First Book in Physiology and Hygiene - John Harvey Kellogg 2 стр.

7. The chest contains the two lungs and the heart.

8. The abdomen contains the stomach, liver, and many other very important organs.

9. Is it not our duty to take good care of our bodies as we would of some nice present from a friend?

CHAPTER IV

1. We all know very well that if we do not eat we shall rapidly lose in weight, and become very weak and feeble. Did you ever think how much one eats in the course of a lifetime? Let us see if we can figure it up. How much do you suppose a boy eats in a day? Let us say two pounds. How much does he eat in a year? There are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year; 365 multiplied by 2 equals 730. So a boy eats a good many times his own weight in a year. How much would a person eat in fifty years?

2. Our bodies are composed of what we eat. If we eat bad food, our bodies will be made out of poor material, and will not be able to do their work well. So you see how important it is to learn something about our foods. We ought to know what things are good for us to eat, and what will do us harm.

3. Foods and Poisons.Foods are those substances which nourish the body and keep it in good working order.

4. Our foods are obtained from both animals and plants. All food really comes from plants, however, since those animals which we sometimes use as food themselves live upon the vegetables which they eat. For example, the ox and the cow eat grass and furnish us beef and milk. Chickens eat corn and other grains, and supply us with eggs.

5. The principal animal foods are milk, cheese, eggs, and the different kinds of fleshbeef, mutton, pork, fish, fowl, and wild game.

We obtain a great many more kinds of food from plants than from animals. Most plant foods are included in three classesfruits, grains, and vegetables.

6.Fruits are the fleshy parts of plants which contain the seeds. Our most common fruits are apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and various kinds of nuts. Perhaps you know of some other kinds of fruits besides those mentioned. Your teacher will tell you that tomatoes, watermelons, and pumpkins are really fruits, though they are not generally so called.

7. The seeds of grass-like plants are known as grains, of which we have wheat, rye, barley, corn, and rice. There are a few seeds that grow in pods, such as pease and beans, which somewhat resemble grains.

8. We eat the leaves, stems, or roots of some plants, as cabbages, celery, turnips, and potatoes. Foods of this kind are called vegetables.

9. There are other things, which, if we eat or drink them, will make us sick or otherwise do us harm. These are called poisons. Only such food as is pure and free from poisons is good or safe for us to use.

10. Narcotics and Stimulants.There are a number of substances known as narcotics and stimulants, which, from their effects upon the body, may be classed as poisons. Tobacco, opium, alcohol, and chloral are included in this class. Death has often been caused by taking small quantities of any of these poisonous drugs. We shall learn more of the effects of tobacco and alcohol in future lessons.

1. Our bodies are made of what we eat.

2. Things which will help us to grow strong and well, if we eat them, are foods.

3. We get foods from plants and animals.

4. There are several kinds of animal foods, and three classes of plant foodsfruits, grains, and vegetables.

5. Things which make us sick when we eat them, are poisons.

CHAPTER V

1. Most persons eat many things which are not good for them. Some people do not stop to think whether what they eat is good for them or likely to do them harm. Sometimes, without knowing it, we eat things which are harmful to us. Do you not think that we should try to learn what is good to eat and what is not good, and then be very careful not to eat anything which is likely to do us harm?

2. Diseased Foods.When a person is sick, he is said to be diseased. Animals are sometimes sick or diseased. Vegetables are also sometimes diseased. Animals and vegetables that are diseased are not good for food. Dishonest men, however, sometimes sell them to those who do not know that they are unfit to be eaten.

3. Pork, the flesh of the hog, is more likely to be diseased than any other kind of animal food.

4. Beef and mutton may be diseased also. Sheep and cattle are sometimes sick of diseases very much like those which human beings have. Meat which is pale, yellowish, or of a dark red color, is unhealthful, and should not be eaten. Meat should never be eaten raw. It should always be well cooked.

5. Unripe Foods.Most vegetable foods are unfit to be eaten when green or unripe, especially if uncooked. Sometimes persons are made very sick indeed by eating such articles as green apples or unripe peaches.

6. Stale or Decayed Foods.Food which has been allowed to stand until it is spoiled, or has become stale, musty, or mouldy, such as mouldy bread or fruit, or tainted meat, is unfit to be eaten, and is often a cause of very severe sickness. Canned fish or other meats spoil very quickly after the cans are opened, and should be eaten the same day.

7. Adulterated Foods.Many of our foods are sometimes spoiled or injured by persons who put into them cheap substances which are harmful to health. They do this so as to make more money in selling them. This is called adulteration. The foods which are most likely to be injured by adulteration are milk, sugar, and butter.

8. Milk is most often adulterated by adding water, though sometimes other things are added. Sometimes the water is not pure, and people are made sick and die. The adulteration of milk or any other food is a very wicked practice.

9. Butter is sometimes made almost wholly from lard or tallow. This is called oleomargarine or butterine. If the lard or tallow is from diseased animals, the false butter made from it may cause disease.

10. A great deal of the sugar and syrups which we buy is made from corn by a curious process, which changes the starch of the corn into sugar. Sugar which has been made in this way is not so sweet as cane sugar, and is not healthful.

11. Condiments or Seasonings.These are substances which are added to our food for the purpose of giving to it special flavors. Condiments are not foods, because they do not nourish the body in any way, and are not necessary to preserve it in health.

12. The most common condiments are, mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, ginger, cayenne-pepper, and spices. All these substances are irritating. If we put mustard upon the skin, it will make the skin red, and in a little time will raise a blister. If we happen to get a little pepper in the eye, it makes it smart and become very red and inflamed. When we take these things into the stomach, they cause the stomach to smart, and its lining membrane becomes red just as the skin or the eye does.

13. Nature has put into our foods very nice flavors to make us enjoy eating them. Condiments are likely to do us great harm, and hence it is far better not to use them.

14. Tobacco.Most of you know that tobacco is obtained from a plant which has long, broad leaves. These leaves are dried and then rolled up into cigars, ground into snuff, or prepared for chewing.

TOBACCO-PLANT.

15. Tobacco has a smarting, sickening taste. Do you think it would be good to eat? Why not?

16. You know that tobacco makes people sick when they first begin to use it. This is because it contains a very deadly poison, called nicotine.

17. If you give tobacco to a cat or a dog, it will become very sick. A boy once gave a piece of tobacco to a monkey, which swallowed it not knowing what a bad thing it was. The monkey soon became sick and died.

18. Many learned doctors have noticed the effects which come from using tobacco, and they all say it does great harm to boys, that it makes them puny and weak, and prevents their growing up into strong and useful men. If tobacco is not good for boys, do you think it can be good for men? Certainly you will say, No.

1. Both animals and plants are sometimes diseased. Flesh obtained from sick or diseased animals is unfit for food.

2. Unripe, stale, and mouldy foods are unfit to be eaten and likely to cause severe illness.

3. Foods are sometimes spoiled by having things mixed with them which are not food, or which are poisonous.

4. The foods most liable to be adulterated in this way are milk, sugar, and butter.

5. Tobacco, while not actually eaten, is thought by some persons to be a food, but it is not. It is a poison, and injures all who use it.

6. Boys who use tobacco do not grow strong in body and mind.

CHAPTER VI

1. Water is really the only drink. It is the only substance which will satisfy thirst. All other fluids which we drink consist mostly of water. Thus, lemonade is lemon-juice and water. Milk is chiefly water. Wine, beer, cider, and such liquids contain alcohol and many other things, mixed with water.

2. Why we Need Water.If we should wet a sponge and lay it away, it would become dry in a few hours, as the water would pass off into the air. Our bodies are losing water all the time, and we need to drink to keep ourselves from drying up.

3. Water is also very necessary for other purposes. It softens our food so that we can chew and swallow it, and helps to carry it around in the body after it has been digested, in a way about which we shall learn in future lessons.

4. Still another use for water is to dissolve and wash out of our bodies, through the sweat of the skin, and in other ways, the waste and worn-out particles which are no longer of any use.

5. Impure Water.Most waters have more or less substances dissolved in them. Water which has much lime in it is called hard water. Such water is not so good to drink, or for use in cooking, as soft water. That water is best which holds no substances in solution. Well-water sometimes contains substances which soak into wells from vaults or cesspools. Slops which are poured upon the ground soak down out of sight; but the foul substances which they contain are not destroyed. They remain in the soil, and when the rains come, they are washed down into the well if it is near by. You can see some of the things found in bad water in the illustration given on opposite page.

6. It is best not to drink iced water when the body is heated, or during meals. If it is necessary to drink very cold water, the bad effects may be avoided by sipping it very slowly.

7. Tea and Coffee.Many people drink tea or coffee at their meals, and some persons think that these drinks are useful foods; but they really have little or no value as foods. Both tea and coffee contain a poison which, when separated in a pure form, is so deadly that a very small quantity is enough to kill a cat or a dog. This poison often does much harm to those who drink tea or coffee very strong for any great length of time.

A DROP OF IMPURE WATER MAGNIFIED.

8. Alcohol (al´-co-hol).All of you know something about alcohol. Perhaps you have seen it burn in a lamp. It will burn without a lamp, if we light it. It is so clear and colorless that it looks like water. The Indians call it "fire-water." Alcohol differs very much from foods. It is not produced from plants, as fruits and grains are; neither is it supplied by Nature ready for our use, as are air and water.

9. Fermentation.When a baker makes bread he puts some yeast in the dough to make it "rise," so the bread will be light. The yeast destroys some of the sugar and starch in the flour and changes it into alcohol and a gas. The gas bubbles up through the dough, and this is what makes the bread light. This is called fermentation (fer-men-ta´-tion). The little alcohol which is formed in the bread does no harm, because it is all driven off by the heat when the bread is baked.

FERMENTATION.

10. Any moist substance or liquid which contains sugar will ferment if yeast is added to it, or if it is kept in a warm place. You know that canned fruit sometimes spoils. This is because it ferments. Fermentation is a sort of decay. When the juice of grapes, apples, or other fruit is allowed to stand in a warm place it "works," or ferments, and thus produces alcohol. Wine is fermented grape-juice; hard cider is fermented apple-juice.

11. Beer, ale, and similar drinks are made from grains. The grain is first moistened and allowed to sprout. In sprouting, the starch of the grain is changed to sugar. The grain is next dried and ground, and is then boiled with water. The water dissolves the sugar. The sweet liquid thus obtained is separated from the grain, and yeast is added to it. This causes it to ferment, which changes the sugar to alcohol. Thus we see that the grain does not contain alcohol in the first place, but that it is produced by fermentation.

12. All fermented liquids contain more or less alcohol, mixed with water and a good many other things. Rum, brandy, gin, whiskey, and pure alcohol are made by separating the alcohol from the other substances. This is done by means of a still, and is called distillation.

DISTILLATION.

13. You can learn how a still separates the alcohol by a little experiment. When a tea-pot is boiling on the stove and the steam is coming out at the nozzle, hold up to the nozzle a common drinking-glass filled with iced water, first taking care to wipe the outside of the glass perfectly dry. Little drops of water will soon gather upon the side of the glass. If you touch these to the tongue you will observe that they taste of the tea. It is because a little of the tea has escaped with the steam and condensed upon the glass. This is distillation.

14. If the tea-pot had contained wine, or beer, or hard cider, the distilled water would have contained alcohol instead of tea. By distilling the liquid several times the alcohol may be obtained almost pure.

15. Alcohol kills Animals and Plants.Strong alcohol has a deadly effect upon all living things. Once a man gave a dog a few tablespoonfuls of alcohol, and in a little while the dog was dead. If you should pour alcohol upon a plant it would die very soon.