First Book in Physiology and Hygiene

CHAPTER I.. The House We Live in.

THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN.

~1. Object of this Book.~--The object of this book is to tell the little boys and girls who read it about a wonderful house. You have all seen some very beautiful houses. Perhaps they were made of brick or stone, with fine porches, having around them tall shade trees, smooth lawns, pretty flower-beds, walks, and sparkling fountains.

~2.~ Perhaps some of you live in such a house, or have visited some friend who does. If so, you know that the inside of the house is even more beautiful than the outside. There are elegant chairs and sofas in the rooms, rich carpets and rugs on the floors, fine mirrors and beautiful pictures upon the walls--everything one could wish to have in a house. Do you not think such a house a nice one to live in?

~3. The Body is Like a House.~--Each of us has a house of his own which is far more wonderful and more curious than the grandest palace ever built. It is not a very large house. It has just room enough in it for one person. This house, which belongs to each one of us, is called the body.

~4. What is a Machine?~--Do you know what a machine is? Men make machines to help them work and to do many useful things. A wheelbarrow or a wagon is a machine to carry loads. A sewing-machine helps to make garments for us to wear. Clocks and watches are machines for keeping time.

~5. A Machine has Different Parts.~--A wheelbarrow has a box in which to carry things, two handles to hold by, and a wheel for rolling it along. Some machines, like wheelbarrows and wagons, have but few parts, and it is very easy for us to learn how they work. But there are other machines, like watches and sewing-machines, which have many different parts, and it is more difficult to learn all about them and what they do.

~6. The Body is Like a Machine.~--In some ways the body is more like a machine than like a house. It has many different parts which are made to do a great many different kinds of work. We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, walk with our legs and feet, and do a great many things with our hands. If you have ever seen the inside of a watch or a clock you know how many curious little wheels it has. And yet a watch or a clock can do but one thing, and that is to tell us the time of day. The body has a great many more parts than a watch has, and for this reason the body can do many more things than a watch can do. It is more difficult, too, to learn about the body than about a watch.

~7.~ If we want to know all about a machine and how it works, we must study all its different parts and learn how they are put together, and what each part does. Then, if we want the machine to work well and to last a long time, we must know how to use it and how to take proper care of it. Do you think your watch would keep the time well if you should neglect to wind it, or if you should break any of its wheels?

~8.~ It is just the same with the human machine which we call the body. We must learn its parts, and what they are for, how they are made, how they are put together, and how they work. Then we must learn how to take proper care of the body, so that its parts will be able to work well and last a long time.

~9.~ Each part of the body which is made to do some special kind of work is called an organ. The eye, the ear, the nose, a hand, an arm, any part of the body that does something, is an organ.

~10.~ The study of the various parts of the body and how they are put together is anatomy (a-nat'-o-my). The study of what each part of the body does is physiology (phys-i-ol'-o-gy). The study of how to take care of the body is hygiene (hy'-jeen).

SUMMARY.

1. The body is something like a house. It has an outside and an inside; it has hollow places inside of it, and there are many wonderful things in them.

2. The body is also like a wonderful machine.

3. It is necessary to take good care of the body in order to keep it well and useful, just as we would take good care of a machine to keep it from wearing out too soon.

4. The body has many different parts, called organs, each of which has some particular work to do.

5. In learning about the body, we have to study anatomy, physiology, and hygiene.

6. The study of the various parts of the body, how they are formed and joined together, is anatomy. Physiology tells us what the body does, hygiene tells us how to take care of it.

CHAPTER II. A General View of the Body.

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE BODY.

~1. Parts of the Body.~--What do we call the main part of a tree? The trunk, you say. The main part of the body is also called its trunk. There are two arms and two legs growing out of the human trunk. The branches of a tree we call limbs, and so we speak of the arms and legs as limbs. We sometimes call the arms the upper extremities, and the legs the lower extremities. At the top of the trunk is the head.

~2. Names of the Parts.~--Now let us look more closely at these different parts. As we speak the name of each part, let each one touch that part of himself which is named. We will begin with the head. The chief parts of the head are the skull and the face. The forehead, the temples, the cheeks, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, and the chin are parts of the face.

~3.~ The chief parts of the trunk are the chest, the abdomen (ab-do'-men), and the backbone. The head is joined to the trunk by the neck.

~4.~ Each arm has a shoulder, upper-arm, fore-arm, wrist, and hand. The fingers are a part of the hand.

~5.~ Each leg has a hip, thigh, lower leg, ankle, and foot. The toes are a part of the foot.

~6.~ Our hands and face and the whole body are covered with something as soft and smooth as the finest silk. It is the skin. What is it that grows from the skin on the head? and what at the ends of the fingers and the toes? We shall learn more about the skin, the hair, and the nails in another lesson.

~7.~ The body has two sides, the right side and the left side, which are alike. We have two eyes, two ears, two arms, etc. We have but one nose, one mouth, and one chin, but each of these organs has two halves, which are just alike.

SUMMARY.

1. The body has a head and trunk, two arms, and two legs.

2. The parts of the head are the skull and face. The forehead, temples, cheeks, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and chin are parts of the face.

3. The parts of the trunk are, the chest, abdomen, and backbone. The neck joins the head and trunk.

4. Each arm has a shoulder, upper-arm, fore-arm, wrist, and hand. The fingers belong to the hand.

5. Each leg has a hip, thigh, lower leg, ankle, and foot. The toes belong to the foot.

6. The whole body is covered by the skin.

7. The two sides of the body are alike.

CHAPTER III.. The Inside of the Body.

THE INSIDE OF THE BODY.

~1.~ Thus far we have taken only a brief look at the outside of the body, just as if we had looked at the case of a watch, and of course we have found out very little about its many wonderful parts. Very likely you want to ask a great many questions, such as, How does the inside of the body look? What is in the skull? What is in the chest? What is in the abdomen? Why do we eat and drink? Why do we become hungry and thirsty? What makes us tired and sleepy? How do we keep warm? Why do we breathe? How do we grow? How do we move about? How do we talk, laugh, and sing? How do we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell? How do we remember, think, and reason? All these, and a great many more interesting questions, you will find answered in the following lessons, if you study each one well.

~2.~ When we study the inside of the body, we begin to understand how wonderfully we are made. We cannot all see the inside of the body, and it is not necessary that we should do so. Many learned men have spent their whole lives in seeking to find out all about our bodies and the bodies of various animals.

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