 
2. The outer or hard coat, like the covering of the 
brain, is thick, strong, and not sensitive. It has an 
opening in front, in which the cornea is placed. This 
coat gives great security to the delicate portions of 
the eye, and affords attachment to the muscles. The 
middle coat is very fleecy and soft, and is filled with 
minute arteries and veins, which form a web about 
the eye. Fig. 22. 
Explanation or Fig. 22. 
To the outer surface of the sclerotic coat are attached six muscles. Four of 
these are called straight muscles, two of which roll the eye upward and down- 
ward : the other two give it a sidewise motion to the right and left. The 
remaining two are called oblique muscles, and serve to roll the eye inward and 
downward. 
1, the muscle which raises the upper 
lid. 
2, the superior oblique muscle. 
3, the pulley through which its ten- 
don plays. 
4, 5, 6, straight musclee. 
10, inferior oblique muscle. 
11, the optic nerve (nerve of sight). 
12, cut surface of cheek-bone. 
13, opening of the nose, or nasal 
orifice. 102 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
The retina (that is, a net') resembles ground glass 
in color, and is so very delicate that it cannot bear 
its own weight. It is really an extension and expan 
sion of the optic nerve. It receives the rays of light, 
and is the immediate seat of sight. 
3. The cornea (cornu, a horn) covers the front 
of the eye. In form and appearance it resembles a 
watch-crystal. It is composed of thin, transparent 
plates. 
4. The iris (that is, the rainbow) is that portion of 
the middle coat of the eye which lies back of the 
cornea. The coloring-matter of the eye is spread 
over its inner surface, black, blue, or brown, as the 
case may be. In the iris is a circular opening called 
the pupil of the eye. The iris has the power of 
expanding and contracting, and thus enlarges or 
diminishes the size of the pupil (pupilla, a little 
puppet). 
5. The crystalline lens, the “ magnifying glass ” of 
the eye, is found between the two humors, just back 
of the pupil. It resembles a circular glass button, 
convex on both sides. It is held in place by a deli- 
cate, transparent envelope, which connects it with 
the coate. It focuses the rays of light. 
6. The ivatery humor lies directly back of the 
cornea, and fills the front chamber of the eye. It is 
a perfectly clear, water-like fluid. It sustains the 
cornea, and keeps it always at the same distance 
from the pupil of the eye. The glassy humor occu- 
pies the back chamber of the eye. It consists of a THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
103 
substance like the uncooked “ white ” of an egg, 
which is transparent, and allows light to pass through 
it to the retina. 
7. The optic nerve springs from the brain, passes 
through a bony canal, enters the back of the eye, and 
branches off' through the globe. The small fibres of 
the nerve within the ball assume the form of a web, 
and constitute the retina. It is about three-fourths 
of an inch long, and somewhat larger than a straw. 
8. The lachrymal gland (lachryma, a tear), is a 
small sac in the upper and outer socket of the eye, 
just above the ball. It prepares the tears and con- 
stantly pours out enough of its contents, by pressure 
of the lids and rolling of the eye, to moisten the sur- 
face of the eye, and prevent shrivelling. The tears 
finally find their way to the inner corner of the eye, 
and there enter little openings (lachrymal canals), 
from which they flow into a bony tube (nasal canal), 
and thence into the nose, whose inner surface they 
moisten. 
nose, whose inner surface they 
Explanation op Fig. 23, 
a, the lachrymal, or tear-gland, 
lying beneath the upper eyelid. 
b, h, the situation of the openings 
through which the tears flow into 
the tubes that convey them into the 6 
nasal sack and duct. 
c, c, the tubes continued from the d 
openings. 
d, the nasal sack. 
e, the nasal duct, continued from 
the nasal sack. 
/, little canals that convey the 
tears to the eye from the gland. 
Fig. 23. 104 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
How we see.— 1. As yet, no one lias been able 
to explain precisely how or ivhy we see. 
2. We know that light is reflected from objects; 
that it enters the eye through the transparent cornea, 
passes through the aqueous humor, and enters the 
pupil; that it passes through the pupil, and reaches 
the crystalline lens, where its rays are bent from a 
direct course. After the rays reach the retina, a 
picture of the object is formed upon it, and the 
impression is conveyed by the optic nerve to the 
brain, where it is understood or seen, but how, we do 
not know. 
3. The iris expands and contracts independently 
of the will. When the quantity of light is too great, 
it contracts, diminishes the size of the hole in its 
centre, and shuts out some of the rays. When we 
leave a well-lighted room, and enter another where 
there is less light, the iris expands, and enlarges the 
pupil, in order to admit as many rays as possible. 
LESSON 11. 
CARE OF THE EYE.—ABUSE. DISEASE. 
(a) Care of the Eye. - 1. Care should be taken, 
in working or reading by lamp or gas light, that the 
rays do not strike the eye directly. The light should 
fall upon the work or the book, and not upon the 
eye. Allow the light to fall from above the level of 
the eye, or over the left shoulder, but do not face it. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
105 
2. The nerves and muscles of the eye become 
fatigued by long-continued work, and may become 
permanently iveakened by lack of rest. Care should 
be taken to give them a few minutes’ rest occasion- 
ally, when they are employed in reading fine print, 
sewing, etc. 
3. In all instances, try to have plenty of clear, 
steady light, especially when you read, write, draw, 
sew, or in any work that is “ trying to the eyes ” ; 
and give the eyes rest for a short time occasionally, 
by looking away from the work at more distant 
objects. Do not continue the work so long as to 
tire the eyes, as this weakens them, and will cause a 
loss of good eyesight. When the eyes are used so 
steadily that the sight begins to blur, the danger- 
point is more than reached. 
4. Avoid all glaring light. The sun should not 
shine directly upon your work; and, when you read, 
study, sew, etc., at night, use a shaded lamp. 
5. Close use of the eyes by twilight or in a dimly 
lighted room is very injurious. Fine work, and that 
upon dark surfaces, such as sewing dark or black 
cloth, etc., should be done by daylight. 
6. We should not engage in reading while walk- 
ing or riding. The eye and its muscles are strained 
in trying to follow the. unsteady print. We should 
not read when lying down, for the book cannot 
be held easily in proper position, and, in the endeavor 
to accommodate itself, the eye is overstrained and 
its muscles weakened. 106 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
7. In reading, many children hold the book nearer 
to the eyes than is necessary, or, by bending over 
their work, bring the eyes too near it. These habits 
injure the eyes, and, if they are not already near- 
sighted, may cause them to become so. 
(h) Near-sightedness. —l. Near-sightedness is a 
very common disorder of the eye; and you would 
be surprised to know how many children, in every 
school, are more or less near-sighted. Much of it is 
caused, doubtless, by using the eyes in deficient light, 
and bending the head over, so as to bring the eyes 
close to objects, as in reading, writing, etc. 
2. Great care should be taken in our schools, 
both by pupils and teachers, to secure good light, 
and to avoid whatever may cause near-sightedness. 
While concave glasses relieve this disorder, proper 
care may avoid it altogether. 
(<?) Far-sightedness.— People who are far-sighted 
cannot see near objects distinctly. In reading, they 
hold a book at arm’s length in the effort to see dis- 
tinctly. Far-sighted children may acquire a squint 
in trying to see things near by. Convex glasses give 
help in this disorder of the eyes. 
(d) Color-blindness. People who are “ color- 
blind ” are unable to distinguish the difference 
between certain colors. Red and green are the two 
colors which the color-blind are least able to distin- 
guish. Seeing a plant at a distance, they cannot 
detect the difference between the red flower and the 
green leaves; or, seeing two colored lights, one red THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
107 
and the other green, they cannot tell which is red or 
which green. Children should be taught early to 
attend to colors, as this sense may be improved by 
training. 
(e) The Use and Selection of Glasses. —l. 
Many people think that the use of glasses, when 
really needed, can be safely postponed. This is an 
error. For near-sighted children to keep up their 
school-work without the aid of proper glasses is to 
make them more near-sighted, and also to increase 
the danger of other diseases of the eye. People are 
often misled by the belief that defects of sight can 
be corrected without the use of glasses ; and they 
try so-called “cures” that do much harm. Many 
defects cannot be cured, but only relieved; and the 
good effects of the use of proper glasses in near-sight 
and far-sight cannot be overestimated. 
2. Caution should be used in selecting glasses. 
The selection of proper glasses should be entrusted 
only to those who, by study and experience, have 
learned how to safely correct poor eyesight by the 
use of glasses. It is unwise and dangerous to entrust 
the selection to travelling pedlers and quack doctors, 
who do not understand our defects of sight; and it 
is just as unwise to think that we can, unaided, 
make a proper choice. Glasses must be accurate in 
their measurements and curves, be properly framed, 
and free from imperfections. Many of the glasses 
commonly sold are unfit for use. Glasses that do 
not give complete ease and relief to the eyes are an 108 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
injury and not a benefit. But, when good glasses 
should be worn, wear them, for your eyesight is of 
much more importance than mere “ looks.” 
(/) Size of Type and Tint of Paper. —l. The 
size of the type in books should be such that young 
children need never hold a book nearer than ten 
inches, and adults never farther than eighteen inches, 
from the eyes. As soon as perfectly distinct sight 
cannot be obtained and maintained at these distances, 
glasses should be used. The finer the type the closer 
the book has to be brought to the eyes, and in this 
way the eye and its muscles are strained. The long- 
continued use of the eyes upon objects brought close 
to them is one of the most fertile causes of near- 
sightedness. Again, too coarse print with a wide 
page requires undue exertion of the muscles that 
move the eye from side to side, and is apt to cause 
confusion in finding the next succeeding line, thus 
proving wearisome to the eye. 
2. The tint of the paper has an influence upon 
the ease with which we see in reading. It is impor- 
tant that there be no dazzling glare of the page, and 
for this reason pure white paper, such as is commonly 
used, or paper that has a gloss and bluish tinge, should 
not be employed. It has been found that a very 
light yellow tinge, like that of unbleached muslin, is 
best for the eyes. 
(y) Diseases of the Eyes, etc. —l. Whenever 
your eyes become diseased, have them treated im- 
mediately by your doctor or by an oculist whom he THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
109 
recommends. Never tamper with home-made cures, 
for the eye is too delicate and precious to be trifled 
with by unskilful persons. 
2. In diseases of the eye in which matter forms, 
care should he taken to prevent matter from the dis- 
eased eye from getting into the well one. All articles 
used in cleansing the eyes should he destroyed by 
burning, particularly the cloths and sponges. Towels 
and handkerchiefs used in case of sore eyes should 
not be washed with other articles, and it is danger- 
ous to use the same towel or basin used by one who 
has sore eyes. 
3. Cinders, or other small atoms, may be safely 
and easily removed from the eye by a small camel’s- 
hair brush dipped in water and passed over the eye- 
ball, on raising the lid. When lime gets into the 
eye, very serious injury may be prevented by at once 
bathing the eye with a little Aveak vinegar and Avater, 
which must be applied to the eyeball itself, betAveen 
the lids, and any little particle of lime be carefully 
removed Avith a feather or camel’s-hair brush. 
(h) Tobacco-Smoking-. —l. Smoking sometimes 
causes dilation of the pupil of the eye, confusion of 
sight, bright lines, cobweb specks, etc. (.Richardson.) 
The smoking of cigarettes is especially harmful. 
More of the hot smoke finds its way into the air- 
passages, and more of the acids and alkalies come in 
contact Avith the delicate linings of these and of the 
mouth, and enter the blood, than in pipe or cigar 
smoking. 110 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
2. Oculists are of the opinion that the greatest 
enemy to the eyes of boys and young men is the 
cigarette. There exists a disease among smokers 
which is dangerous, and which for a long time was 
not understood. This peculiar disease of the eyes of 
smokers has been traced to the paper-covered cigar- 
ettes. It is now known as the “ cigarette eye,” and 
requires for its cure a very long and careful treat- 
ment. The symptoms of this disease are dimness and 
a film-like gathering over the eye, which appear and 
disappears at intervals. Not all cigarette-smokers 
will necessarily have this trouble, but doubtless the 
eyes of all of them will be more or less affected. 
3. Cigarettes are believed to have a worse effect 
upon the nerves than cigars. Many of them are 
made from refuse tobacco and from cigar stumps, 
which contain more nicotine than other tobacco. 
Many boys are not only injuring their eyesight, but 
are destroying their nerves, poisoning their blood, 
weakening their hearts, making their minds stupid, 
their bodies puny, and shortening their lives by using 
tobacco. Deaths caused by cigarette-smoking are 
reported frequently by physicians, and there are 
undoubtedly many more deaths from this cause that 
are not made publicly known. 
4. It is generally known that as both tobacco and 
alcohol are injurious to the nerves, they are harmful 
to all the senses, that touch, taste, hearing, smell- 
ing, and sight are, one or all, more or less impaired 
by them. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
(c) Tobacco leads to Alcohol. 1. It is rare to 
find a drinker of liquor who does not use tobacco. 
In almost every instance the tobacco habit was formed 
first. It deranged the nerves and caused thirst, which 
suggested the use of alcohol. Thus do these two 
evil habits go together to. work mischief. By avoid- 
ing the use of tobacco you may escape the temptation 
to drink liquor. 112 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
THE EAR 
LESSON 111. 
THE EAR, AND HOW WE HEAR, 
Fig. 24. 
«, the external ear. 
b, the canals of the labyrinth. 
c, the auditory canal, 
e, the anvil-bone. 
/, the cochlea. 
Explanation of Fig. 24. 
g, the “ drum-head.” 
le, the middle ear {tympanum), in 
which the little bones are placed. 
i, the Eustachian tube. 
(a) Location.— The ear, the organ of hearing, 
consists of three parts; viz., the external ear, the, 
middle ear, and the internal ear. The external ear 
is on the outside of the head, and the middle and 
internal portions are in the bones, at the base of the 
skull. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
(7>) Construction. —l. The external ear is a thin, 
elastic cartilage, concave on one surface, and convex 
on the other. Its concave surface consists of grooves 
which finally form one large basin at the entrance of 
the opening into the head. From the opening, a 
passage or tube, called the auditory canal, extends to 
the middle ear, or drum. This canal is about an inch 
in length, and its inner end is closed by a thin, 
tightly drawn membrane, sometimes called the “ drum- 
head.” 
2. The middle ear (tympanum), or drum, is a 
small cavity which is separated from the auditory 
canal. The air within the drum communicates with 
the outside air by a passage called the Eustachian 
tube, which leads to the back part of the throat. 
Within the drum is a collection of four small bones, 
one joined to the extremity of another. From their 
shape, they have been named the mallet, the anvil, 
the stirrup, the round hone. Fig. 25 
represents these bones in their natural 
size, excepting the last one, which is 
magnified. 
3. The internal ear, or labyrinth, con- 
sists of winding passages in the solid bone. The 
auditory nerve is spread over these passages like a 
lining, and they are tilled with a watery liquid. One 
of these winding passages is named the cochlea, or 
snail-shell. 
fig. 25. 
(c) How we hear. —l. All things which pro- 
duce sound vibrate in doing so, and communicate 114 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
these quiverings to the air around them. The waves 
of air reach the external ear, which, like a funnel, re- 
ceives as many of them as it can, and causes them to 
flow along its channels into the auditory canal. 
2. The air-waves beat upon the membrane of the 
drum, and cause it to vibrate just as the head of an 
ordinary drum does when it is struck. The vibra- 
tions of the membrane cause the air within the drum 
to vibrate, and to set the little bones to vibrating and 
swinging, at the same rate. All these shakes and 
vibrations produce similar ones in the watery liquid 
in the labyrinth, and these produce some kind of an 
impression on the nerve of hearing, which lines the 
inner ear. This nerve carries the sensation to the 
brain, which recognizes it, we know not how, as a 
sound, and we hear. 
LESSON IY. 
CARE OF THE EAR.— INJURY TO HEARING. 
1. Draughts of air from open windows, especially 
when riding in swift-moving cars, may chill the ear 
and cause inflammation and earache. 
2. In bathing in cold water, care should be taken 
not to allow the water to enter the ears, as it chills 
and injures the sensitive membrane. Again, the 
weight and pressure of the water upon the drum- 
head injures it. If water gets into the ears, care 
should be taken to remove it, and this may be done THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
115 
by holding the head over, sidewise, and then hopping 
on the foot on the same side, if necessary. 
3. Diving from a height without having the ears 
plugged, to prevent the sudden entrance and shock 
of the water, may cause deafness. 
4. Blows upon the ears—boxing the ears with 
the hand or with a book, etc. cause concussion 
that injures the internal ear, and may cause the loss 
of hearing. The ears are not intended to be boxed. 
It would be as wise to poke one’s finger into an eye, 
to inflict punishment, as to strike a blow upon the 
ear. 
5. The firing of cannon and other loud sounds 
made close to the ear may cause lasting deafness. 
Gunners open their mouths, and in this way relieve 
the ears from shock that would otherwise injure 
them. The dangerous trick of clashing stones 
together while bathing with the head under water 
causes an almost deafening sound, injures the ear, 
and impairs the hearing. 
6. The smoking of tobacco, and the habit of breath- 
ing through the mouth, both injure the ear and hear- 
ing by making the delicate mucous lining of the air- 
passage leading into the ear from the back chamber 
of the mouth dry. 
7. Ear-wax keeps the lining of the tube of the ear 
soft and pliable. AVhen it becomes dry, the wax 
usually falls out in the form of thin flakes or scales. 
Sometimes it forms in hard lumps, stops the opening, 
and interferes with hearing. It may then be re- 116 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
moved by gently syringing the ear with warm water, 
but never by scraping the ear with pin-heads, pen- 
holders, match-ends, ear-picks, etc. These scraping 
things injure the lining, and may rupture the drum- 
head and cause deafness. Besides, instead of re- 
moving the wax, they sometimes pack it against the 
drum, and thus injure hearing. 
8. If an insect gets into the ear, it may be killed 
by pouring in a few drops of sweet oil, and then 
removed by gently syringing the ear with warm 
water. If this does not remove the insect, do not 
probe the ear, but go to your doctor, and let him 
remove the intruder. 
9. Children sometimes poke peas or beans into 
their ears. In this case no syringing with water or 
any other liquid should be resorted to, as it would 
cause the pea or bean to swell and become firmly 
lodged. Dry heat alone must be employed. The 
doctor should be sought immediately. If, however, 
a hard body, such as a button or bead, be pushed 
into the ear, syringing may bring it out. The head 
should be laid over so that the ear in which the 
button or bead is be undermost, and in this position 
the water may be thrown up; but the nozzle of the 
syringe must not enter the ear, for it may prevent 
the article from dropping out. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
117 
THE SKIN 
LESSON Y. 
THE SKIN.—SENSE OP TOUCH. 
(u) Location. The skin is the outer covering, 
or envelope, of the body. 
(b) Structure. —l. The skin consists of two 
layers, viz.* the outer, or scarf skin, and the inner, 
or true skin. 
2. The scarf skin consists of layers of flat, trans- 
parent scales, which are constantly being cast off 
and renewed. The dandruff of the head, and the 
white scurf that deposits itself on the clothing, are 
portions of the worn-out scarf skin. This part of 
the skin has neither nerves nor blood-vessels, and, 
when cut or punctured, suffers no pain. It is very 
thick over those parts of the body that are exposed 
to friction in working. This is especially true of 
the palm of the hand and sole of the foot. 
3. The true skin is a dense, thick membrane, con- 
sisting of strong fibres that are arranged like those 
of felt cloth. This part of the skin is filled with 
small blood-vessels, which give it a bright-pink color. 
Besides the blood-vessels, the true skin contains 
■nerves, lymphatic-tubes, oil-tubes, and perspiration- 
tubes. 
4. The arteries, veins, and capillaries branch out 
all over the skin in a fine network. The nerves are 
so numerous that a needle cannot pierce the skin 118 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
without touching one of them. The lymphatics are 
little tubes which open outwardly, on the under sur- 
face of the scarf skin, while inwardly they connect 
with the veins. The oil-tubes are very abundant. 
Their mouths open upon the outer surface of the 
skin, and may be plainly seen at the edges of the 
eyelids and about the nose. 
(<?} Work of the Skin. —l. The skin, being 
tough and elastic, protects the tender flesh from 
injury. It also serves as an outlet for much of the 
worn-out or waste matter of the body, some of 
which is carbonic acid, some of an oily nature, and 
much of it perspiration. 
2. The perspiration-tubes gather up, from the cap- 
illaries, waste matter in the form of water, salts, 
acids, etc., and carry it to the surface of the skin. 
The little mouths of these tubes are so numerous, 
that more than three thousand of them have been 
counted in one square inch of the skin. The work 
of these tubes goes on constantly. When their 
action is much hastened, they pour out the perspi- 
ration in so large a quantity that it may be seen 
on the skin, and this is called sensible perspiration. 
When the tubes do not discharge so rapidly as to 
cause the fluid to be seen on the skin, it is called 
insensible perspiration. 
3. The oil-tubes carry an oily substance from 
the blood, which, passing out over the surface 
of the skin, keeps it from becoming hard and 
dry, and also affords a natural oil, or dressing, for THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
119 
the hair. The mouths of these little tubes, upon the 
forehead and about the nose, are liable to become 
closed with hardened sebaceous matter, which ap- 
pears as small, black dots, improperly called “ skin- 
worms.” 
4. The lymphatics absorb certain substances with 
which the skin may come in contact, carrying them 
into the blood-vessels. It is known that the body 
absorbs water through the skin, and that many drugs 
when applied to tender parts of the skin produce the 
same effects as when taken into the stomach. 
5. The nails and hair are outgrowths from the 
skin. The nails protect the ends of the fingers, ena- 
ble us to pick up small objects, and assist the sense 
of touch. The hair of the head protects the brain 
from extremes of heat and cold; the eyebrows pre- 
vent perspiration from running into the eyes j the 
eyelashes, and hairs of the nose and ears, are a pro- 
tection from dust, insects, etc. 
6. The coloring-matter is spread over the true skin, 
and this gives the variety of complexion noticed in 
different people and in the various races of men. 
7. The skin regulates the warmth of our bodies. 
When from any cause the body becomes too warm, 
the pores of the skin open wider, and the blood flows 
more freely to the surface of the body. The sweat 
immediately appears, and the loss of heat caused by 
its change into vapor cools the skin and the blood 
that flows through it; and thus the warmth of the 
body is kept from becoming too great. But when 120 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
the body is exposed to cold, the pores of the skin 
close, and the perspiration does not pass off so freely. 
The skin remains dry, and this helps to keep the 
body as warm as it should be. 
8. The sense of touch belongs particularly to the 
skin. Many portions of our bodies are quite insen- 
sible to touch, and, except when diseased, are nearly 
destitute of feeling, having but few nerves. The 
skin is not everywhere equally sensitive to the touch. 
The tips of the fingers have a very large number of 
nerves, and for this reason they are especially em- 
ployed in finding out whether things are rough or 
smooth, hot or cold, and in aiding the eyes to form 
correct impressions of the size and shape of objects. 
9. The sense of touch is very keen in the blind, 
and they become accustomed to obtain much of their 
knowledge of the outside world by it. Very recentty 
a lad fifteen years of age, and blind from birth, had 
an operation performed on his eyes, and received 
sight. At first his sight was of no use to him, for he 
could not recognize the most familiar objects until 
he could touch them. He did not know a key from 
a book by the sense of sight alone, until he became 
familiar with the difference by both seeing and touch- 
ing them. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
121 
LESSON YI. 
THE SKIN AND HEALTH. BATHING. 
(a) Closed Pores cause Disease 1. Learned 
men, by curious experiments, have found that the 
skin casts out more waste matter from the body, than 
any of the other organs. If, then, the skin has its 
perspiration-tubes closed up by chill, or by allowing 
them to become varnished over by the matter which 
they carry out from the blood, the poisonous particles 
that should be thrown out by them must be cast out 
either by the lungs, kidneys, or bowels. 
2. When these organs are strong and healthy, 
they may bear this extra labor for a time, without 
being greatly injured; and still they become, little 
by little, weakened by this extra task. If the lungs, 
kidneys, or bowels are not very strong, they will 
be unable to take up and empty out all of this im- 
pure matter from the blood. The air-vessels of the 
lungs may become clogged and inflamed by it, or it 
may cause inflammation of the bowels and kidneys. 
We have learned that the skin regulates the warmth 
of the body. If the pores become closed, the heat of 
the body will be much increased, and we shall have 
“fever.” If we would have good health, we must 
keep the skin clean and its pores open by proper 
bathing, clothing, and warmth. 
(b) Bathing-. —l. In summer time or warm 
weather, bathing, as a means of cleansing the skin, 
should be practised two or three times a week, or 122 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
oftener. It is not best to bathe before breakfast, or 
3list before or just after a hearty meal, nor when tired 
and overheated. About midway between meals, or 
before going to bed, is a suitable time for most 
persons. 
2. Bathing should not be indulged or persisted in 
carelessly, for it may do great mischief. If the bather 
does not feel a glow of warmth after leaving the 
water, or if he has a headache, or feels languid or 
chilly, then he may be sure the bath has been taken 
at an improper time or in an improper way, and that 
it has not done him good. 
3. Care should be taken in regard to the tempera- 
ture of the water in which we bathe. Hot-water 
baths, while more cleansing than cold water, are 
more weakening. Once a week is often enough to 
use a hot basi for cleanliness. It should be borne 
in mind, that on leaving a warm bath, one should not 
expose himself to a current of cold air, which, by 
checking the action of the perspiration-tubes and 
closing the pores, will cause “ cold,” or inflammation. 
4b. “A ‘cold bath’ is not necessarily a bath in 
water of the temperature of the air. A bath is really 
cold when it causes a slight, momentary shock, 
followed by a pleasant return of warmth. This 
effect for most people is obtained by bathing in 
water of about 65° or 70° warmth. Bearing this in 
mind, we can enjoy our ‘cold’ bath as safely and 
pleasantly at Christmas as at midsummer, and there 
is no occasion for the most timid or weakly to give THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
123 
up liis bath because the summer weather is over. 
When the water is colder than 60°, let it be heated 
to about that degree, and we shall still have our cold 
bath. To bathe in unwarmed water, all the year 
round, whatever the temperature of the water may 
be, is uncalled for and unwise.” 
5. Whatever the kind of bath, the body should be 
rubbed with a hard towel till a gentle glow is felt, 
and then polished with a brush. This will soon not 
only be easily borne, but will afford pleasure. 
Sponging the chest and arms on arising is a very 
good substitute for a bath. 
O. Soap may be used to assist in removing oily 
matter from the skin, but care must be taken not to 
use very strong soap, in which there is much alkali, 
lest it remove the oil so completely as to leave the skin 
too dry, in which case it would become chapped and 
rough. Finally, the bath should not be indulged too 
long. Young people sometimes remain in the water 
'from half an hour to an hour. This is injurious. 
Ten to fifteen minutes is long enough to secure all 
the good from a bath. 
LESSON VII. 
CLOTHING AND HEALTH. 
(a) Quantity of Clothing. —l. The object of 
clothing, in its relation to health, is to protect the 
body from too sudden change of temperature, and to 124 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
aid the skin in regulating the warmth of the body. 
We may wear clothing that keeps the body too warm 
and causes the perspiration to flow too freely. This 
causes the skin to become very sensitive to slight 
changes in the temperature of the air. Again, we 
may be too thinly clothed, and thus permit the 
warmth of our bodies to pass out too freely, causing a 
chill and closing the pores of the skin. We should 
try to avoid both of these extremes. 
2. There can be no exact rule given for the quan- 
tity of clothing. It must be regulated to suit our 
habits, health, and exposure, and should be sufficient 
to keep the body comfortably warm. It is best that 
the amount worn should vary with the weather, and 
be increased or diminished with the temperature of 
the air. 
3. When the appetite for food becomes poor and 
we eat but little, or when the food is not good and 
nourishing, the lire within the body burns low. We 
then need more clothing and more warmth from the 
outside. It is neither cheap nor health-giving to* eat 
poor food. When poorly fed and poorly clothed, the 
bodjr becomes weak and unhealthy. Well-clothed 
people require less food in cold weather than those 
thinly dressed. 
4. Those who always clothe themselves heavily 
retain, in part, their summer constitution through 
the winter. They are tender when cold weather 
comes, and cannot bear what others do without suf- 
fering. Many children wear heavy coats, tippets THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
125 
about the neck, and often forget to remove them 
while in the warm school-room. As soon as they go 
out of doors, the neck becomes chilled. In this way 
tippets have caused more sore throats than they have 
prevented. Never wear a tippet tv Idle in doors; and 
it is generally best not to wear one unless it is very 
cold. 
(h} Qualities of Clothing-. 1. Woolen clothes, 
being coarse and porous, detain within their meshes 
considerable quantities of air, and this causes them 
to conduct heat slowly. They are the kind best 
adapted to prevent the heat of the body from escap- 
ing rapidly, and are best suited to cold weather. 
2. Cotton clothing is a better conductor of heat 
than woolen, and is therefore not so warm. Cotton 
does not absorb moisture from the body as rapidly 
as linen does, nor so slowly as wool does. It is bet- 
ter than linen for under-garments, because it is desir- 
able to prevent the too sudden cooling of the body 
by rapid evaporation of the perspiration. 
3. Linen clothing is a rapid conductor of heat. It 
also quickly absorbs perspiration, and allows it to 
evaporate freely. In this way, its cooling effect is 
very rapid; and while it cools the body, it does not 
properly protect it from sudden chill or change of 
the temperature of the air. It should never be 
worn next the skin. 
(c) Care of Clothing-, and Cleanliness. —l. All 
clothing should he kept clean. Under-clothing, espe- 
cially, absorbs perspiration, and becomes filled with 126 
HEALTH LESSOXS. 
the waste from the skin. Some of this matter may 
be absorbed and carried back into the blood, or at 
least prevent air from passing as freely through the 
clothing as it should. A neglect to change clothing 
frequently is not only a filthy habit, but is one cause 
of disease. 
2. There should he an entire change of clothing on 
going to bed. The clothing worn during the day 
should be allowed to air and dry, and be well shaken 
before being put on again. 
3. The night-clothing and the bed-clothes and beds 
should be thoroughly aired every day. If this is not 
attended to, they will remain damp from the moisture 
they absorb, and will cause chill when next used. 
Besides, the night-clothing as well as the day-cloth- 
ing becomes charged with impurities from the body, 
and may become a source of disease. 
4. Wet clothing should be changed immediately. It 
chills the skin and thus prevents the perspiration 
tubes from performing their work. When the gar- 
ments cannot be changed at once, the person should 
not sit still and shiver, but should exercise moder- 
ately, and in this way keep up the warmth of the 
body. Children frequently come to school in stormy 
weather, and sit with wet clothing and wet feet. 
This should be prevented. 
5. Sudden change from thick to thin clothing is 
dangerous. It is far better to make the change grad- 
ually, allowing the body to become accustomed to it. THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
127 
TASTE AND SMELL. 
LESSON TUI. 
TASTE AND SMELL.— NARCOTICS. 
(«) The Tongue. —l. The tongue, the organ of 
taste, consists of muscles, some of which attach it to 
a bone at its root, to the lower jaw, etc. The 
fibres of its muscles interlace so curiously that it is 
capable of a great variety of motion. It can raise or 
lower itself, shrink or expand, narrow its end to a 
point, bring its sides together so as to form a tube or 
canal, or carry its tip to any part of the mouth in 
which food may become lodged. 
2. The tongue has three large nerves, one of 
which gives it motion, and the other two are the sen- 
sitive nerves of taste. The mucous membrane which 
covers the tongue is raised into great numbers of lit- 
tle points, and to these go the fine threads of the 
nerves of taste. When substances which dissolve 
more or less are placed on the tongue, they cause a 
peculiar effect, each in its own way. The sensation 
is carried by the nerves to the brain, and is known 
by it as taste, sweet, sour,, bitter, salt, pleasant or 
disagreeable. Food and drink must remain in the 
mouth for a certain time in order that their full fla- 
vor may be known. For this reason people keep 
pleasant-tasting things in their mouths awhile before 
swallowing them ; but when disagreeable medicine is 
taken, how quickly they try to have it pass over the 128 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
tongue and escape the nerves of taste, lest they re- 
port unpleasant news of it 1 
(5) The Nose. —l. The sense of smell is located 
in the delicate lining (mucous membrane) of the 
upper portion of the air-passages of the nose. This 
portion of the lining contains a fine network of 
branches of the nerve of smell. The ends of these 
little nerves extend directly to the surface of the lin- 
ing, so that the particles of the substances we smell 
may come in very close contact with them. 
2. Substances that can be smelled give off atoms 
so very small that they cannot be weighed or meas- 
ured. These little particles are breathed in with the 
air in which they float, and come in contact with the 
fine nerve-ends, and produce an effect upon them. 
The nerve of smell then conveys the impression to 
the brain, and there it becomes known as an odor or 
smell. 
(<?} Uses of Taste and Smell. —l. The senses of 
taste and smell are our chief guides in choosing food. 
They are very closely related, and the sense of taste 
is greatly aided by the sense of smell. When for 
any reason the sense of smell becomes blunted, taste 
becomes less delicate and keen. They are twin 
senses, and most things that are disagreeable to one 
are so to both. 
2. The sense of taste gives us a pleasure which 
we would not have without it in taking food. It 
becomes educated to warn us against swallowing 
many substances which would do great injury or THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
129 
cause death if taken into the stomach. If the milk 
or the bread is spoiled and sour, the egg stale, etc., 
taste and smell give us the needed caution. 
3. The sense of smell gives us information, which 
we cannot obtain by any other sense, about sub- 
stances in the form of vapors or gases. This sense 
stands as a sentinel on guard, and examines all the 
in-coming air breathed by the nose. It warns us 
instantly of the presence of dangerous gases, or of 
other odors that are enemies to health, while it finds 
pleasure for us in every sweet-smelling flower. 
4. The senses of taste and smell are frequently 
injured and made less delicate by abuse of them, and 
by disease. 
(jl) How Taste and Smell may be injured.— 
1. Tobacco and alcohol when habitually used benumb 
the nerves of taste, and they become unable to detect 
delicate flavors. The sense of taste sometimes is so 
deadened that plain food becomes insipid; and then 
those who use much tobacco or alcohol resort to 
strongly spiced or “ seasoned ” food, in order to ex- 
cite the taste. The highly seasoned food first sharpens 
and then still further benumbs the sense of taste. 
2. Dryness of the lining membrane of the air-pas- 
sages of the nose, or its frequent irritation by colds, 
tends to blunt the sense of smell. The smoke of 
tobacco contains many fine particles which lodge in 
the passages and dry and irritate them, and inflama- 
tion there may cause catarrh, which either injures or 
entirely destroys the sense of smell. 130 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
3. Of all our senses, smell is the one that soonest 
becomes dull, so much so that numbers of people 
really do not perceive disagreeable odors at all. A 
careless person takes no notice, and becomes accus- 
tomed to disagreeable odors, and in this way the 
sense of smell fails to be a protection. 
CONCLUSION. 
It is the duty of everyone to obtain the best possi- 
ble health and to keep it. We have no better right 
to make our lives failures by abusing our bodies than 
we have to commit suicide. If we spend our youth- 
ful days in careless or ignorant disobedience of im- 
portant rules of health, we shall have cause to regret 
it when we grow older and it is too late to repair the 
damage. 
“ Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty, 
For in my youth I never did apply 
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood; 
Nor did I, with unblushful forehead, woo 
The means of weakness and debility; 
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 
Frosty but kindly.” Shakespeare. 
The safety and happiness of ourselves and of 
others depend greatly upon our knowledge and self- 
control. 
“ Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, 
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.” 
Tennyson. TEST QUESTIONS. 
THE FRAMEWORK. 
Lesson I.— (a), 1. What form the framework ? Why are the hones 
like the timbers of a house ? What if our bodies were boneless ? Of 
what is bone made ?—2. What happens when a bone is burned ? What 
when it is soaked in acid ? Of what use is the lime in the bones ? Of 
what rise is the glue-like part? What if there were no lime in the 
bones ? What if they were formed entirely of lime ? What would 
you not then dare do ? Compare the bones of young people with those 
of the aged. —3. Mention the different forms of the bones. What do 
you know of the long bones? Of the flat bones, as in the skull ? Of 
the short bones ? How is every part fitted, and for what purposes are 
all the bones joined ? (b), 1. Tell about the joints of the skull. What 
name is given the joints of the skull, and in what do they aid?— 2. 
Where are movable joints to be found ? How lasting are they ? Com- 
pare the joints of our body with those of machines. How are our 
joints fitted to move easily ? In what ways may onr joints be injured ? 
What is a sprain, and what may cause it ? What of injury by rough 
play ? 3. What are ball-and-socket joints ? What do you know of 
their motion ? Why is the shoulder-joint easily “put out ” ? Describe 
the hip-joint. —4. Where are hinge-like joints ? How many bones are 
in the arm below the elbow, and what movement can one of them 
make ? How many bones are in the wrist ? How many in a finger ? 
In a thumb ? What makes the hand so capable of handling ? To what 
does man owe his superiority ? 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. What is the shape of the chest ? Tell about the 
ribs.' What does the chest contain? —2. Tell what you know of the 
backbone. Why is it not a single bone ? Where and what is the spinal 
marrow ?—3. What is between each two of these bones ? Of what use 
are these pads ? Why are we not quite as tall in the evening as in the 
morning ? What of the backbone’s length in old age ? Is it straight ? HEALTH LESSONS. 
(b), 1. What of the hone of the thigh? By what is the knee pro- 
tected? Tell about the hones of the leg below the knee. —2. How is 
the foot formed? How many bones in it? What of its motion? Why 
is it arched ? 
Lesson 111. (a),-l. Upon what does the health of the bones depend ? 
—2. What if a child has no exercise, etc.? —3. What gives the bones 
good size and strength ? (b), 1. How may the bones of the spine and 
chest be distorted ? Tell about the bad effects of tight clothing about 
the chest. How should clothing be about the chest, and why ? 2. How 
should you sit and stand ? Tell about the bad effects of improper pos- 
ture. What of the height of your desk ? 3. Tell about the harm done 
by tight shoes. Why are high heels injurious? —4. What may have 
induced consumption in some people ? (c), 1. Upon what do physicians 
agree concerning the effect of alcohol and tobacco upon young persons ? 
—2. Tell about the result of these bad habits. —3. In what respect are 
the bones like the softer parts of the body? What carries to the bones 
the material they need ? What happens if the blood becomes poor or 
impoverished ? How is growth affected by the use of alcohol and to- 
bacco ? —4. What has Professor Seaver, of Yale College, found concern- 
ing the effects of tobacco ? What is the law of nature concerning growth ? 
How is this law disobeyed ? 
Lesson IV.— (a), 1. When are the first teeth shed? What are they 
called, and how many are there? What takes their place? Of what 
are the teeth composed? —2. Why are the first teeth shed? (b), 1. 
How should the teeth be cared for after a meal ? 2. Tell how to brush 
the teeth well. Which need most brushing? What of brushing the 
gums? —3. What kind of brush is best, and why? What of strong 
soaps? What of powders? Of hot and of cold water? Of tepid 
water? What makes a good tooth-powder? —5. For what were the 
teeth not intended ? 
FOOD AND DRINK. 
Lesson I.— (a), l. What are the lungs and pores of the skin con- 
stantly casting out? —2. What if new material be not supplied the 
body ? What of the nerves of the stomach when, food is needed ? 
(fo), 1. From what does bodily strength come? What does the food TEST QUESTIONS. 
133 
furnish the body? —2. How does bodily waste vary?—(c), 1. Of 
what are our bodies composed ? What, then, should our food contain ? 
Why is it best to eat more than one article of food? —2. What kind of 
diet is best? Tell what different articles of food supply to the body. 
Tell the kinds of food eaten by people in various climates. How do 
civilized people differ from savages in regard to food ? —3. What often 
makes food unhealthful? Why is frying an unhealthful way of cooking 
food ? What is said of mixtures in cooking ? 4. What should be done 
when food causes discomfort? What will result from carelessness in 
taking food ? 5. Tell about the table and food as they should be in every 
house. Why is it better to be cheerful than to be disagreeable at the 
table?—6. What is a necessary part of every young person’s educa- 
tion ? Why should the preparation and cooking of food not be left to 
untrained and ignorant servants ? 7. What should every young woman 
learn before she begins housekeeping ? 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. What is the danger of impure drinking-water? 
What is said of wells in old cities and villages? —2. What is said of 
detecting impure water by taste and smell ? (b), 1. How may water 
become impure? What can you say of shallow wells and filthy 
ground? —2. What of the purity of wells in the country? What of 
cesspools, slops, etc., about them ? What of filthy ground in cities 
making water impure ? B. What is certain when there is carelessness 
about good drainage and cleanliness ? What lesson should be learned 
by all? What cannot be had if filth is not promptly removed? —4. 
What recently caused a terrible epidemic of fever in one of our 
towns ? 
Lesson 111. (a), 1. What is the natural drink of the animal world? 
How does the supply of water compare with the demand ? How has 
man sought to improve upon water ? How do the drinks he has made 
compare with water ?2. What can you say of the juices of fruits for 
quenching thirst? What happens to such juices after they are pressed 
out? When are apples, meat, and bread unfit for use? Why?— 3. 
Under what circumstances will fruit juices change? To what other 
changes does this change correspond ? What are all these changes ? 
(b),l. What causes them? Why have men not known of these tiny 
forms until recent years? What are these little forms that cause 
decay ? How do they differ from other plants ? What do some of the 
various kinds do? What is the kind called that change fruit juices 
after they are pressed out ?2. Where are the ferments found when 
the fruit is first picked ? Why have they not harmed the juice there ? 
When do they first get into the juice? What harm do they do to the 
fruit juices? (c), 1. What is a poison? Does every poison kill at 134 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
once ? Tell what may be the result when some poisons are taken con- 
tinuously in small quantities. 
Lesson IV. (a), 1. Why are grapes sweet? What are on the skins 
and stems of ripe grapes? What happens when the juice is pressed 
out ? What do they do when they get into the liquid ? What two new 
substances are formed ? What becomes of tbe gas? What becomes of 
the alcohol? Why does this make the liquid poisonous? What is said 
of grape juice when the ferments have changed its sugar to alcohol ? 
What is fermented grape juice called ? What has it done to many ? 
(b), 1. What kind of a drink is wine ? What has the alcohol in it power 
to do ? 2. From what other fruit besides grapes is wine made ? What 
is often added to the juice of such fruits in the case-of “home-made 
wines”? Why do these wines often contain even more alcohol than 
those not home-made? —B. In what kind of liquors do the ferments 
not work ? What happens when the ferments have produced seventeen 
per cent of sugar in a liquid in winch they have been working?— 4. 
What are “light wines”? What law shows that “light wines” are 
not harmless? What power has the alcohol in “ light wines ” ? 
Lesson V. —l. From what is cider made ? How is it made? What 
do the ferments do? What makes cider poisonous? How soon after 
cider is made may alcohol be found in it ? How long may it take for 
the ferments to change the sugar in cider to alcohol ? What will the 
person get who begins when the cider is new and drinks the same 
amount each day as it is growing hard ? What has cider the power to 
do? —2. Why is it a great mistake to put a barrel of cider into the 
cellar in tbe fall, to be used as a drink through the winter? —3. To 
what is the name “alcoholic ferments” given? What is their work 
called ? What is vinous fermentation ? How is cider changed into 
vinegar ? What then becomes of the alcohol ? 4. What is the fer- 
mentation called which produces vinegar? What law does it illustrate? 
How does vinegar differ from wine or cider ? 5. What will happen to 
vinegar if it is left standing in a warm place ? What process is then 
finished ? 
Lesson. VI.— (a), 1. From what is beer made? How is it made? 
What process is employed in making beer? What is the law of fer- 
mentation ? —2. Why, then, is it a mistake to suppose that beer is a food 
because it is made from grain ? —(b) ,1,2, and 3. Give three reasons why 
beer should never be used as a drink. (c), What is home-made beer ? 
Why is it an unsafe drink?—(d), 1. What kind of grain is nearly a 
perfect food ? What is added to wheat flour- to make bread ? What is 
produced by the yeast ? How is the fermentation stopped ? What be- 
comes of the alcohol? —2. How do the results of the fermentation used TEST QUESTIONS. 
in bread-making differ from those obtained in beer-making?— (e), 1. 
What causes the foaming of certain drinks ? Explain the foaming of 
alcoholic liquors when drawn from bottles or casks. —2. How may 
effervescence be caused in liquors that have been fermented ? 
Lesson VII. (a), 1. What causes a desire for stronger liquors than 
wine, beer, or cider? How are such liquors obtained? What are they 
called ? 2. Mention the distilled liquors. (b), 1. What is it the nature 
of healthful drinks to do ? What is it the nature of drinks that contain 
alcohol to do ? What kind of appetites have natural limits ? 2. What 
is it the nature of food to do ? What has food no power to do ? What 
kind of an appetite is the appetite for food ? What kind of an appetite 
is the appetite for alcohol ? What does it do if indulged to the extent 
of its demands? What is the unnatural craving for alcohol called ? 
3. Tell about the alcoholic appetite. Why is the drinker unaware that 
he is forming such an appetite ? What opinion does he have of such 
drinks as wine, beer, and cider ? What is usually his condition when 
he begins to realize that he has acquired the appetite?—4. Tell about 
the difficulty of curing the alcoholic appetite. Why is it wrong to use 
wine or brandy or other alcoholic liquors as a flavoring for food ? What 
is the danger before any one who begins to drink beer, wine, or cider? 
—5. What is the only hope for any one who has either an inherited or 
acquired appetite for alcohol?— (c), 1. What is one of the most terrible 
evils of the alcoholic appetite ? What danger specially besets the chil- 
dren of drinking parents or grandparents ? 
Lesson VIII. (a), What are the narcotics? Mention three of 
the most common narcotics. Which one of these is found in such drinks 
as beer, wine, or cider? (b), 1. What is tobacco? What fact shows 
the very poisonous character of nicotine?— 2. Why does it not kill at 
once the ordinary chewer or smoker?— (c), 1. In what form is tobacco 
doing special harm? Why does the addition of opium to cigarettes 
make them even more harmful than the tobacco alone ? What state- 
ments concerning cigarettes have been made by leading physicians of 
Philadelphia? What does Dr. Hardwicke say about the health of 
smokers? —2. What does the president of Union College say of the 
effects of tobacco? (d), In what way do the effects of tobacco some- 
times show themselves in the children of the tobacco users?— (e), What 
power has tobacco in common with alcohol and other narcotics? What 
is true of the person who has once formed the habit of using it? (f), 
1. What is opium ? Tell about its power to harm. How does it affect the 
character? —2. In what form is opium sometimes given to young chil- 
dren? Why should this never be done ? (g), What is chloral ? What 
kind of a drug is it ? What shows this ? 136 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
Lesson IX. (a), 1 and 2. What is digestion?—(b), 1. Name the 
organs of digestion. —2. What is the alimentary canal?— (c), 1 and 2. 
Tell about the work of the mouth in changing the food. Tell about the 
saliva or spittle. —3. When the work of the mouth, etc., is completed, 
what happens? Tell about the oesophagus, and how food is swallowed. 
(d), 1. Where is the stomach? What-of its shape and coats? 
2. What occurs when food enters the stomach? Tell about the action 
of the gastric juice. What is chyme? What becomes of it?—(e), 1. 
What occurs when the chyme enters the intestines ? Upon what do the 
two juices act? What is chyle? —2. What becomes of the chyle? Into 
what is it poured at last ? 
Lesson X. (a), 1. When should meals be eaten, and why ? How 
often ? 2. When does the stomach work best ? Tell about eating 
after play. Tell about exercise after eating. About a meal before 
going to bed. (b), 1. What is said of eating hurriedly? What of 
taking too much food and its bad effect ? 3. What of taking frequent 
swallows of tea, coffee, etc., while eating? What effect have cold 
liquids on digestion ? When is it best to quench thirst ? (c), 1. How 
does alcohol injure the stomach? How does it affect certain food arti- 
cles in the stomach? What of alcohol and the gastric juice? What 
are its principal effects here?— 2. What does Dr. Richardson say of 
alcohol and digestion? —3. What does Dr. N. S. Davis say ? 4. What 
is better than cider for an acid with meals? —5. How does it injure the 
liver and kidneys? What is “ drinker’s liver ” ? Why is an injury to 
the kidneys serious ? (d), 1. In what way do smoking and chewing 
of tobacco interfere with digestion ? What diseases may tobacco cause ? 
How does tobacco injure young people ? (e), In what ways do opium 
and chloral interfere with digestion ? Tell about the appetite they fix 
upon people. When only should they be used ? 
THE BLOOD. 
Lesson I. —l. A¥hat is the blood, and what does it carry? Of what 
is it made? What, if we would have good blood? —2. What mate- 
rials does the blood contain? When it does not contain these, what 
may we conclude? —3. What is the plasma? What are corpuscles? 
Tell about both kinds of corpuscles. What do they carry?— 4. Tell TEST QUESTIONS. 
137 
about the general movements of the blood. Name the organs that 
circulate it. 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. What is the heart, and where is it?—(b), 1. 
Tell about its form and size. —2. What surrounds it? Tell about this 
sack. —3. How many chambers has the heart, and what are their 
names? —4. How are the chambers connected, and how separated ? 
5. Tell about the walls of the ventricles as compared with those of the 
auricles. —6. Why do not the auricles need so much power?— (c) What 
are arteries ? Where are most of the arteries located ? Why do they 
lie so deep? Tell about the difference in the flow of blood from an artery 
and that from a vein.— (d), Tell about the capillaries. What passes 
out through their walls, and for what purpose?—(e), Tell about the 
veins. Into what do they finally become united ? Tell about the kind 
of blood in the arteries as compared with that of the veins. How long 
does it take all the blood to pass once through the heart?— (f), 1. Tell 
about the action of the heart, and the movements of the blood through 
it. 2. Out of which chamber is the blood pumped into the great artery ? 
To what do this artery and branches carry it? 
Lesson lII. (a), 1. Why must the blood circulate freely? What 
bad effect has tight clothing? —2. Tell about the effects of tight cloth- 
ing about the neck. —3. Of tight clothing about the waist. —4. What 
of tight bauds about the limbs?—5. Of tight shoes and gloves? 
6. Of insufficient clothing?—(b), 1. What bad effect has auger, etc., 
on the heart’s action? —2. How do sorrow and grief affect the move- 
ment of blood and the health? —3. Good nature?—(c), 1. Tell about 
the good effects of bathing and friction of the skin. 2. About muscular 
exercise and its good effects.— (d), 1. What things should be avoided? 
—2. Why should not the heart be unduly excited? (e), 1. How does 
alcohol treat the blood and its corpuscles? Tell about fevers and 
liquor-drinkers.—2. How does alcohol affect the heart? What of fat- 
tening the heart and muscles of the blood-vessels ? Tell about alcohol 
as a protection against cold. Does it so protect?—(f). What is the 
effect of tobacco upon the blood? Upon the heart? What is a fre- 
quent cause for rejecting applicants to the naval and military schools ? 
Tell of the consequences that usually follow when a boy begins to 
smoke. 138 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
BREATHING. 
Lesson I.— (a). How does air get into the lungs?—(b), 1. Tell 
about the larynx, or “Adam’s apple.” Tell about the glottis and epi- 
glottis. What occurs if we attempt to swallow when we breathe ? —2. 
Tell about the larynx as the instrument of voice. At what time of life 
does it increase in size, and what follows?—(c), 1. Tell about the 
windpipe and its branches.—2. With what are the air-tubes lined?— 
(d), 1. Where are the lungs? Tell about their substance and color. 
What causes them to act in breathing ? Describe breathing by the 
lungs. —2. How does oxygen get into the blood, and what effect has it ? 
What comes out from the blood in the lungs ? What, then, is the work 
of the lungs ? 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. Of what is air composed ? What if it consisted 
of oxygen only?— 2. Tell about the value of oxygen.— (b), 1. What 
depends upon the quality of the air we breathe? —2. Tell about the 
effects of breathing pure and impure air. —3. What results follow 
breathing of bad air ? Of pure air ? (c), 1. How much air is taken 
in at a breath ? What causes the air of a room to soon become impure ? 
—2. What of gases from cesspools, etc.? From decaying vegetables 
and slops, etc. ? How shall we guard against these dangers ? 3. Tell 
about the bad effects of not raising windows. —4. Tell about the harm 
from sleeping- with the head under clothes. 
Lesson lII. (a), 1. Why are food and air necessary?— 2. What 
becomes of the oxygen we breathe, and what does it do? —3. Why, 
then, do we breathe?— (b), 1. Why is it best to breathe through the 
nose? —2. Tell about sufficient breathing. What results if we do not 
take sufficient air at each breath? —3. Tell what things prevent suffi- 
cient breathing. How frequently does a healthy person breathe? 
How often, and why, do some people partly fill their lungs?— (c), 1, 
How does alcohol injure the lining of lungs ? What trouble does this 
cause? What of a “ cold ” and of inflammation of the lungs in those 
who drink liquor? How does alcohol interfere with the blood? —2. 
I low does tobacco-smoke harm the lungs ? What of the death of a 
young man from smoking ? Why are cigarettes most injurious ? 
Lesson IV. (a), 1. What is it to ventilate a room or place ? When 
have we proper ventilation? 3. Why do many people fear to open 
windows ? What do we notice on entering a close room ? What must 
be guarded against in ventilating ? (b), 1. What is said of the danger 
of breathing air in close rooms?— 2. Tell what is said of the time 
spent in sleeping-rooms, and of not allowing fresh air to enter them. TEST QUESTIONS. 
What had effects follow ? What should he done ? (c), 1. Why are 
not some plans of ventilation employed ? —2. Tell how a room may he 
safely ventilated by window ventilation. (d), 1. How warm should 
rooms in which we sit he ? Those in which we work ? Tell about 
allowing rooms to become too warm, and then throwing doors and win- 
dows open'. Why is this wrong ? What is said of the guide for 
warmth ? What of going out from rooms that are too warm ? 2. 
Tell about the management of stoves and furnaces. About moisture-of 
the air of rooms, and how to keep it moist. 
Lesson V.—(a), 1. On what kind of ground, etc., should houses be 
built? What if the cellar would be damp? —2. How should the 
ground be make to slope, and why ? —3. What of trees near the house ? 
How should the trees be situated, and why? How is the best light 
obtained? What of slops thrown on the ground?—(b), 1. What 
quality of material should be used in school-buildings ? What of the 
size of rooms ? What is of first importance ? Tell about the size of 
room suited to forty pupils. —2. What of the windows, and of enter- 
ing light? Of the color of ceiling and walls, and why? —3. Where 
should the light not enter, and why ? Where should light enter, and 
why? What of sunlight? Tell about the position of blackboards, etc. 
What of the quantity of light ? Of glare ? What should we all learn 
as to this, and why ? 4. What of doors, transom windows, and stairs ? 
—5. What of the position and height of school-desks ? 6. What about 
outer garments, wet clothing, lunch-baskets, etc. ? 
THE MUSCLES. 
Lesson I. (a), 1. What are the muscles? What does the body 
owe to them? —2. To what are the muscles and tendons compared? 
3. To what parts of a machine are the bones similar ? The muscles ? 
4. What of lean meat? —Of the number of muscles? (b), 1. Where 
are the muscles? Mention some within the framework. (c), 1. Of 
what are muscles made up, etc.? —2. How are they placed, and how 
separated, etc.?— 3. Tell their shapes and lengths.—4. Tell about the 
swell, insertion, and orirjin of muscles. —5. Describe the tendons. —6. 
Tell about arteries and nerves of the muscles. 
Lesson II.—(a), 1. What causes all bodily movements? 2. Tell how 
the muscles produce motion. In what is a good example of this found ? 
What is meant by muscles being antagonistic ? —3. How many are ar- 
ranged in pairs, and why ? —4. Do all muscles move joints ? Explain. —5 HEALTH LESSONS. 
140 
Tell about the muscles of the face. —G. Tell about bands of ligament, 
and their uses.— (b), 1 and 2. Tell about voluntary and involuntary 
muscles. (c), 1 and 2. Tell how the muscles are made to contract.— 
3. What if a nerve be cut? 
Lesson 111. (a), 1. What is the law regarding exercise ? Tell about 
the effects of lack of exercise. —2. What care must be taken in exercis- 
ing?— (b), 1 and 2. Tell how exercise affects the flow of the blood, the 
work of the heart, lungs, etc. (c), 1. Tell how exercise aids appetite 
and digestion. (d), 1. Tell about exercise and pure air. —2. Exercise 
and mental labor. —3. What of daylight and exercise? —4. What of 
exercising a large number of muscles, and how? —5. What of taking 
exercise regularly and gradually? What should be avoided, and why? 
—6. What of pleasant state of the mind while exercising? What of 
gloominess and exercise?—(e), 1. Tell about walking as an exercise, 
and how it should be engaged in. —2. What of running ? 3. Tell about 
the benefits of swimming. 4. Tell about rowing, and what it may cause. 
What is the best position, for health, in rowing? —5. Tell about the 
benefit of gymnastics and the use of light dumb-bells, 6. What about 
the clothing and exercise ? (e). How does alcohol cause us to lose con- 
trol of the muscles? How does this finally affect men, even when they 
are sober? What about alcohol changing muscle into fat? What dan- 
ger lies in this change ? How does alcohol affect one’s strength or power 
of endurance ? 
THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 
Lesson I. (a), 1. Where is the brain? —2. Tell about its two divi- 
sions.— (b), 1. Tell about the coats of the brain, and describe each.— 
2. Tell about the substance of the brain. (c), 1. What of the brain 
and thought? —2. Tell about the work of the divisions of the brain. 
Which is supposed to regulate muscular movements? 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. From what do the nerves spring?— 2. What arc 
cranial nerves ? 3. Tell about the spinal cord. About the spinal 
nerves.—4. How do the nerves branch out?v-(b), 1. Tell about the 
pairs of nerves. About the nerves of the skin. What form the ner- 
vous system ? 1. Tell about the work of the nervous system. 
2. What are sensory nerves ? Motor nerves ? Tell about their work. 
What is the nervous' system like ? 
Lesson 111. What things are first of all necessary to a healthy 
brain, etc.?—2. What of regular hours for work and play, and why? 
—3. What of loss of sleep, and the nervous system? Tell about hours TEST QUESTIONS. 
141 
and time for sleep. What is best when we are wearied by brain-work, 
etc. ? Tell about the brain needing rest. What about the kind of pil- 
low ?4. Tell what is said of study at night. In the morning. —5. What 
is the work of the blood-vessels in health ? What controls the amount 
of blood in the blood-vessels?— (a), 1. What does the alcohol in such 
drinks as beer, wine, cider, or whiskey do to these nerves? What is the 
effect on the blood-vessels? What follows? Tell what the effect is on 
the warmth of the body. —2. In what part of the body is the disturb- 
ance caused by alcohol most quickly shown ? Why does a person who 
has taken a small quantity of an alcoholic drink speak foolishly? 
3. What effect may alcohol have upon the blood-vessels of the brain ? 
What may result?—4. Why does the use of alcohol weaken the will? 
What follows when a man’s will has become weakened by alcohol? 
5. What evil passions does alcohol let loose ? 6. Tell about delirium tre- 
mens. —7. Who beside the drinker often suffers from the evil effects of 
his drinks? Where are thousands of the victims of alcohol found? 
8. What kind of a poison is alcohol ? Tell about the danger of beginning 
to use it. What is the connection between the first glass of an alcoholic 
liquor and the drunkard? (b), 1. What is opium like in many effects? 
How does it affect the brain and nerves, and self-control ? What is the 
condition of those who meddle with it? —2. Tell about tobacco as a 
brain-poison. How does it affect the memory and disposition? Tell 
about appetite for tobacco. What effect does tobacco have upon a 
pupil’s ability to keep up with his class ? IJow does it affect a boy’s 
chances in business ? 
THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
Lesson I. (a). Where and how is the eye situated? —(b), 1. Tell 
about the coats of the eye. —2. Tell about the outer coat and its office. 
About the middle coat. About the retina, and how it is related to sight. 
—3. About the cornea. —4. What and where is the iris ? The pupil, and 
how it acts? —5. Tell about the crystalline lens and its work. —6. Tell 
about the watery humor, and what it does. About the glassy humor, and 
what it does. —7. Tell about the optic nerve, where it begins, etc. —B. De- 
scribe the tear-gland, and what it does. Tell about the canals that lead 
into the nose.— (c), 1. Tell what we know of how we see. —2. Tell about 
the contraction of the pupil in strong light, and when there is little light. 
Lesson 11. (a), 1. Tell how to care for the eye in working by lamp- 
light. —■ 2. How does long-continued work affect the eye ? Tell about rest- 
ing the eyes. Tell about having clear, steady light. About continuing 
eye-work too long. What, when the sight begins to blur ?4. Tell about 
glaring light. —5. Tell about twilight, and dim light, and the eyes. About 
work on dark surfaces. 6. What of reading while walking or while lying 
THE EYE. 142 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
down? —7. Tell about holding the book close to the eyes, and bending 
over our work.— (b), 1. Tell about near-sightedness, and how much of 
it is caused. 2. What about care in securing good light, and by whom ? 
What relieves near sight? What may prevent it?—(c). Tell about 
far-sightedness. What relieves it ? (d). Tell about color-blindness. 
Why should you attend to colors?—(e), 1. Tell about postponing the 
use of glasses. Tell about near-sighted children in school without 
glasses. Can poor sight always be corrected without glasses? Can 
poor sight always be cured ? What of the good effect of glasses ?2. 
What caution should we use in selecting glasses? To whom should we 
entrust their selection, and why? To whom should we not entrust the 
selection of glasses, and why not? Tell how glasses should he con- 
structed to be of use. What of glasses that do not give ease to the 
eyes? Tell about the “looks” of wearing glasses.— (f), 1. Tell about 
the size of type, and the distance of the hook in reading. When 
should glasses be worn, then? What is the bad effect, of fine type? 
What is the most frequent cause of near-sightedness ? Tell about too 
coarse print with a wide page, and its bad effects on the eyes. —2. Tell 
about the tint of the paper, and dazzling glare. What tints are not 
best? What tint has been found best for the eyes?—(g), 1. What 
should you do when your eyes become diseased? What should you not 
do? —2. If matter forms, what care should be taken? What of all 
articles used about sore eyes? —3. How may cinders, etc., be removed 
from the eye ? Lime ? (h). How does tobacco-smoking affect the 
eyes? Why are cigarettes most injurious to the eyes? Tell about 
the disease of the eye produced by cigarettes; their effect upon the 
nerves.— (i). To what may the tobacco habit lead? 
THE EAR. 
Lesson 111.— (a). Of what does the ear consist? —(b), 1. Tell about 
the external ear. About the auditory canal.j—2. Tell about the middle 
ear, or drum. About the Eustachian tube. About the little bones. 
3. Tell about the internal ear. (c), 1. What do things do that make 
sounds? Tell about the air-waves. —2. What of the air-waves and the 
drum-head? What do the little bones do, and what then? Where is 
part of the auditory nerve, and what does it do? 
Lesson IV. —l. What bad effects from draughts of air? —2. Tell 
about cold water getting into the ears, and about its pressure. How 
may water be got out of the ears? —3. Tell about injury to the ear 
from diving.— 3. Tell about blows upon the ears.—5. Tell about loud 
sounds made near the ear. About clashing stones while under water. 
6. Tell the bad effects of smoking tobacco, and of breathing through TEST QUESTIONS. 
143 
the mouth. —7. What is the use of ear-wax? What, when it becomes 
hard in the ear ? How may it then he removed ? How should it not he 
removed, and why? —B. How may an insect he removed from the ear? 
What if this does not remove it? —9. What, when a pea or bean is 
pushed into a child’s ear? What, when a hard body a button or 
bead —is in the ear ? How should the syringe he used in this case ? 
THE SKIN. 
Lesson V. (a). What is the skin? (b), 1. Of what layers does it 
consist? Tell about the scarf-skin. .3. Tell about the true skin, and 
what it is filled with. 4. Tell about the arteries, veins, etc., of the 
skin. About the nerves. About lymphatics and oil-tubes.— (c), 1. 
Tell about the skin as a protector. For what is it an outlet? —2. Tell 
about the work of the perspiration-tubes. About sensible and insensible 
perspiration. —3. Tell about the work of the oil-tubes. Of the work of 
the lymphatic tubes. Tell about absorbing substances into the blood 
through the skin. —4. Tell about the nails, and hair, and their uses. 
5. Tell about the coloring-matter of the skin.—(J. Tell about the skin 
regulating the warmth of the body.—7. To what does the sense of 
touch belong particularly? Are all portions of the body sensible to 
touch? Why not? Tell about the tips of the fingers and touch. —B. 
Who have very keen sense of touch ? Tell about the blind boy learn- 
ing to know things after his sight was recovered. 
Lesson VI. (a), 1. Tell about the quantity of waste matter the skin 
sends out. What if its pores become closed? What other organs 
would then have extra work? —2. How may the extra work affect the 
other organs ? What bad effects would follow if they become unable 
to do the extra work ? Tell how closed pores may cause fever. How 
must the skin be cared fpr if we would have good health? (b), 1. 
How often should we bathe in summer? What is the best time for a 
bath? When is it not best? —2. Tell about careless bathing. What 
effects tell us that we have bathed at an improper time or in an im- 
proper way, etc. ? 3. Tell about the temperature of the water for a 
bath. What of hot baths? Tell about exposure after a hot bath, and 
why care must be taken. —4. What is a cold bath ? What temperature 
in a “ cold ” bath is best for most people? Why is there no reason for 
giving up such a bath in winter? How may it be managed? —5. How 
should the skin be treated after a bath ? What is a good substitute for 
a bath? —6. Tell about the use of soap in bathing. What of bathing 
too long a time? What length of time is best? 144 
HEALTH LESSONS. 
Lesson VII.— (a). What is the object of clothing, as relates to 
health? What of too warm clothing? What of being too thinly 
clothed? What is to be avoided? —2. How should the amount of 
clothing be regulated ? 3. What of the need for clothing when we eat 
hut little, or when food is not good? Is poor food cheap? What, 
when the body is poorly fed and clothed? What of well-clothed people, 
and the need of food? —4. Tell about people who clothe too heavily. 
About wearing tippets in warm rooms, and why this is harmful.— (b), 
1. Tell about the nature of woolen clothing. To what is it well 
adapted ? 2. Tell about the nature of cotton clothing. For what 
ga'rments is it best, and why ? 3. Tell about the nature of linen cloth- 
ing. About its cooling effect. Where should it not be worn? (c), 1. 
Tell about keeping clothing clean, and why. About changing clothing 
frequently.— 2. About changing it on going to bed. —3. Tell about air- 
ing night-clothes and hed-clothes.—4. Tell about changing wet cloth- 
ing, and why. About exercise when the clothing is wet About wet 
clothing at school.—s. What of changing from thick to thin clothing, 
and why ? 
TASTE AND SMELL. 
Lesson VIII. (a), 1. What is the tongue, and of what composed? 
What movements can it make? —2. Tell about the nerves of the 
tongue. About the membrane that covers it. About the fine nerves in 
it. Tell how we taste. How is the full taste of things to be got? 
What of things that are disagreeable in taste ? —(b), 1. Where is the 
sense of smell ? Tell about the fine nerves in the lining of the nose. 
Tell about substances that can be smelled. Tell how we smell. (c), 1. 
In what do taste and smell act as guides? Tell how they aid each 
other. What of the pleasure of taste ? How does it protect us from 
harm? —3. About what things does the sense of smell give us informa- 
tion ? In what does it act as a sentinel, and what warning does it give ? 
—4. How may taste and smell be injured? (d), 1. How do tobacco 
and alcohol affect the nerves of taste and smell ? How affect taste for 
plain food? When the nerves become blunted, what about strongly- 
spiced and seasoned food? —2. How does dryness of the lining of the 
nose affect smell? Tell about the effects of tobacco-smoke upon the 
air-passages of the nose. What troubles may it cause here? —3. 
Which of the senses gets out of practice soonest? Tell about keeping 
the sense of smell in practice, etc. Pronunciation and Derivation of Terms. 
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION. 
a, e, I, o, u, y, long, as in ale, eve, 
ice, old, use, fly. 
a, e, I, ft, ft, J-, short, as in fSt, met. 
it, Sdd, Qs, cjst. 
&, a, a, as in ask, arm, all. 
«, 5, as in eat, (jell, 
e, e, cs in ermine, eight. 
g, g, as in gem, get. 
n, as in link. 
6, 6, as in sdn, 6rder. 
g, as in hag, 
ell = k, as in ehorus. 
pk = i, as in phantom. 
Ab do'men (Lat.), probably from abdere, to hide, and omentum, entrails. 
Al bu'mm (Lat.), from albus, -white. 
iVthe-my (Arabic), from al-kama, the substance or composition of things. 
Al'co-bol (Arabic), from al-kohl, a powder of antimony. 
Al-l'ment'a ry (Lat.), from alere, to feed. 
Al'kil-llne (Arabic), from dt-qali, the ashes of a plant called glass -wort i 
having the properties of alkali, 
Al/kA-loids from alkali and (Gr ) eidos, form; the active medicinal or poi- 
sonous principles of certa’r plants. 
AnS-t'omy (Gr.), from ana, up, and temnein, to cut. 
A-or'tA (Gr.), from aeireh' to lift, heave. 
Ap'pa ril/ttts (Lat.), from apparare, to prepare. 
A'que-ofts (a'kwe tls), (Lat.), from aquosus, from aqua, water. 
•ir'ter-y (Gr.). arteria, from aer, air, and terein, to carry. The ancients 
believed that the arteries were ai. ducts. 
Ar tbro'di al (Gr.), from nrthrodes, well articulated. 
Ar tle'ft-late (Lat.), from artus, a joint. 
As-phyx'l-S. (Gr.), from a, privative, and sphuxis, pulse. A stopping of 
pulse. 
Au'dl-to-ry (Lat.), from nuditorius, from audire, to hear. 
Ari'ri-«1«! (Lat), from auricula, diminutive of amis, ear. 
Bleeps (Lat.), from bis, two, and caput, head. 146 
Health Lessons. 
81-«iis'pids (Lat.), from bis, two, and cuspis, point. 
Bile (Lat.), from bilis, bile, anger. 
ISrSu'ebi (Gr.), from brogchos, windpipe. 
Ca-uiue' (Lat.), from caniuus, from canis, dog; canine teeth, the sharp, 
pointed teeth, like those of a dog. 
Cap'il-la-rieg (rEz) (Lat.), from capillus, hair. 
Cap's vile (Lat.), from capsula, a little box or chest, from capsa, chest. 
Car-bftn'ic (Lat.), from carbo, coal. 
Car'p&s (Gr.), from karpos, the wrist. 
Ciir'tl-lage (Lat.), from cartilage, gristle. 
ser'e-bel'liiin (Lat.) diminutive of cerebrum, brain, the little brain, 
(Lat.), the larger division of the brain. 
Chlo'rAl (Gr.), from chloros, pale green. 
Chlo'rlne (Gr.), from chloros; a heavy gas, so named from its color. 
Cho'roid (Gr.), from choroeidos, from chorion, skin, and eidos, form. 
Chyle (kil) (Gr.), from chulos, juice. 
Chyme (kirn) (Gr.), chymos, juice. 
Cla.v'l-ele (Lat.), from claviculn, a little key, from clavis, a key. 
(Lat.), from coccyx, cuckoo. So named from its resemblance to the 
beak of a cuckoo. 
Csn £es'tion (Lat.), from congestio, a gathering into a mass. 
Cor'ne-S. (Lat.), from cornu, a horn. 
Cor'pflsfle (Lat.), corpnsculum, a little body, from corpus, body. 
Crystal-line (Lat.), from crystallinus, of crystal; from (Gr.) kryr.tallcs, 
ice, crystal. 
Cu'ti rlr (Lat.), from cutimla, diminutive of cutis, skin. 
Be llr'i-um tre'meng (Lat.), from delirare, to go out of the furrow, to 
wander in mind, and tremere, to tremble. 
I>i'a-pbragm (-frJSm) (Lat), from din, through, and phrngmn, fence. 
T»I-gesf(ion (di jEst'yun) (Lat.), from digestio, separation, dissolving. 
I>ls'ls-«ate (Lat.), from dislocare, from dis, apart, and locare, to place. 
I>Ts-sect' (Lat.), dissecare, from dis, apart, and secnre, to cut 
T>is-tni' (Lat ), from destillare, from de, from, and stillare, to drop, 
liys piip'si-A (Gr.), from duspepsia, from dus, ill, and pessein. pcptein, to 
cook, digest. 
Dilet, (Lat.), from ductus, a conduit, from ducere, to lead. 
Pu'd-dE'nftm (Lat.), from duodeni, twelve eacn Pronunciation and Derivation of Terms- 
147 
Dfifr& ma/ter (Lat.)i from durus, hard, and mater, mother. 
flp'i glOt'tls (Gr.), from epi, upon, and glotta, tongue. 
Eu-sta/cbi-aii (yu-sta-kl-an), from Eustachi, the name of a learned Italian 
physician, who discovered the tube. 
Fe'miir (Lat.), the thigh bone. 
FSr-men ta/tion (Fr.), from JAiX.ferve.re, to be boiling hot, ferment. 
FS'bre ( biSr) (Fr.), from Lat.fihra, a thread. 
Fib'u-la (Lat.), a clasp. 
Fume; (Lat.), from fumus, vapor, smoke. 
Ffine'tioui (Lat ), from functio, from fungi, to perform. 
G&s'trie (Fr.), gastrique, from (Gr.) gaster, the beHy. 
Gland (Lat.), from glans, an acorn. 
Glfit'tls (Gr.), from glotta, tongue. 
Hll'me-rfis (Lat.), the shoulder. 
Hu'mor (-ratir) (Lat.), from humere, to be moist, liquid. 
Hy'dro jgjen (Fr.), from hydrogene, from (Gr.) udor, water, and genein, to 
beget, produce. 
Sne (-en) (Gr.), from Hygeia, the goddess of health. 
Im-psv,er-Jsli from prefix ini, in, and O. French povere, poor; a corrupt 
form based on apovrir beggar. 
(Lat.), from incidere, to cut in. 
In-ndm-i-na/ta (Lat.), from prefix in, not, and nominare, to name. 
In-sal'i-vS/tion (Lat.), from prefix in, and saliva, spittle. 
ln/ter-«ssM,al (Lat.), from prefix inter, among, between, and costa, rib. 
Xn-tes'tlne (-tin) (Lat.), from intus, on the inside, within. 
In-t5xfi-eate (Lat.), from intoxicare, to drug, to poison; from prefix in, and 
toxicum, poison. 
In-vftFiin-tary (Lat.), from involuntarius, from in, not, and voluntas, will. 
I'rls (Lat.), rainbow. 
JLab'y-rinth (ISb'a-rTnth) (Lat.), from labyrinthus, a maze. 
Jj&cli'ry-mal (ISk're-mal) (Lat.), from lacryma, a tear. 
(Lat.), from lac, milk. 
Larynx (Ynx) (Gr.), from larugx, a whistle; the upper part of the wind- 
pipe. 
Lig'& ment (Lat.), from ligamentum, from lignre, to bind. 
(Lat.), from lymphn, a transparent fluid. 
(Lat.), from masticatio, from masticare, to chew. 148 
Health Lessons. 
Me-ddl'ld (Lat.), narrow. 
Hlem'brane (Lat.), from membrana, a delicate skin. 
Met'A-ear'pus (Gr.), from meta, after, and tempos, wrist. 
Met'A-lar'sus (Gr.), from meta, after, and tarsos, ankle. 
Ml'tral (Lat.), from mitra, a cap with two points or peaks. 
Mii'lar (Lat.), molaris, from mola, mill, from molere, to grind in a mill. 
Mor'plil-d (Gr.), from Morpheus, the god of dreams and sleep. 
Mo'tor (Lat.), from movere, motum, to move. 
Mii'eous (-Ms) (Lat.), mucosus, from mucus, slime. 
(mtis'sl) (Lat.), from musculus, a little mouse, from toms, a mouse. 
]Var-«6t'l« (Gr.), from narke, numbness, torpor. 
IVa'gal (Lat.), from nasus, nose. 
M5-trB§'e-noiis (Gr.), from nitron, nitre, and genein, to beget, produce. 
IVour'ish ing (nfir ) (Lat.), from nutria, feed, support. 
Oe-sBph'd gus (e-sof'A-gHs) (Gr.), from oiso, to carry, and phagein, to eat. 
Or'gan (Lat.), from organum, an instrument. 
Hx'f §en (Gr.), from oxus, sharp, acid, and genein, to beget, produce. 
Pal' Ate (Lat.), from palatum, the roof of the mouth. 
Failure As (Gr.), from pan all, and kreas, flesh. 
Par'd lyze (-Hz) (Gr.), from para, beside, and luein, to loosen. 
Pa-rOt'ld (Gr.), from para, beside, near, and ous, ear. 
Pa-tel'ld (Gr.), diminutive of patina, a dish. 
Pel'vis (Lat.), a basin. 
Pep'sin (Gr.), from pepsis, a digesting. 
Per'l-«fir'di-iim (Gr.), from peri, about, and kardia, the heart. 
Pha lau'gcj (Gr.), plural of phalanx, from phalagx, a rank. 
Pharynx (-fnx) (Gr.), from pharugx, the gullet. 
Pl»(Gr.), from phusis, nature, and logos, a description. 
Pi'd ma'ter (Gr.), from pia, tender, and mater, mother. 
Plag'md (Lat.), plasma, anything formed. 
Plell'rd (Gr.), pleura, properly a rib, the side. 
Pneu mo'm A (Gr.), from pneumones, the lungs, from pneumn, air. 
Pttl'mo-na-rjl (Lat.), from pulmo, a lung. 
Pftr'gd-tive (Lat.), from purgare, to make clean. 
Py-lo'riis (Gr.), pyloros, a gate-keeper, from pyle, a gate. 
Ra'dT ds (Lat.), a staff, a ray, a spoke of a -wheel. 
Bet'i ni (N. Lat), from Lat. rete, a net. Pronunciation and Derivation of Terms. 
149 
Sa'erftm (Lat.), from sacer, sacred. 
Sa lVvi (Lat.), spittle. 
Seap'n-la (Lat.), the shoulder blade. 
Sele rftt'xe (Gr.), from slcleros, hard. 
Se-ba/ceoiis (-shhs) (Lat.), from sebum/: tallow. 
(Lat.), from sentire, sensum, to perceive by the senses. 
Sbel'e ton (Gr.), from skellein, to dry up. 
Spine (spin) (Lat.), from spina, a thorn. 
Spore (spor) (Gr.), from sporos, a sowing, seed. 
Ster'nAm (N. Lat.), from (Gr.) sternon, the breast. 
Stim'n-lant (Lat.), from stirnulare, to spur on. 
Stdm'aeb (sthm'ak) (Lat.), from stomachus, (Gr.), stomnchos, from stoma, 
a mouth, an entrance. 
Stn'pe-fy (Lat.), from stupere, to he struck senseless. 
SAb-lin'gual (-lia'gwal), from (Lat.) sub, under, and lingua, the tongue. 
Sflb-max'll-la ry (Lat.), from sub, under, and maxilla, the jaw-bone. 
Sut'ure (yur) (Lat.), from sutura, from suere, sutum, to sew or stitch. 
Syn-o'vi-al (Gr.), from sun, with, and oon, an egg. 
(Gr.), from sun, together, and istemi, I place. 
Ten'dfiu (N. Lat.), tendo, from Lat. tendere, to stretch out. 
Tboray/ie (Gr.), from thorax, the chest. 
Tlifl'i-ax (Gr.), the chest. 
Tib'i-a (Lat.), the shin bone. 
Tra'ehe-a (Gr.) from trachus, rough. 
Tri-«fts'pid (Lat.), from tri, tris, three, thrice, and cuspis, cuspidis, a point. 
TJm'jia num (Lat.) tympanum, (Gr.) tympanon, a drum. 
Ul'nA (Lat.), the elbow. 
Valve (Lat.), from valvo, a folding door. 
Vein (Lat.)) from vena, a blood vessel. 
Ven'trl-ele (Lat.), from ventriculus, from venter, the belly. 
VSr'te bra (Lat.), from vertere, to turn. 
Wbrate (Lat.), from vibrnre, vibratum, to move to and fro. 
VVtal (Lat.), from vita, life. 
Vit/re-oils (-Qs) (Lat.), from vitreus, from vitrum, glass.