Object Lessons on the Human Body eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 74 pages of information about Object Lessons on the Human Body.

How will wise children treat tobacco?—­“Let it alone.  They will not chew, snuff, or smoke the vile weed.”

Is alcohol food or poison?—­“It is poison.”

How do we know it is not food?—­“Because it cannot be changed into blood.”

How has this been proved?—­“Alcohol has been found in the brain, and other parts of drunkards, with the same smell and the same power to burn easily which it had when it was taken into the mouth.”

How do you know it is a poison?—­“Because it does harm to every part of the body, beginning in the stomach.”

What harm does alcohol do in the stomach?—­“It hinders the stomach from doing its work; it burns the coats of the stomach; it destroys the gastric juice; it hardens the food, so that it cannot be dissolved by the gastric juice.”

What does the stomach do with alcohol?—­“Drives it out as soon as possible.”

Where does the stomach send it?—­“Into the liver.”

Where does the liver send it?—­“To the heart; and the heart sends it to the lungs.”

What do the lungs do with the alcohol?—­“They drive it out as soon as they can.”

Where do the lungs send some of it?—­“Through the nose and mouth, into the air.”

What harm does the alcohol do in the breath?—­“It poisons the air; it tells that some kind of alcoholic liquor has been taken into the stomach.”

From what you have learned about alcohol, what do you think is the only safe rule to obey concerning cider, beer, wine, and all alcoholic liquors?—­“I must not drink them, if I wish to have a strong and healthy stomach.”

* * * * *

[Illustration:  THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.—­(From Walker’s Physiology.)]

1.  The large brain. 2.  The small brain. 3.  The spinal cord. 4, 5.  Nerves.

* * * * *



1.  My brain is a soft gray-and-white mass resembling marrow.

2.  It is placed in a bony box called the skull; it is covered and held together by three coats or membranes.

3.  The outer membrane is thick and firm; it strengthens and supports the brain.

4.  The middle membrane is thick, and somewhat like a spider’s web in appearance.

5.  The inner membrane is a network of blood-vessels.

6.  From the brain, white or reddish gray pulpy cords, called nerves, pass to all parts of the body.  These nerves are of two kinds:  nerves of feeling, and nerves of motion.

7.  If I prick my finger, a nerve of feeling carries the message to my brain; if I wish to move my finger, a nerve of motion causes my finger to obey my will.

8.  Twelve pairs of nerves pass from the base of the brain:  the first pair, called the nerves of smell, to my nose; the fourth pair, called the nerves of sight, to my eyes; the fifth pair, called the nerves of taste, to my mouth, tongue, and teeth.  One pair pass to my face; another to my ears.  The ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth pairs to my tongue and parts of my throat and neck.[3]

Project Gutenberg
Object Lessons on the Human Body from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
Follow Us on Facebook