The Reason Why

CHAPTER I.. 1. _why Should We Seek Knowledge?_

1. Why should we seek knowledge?

Because it assists us to comprehend the goodness and power of God.

And it gives us power over the circumstances and associations by which we are surrounded: the proper exercise of this power will greatly promote our happiness.

2. Why does the possession of knowledge enable us to exercise power over surrounding circumstances?

Knowledge enables us to understand that, in order to live healthily, we require to breathe fresh and pure air. It also tells us that animal and vegetable substances, undergoing decay, poison the air, though we may not be able to see, or to smell, or otherwise discover the existence of such poison. Knowing this, we become careful to remove from our presence all such matters as would tend to corrupt the atmosphere. This is only one of the countless instances in which knowledge gives us power over surrounding circumstances.

3. Name some other instances in which knowledge gives us power.

Knowledge of Geography and of Navigation enables the mariner to guide his ship across the trackless deep, and to reach the sought-for port, though he had never before been on its shores.

Knowledge of Chemistry enables us to separate or to combine the various substances found in nature. Thus we obtain useful and precious metals from what at first appeared to be useless stones; transparent glass from pebbles, through which no light could pass; soap from oily substances; and gas from solid bodies.

Knowledge of Medicine enables the physician to overcome the ravages of disease, and to save suffering patients from sinking prematurely to the grave.

Knowledge of Anatomy and of Surgery enables the surgeon to bind up dangerous fractures and wounds, and to remove, even from the internal parts of bodies, ulcers and diseased formations that would otherwise be fatal to life.

Knowledge of Mechanics enables man to increase his power by the construction of machines. The steam-ship crossing the ocean in opposition to wind and tide, the railway locomotive travelling at 60 miles an hour, and the steam-hammer beating blocks of iron into useful shapes, are evidences of the power which man acquires through a knowledge of mechanics.

Knowledge of Electricity enables man to stand in comparative safety amid the awful war of the elements. Lightning, the offspring of electricity, has a tendency to strike upon lofty objects by which it may be attracted. By its mighty powers churches or houses may be instantly levelled with the dust. But man, knowing that electricity is strongly attracted by particular substances, raises over lofty buildings rods of steel communicating with bars that descend into the ground. The lightning, rushing with indescribable force toward the steeple, is attracted by the bar of steel, and conducted harmlessly to the earth. Man may thus be said to take even lightning by the hand, and to divert its destroying force by the aid of Knowledge. And in countless other instances "Knowledge is Power."

CHAPTER II.. 4. _why Do We Breathe Air?_

4. Why do we breathe air?

Because the air contains oxygen, which is necessary to life.

5. Why is oxygen necessary to life?

Because it combines with the carbon of the blood, and forms carbonic acid gas.

6. Why is this combination necessary?

Because we are so created that the substances of our bodies are constantly undergoing change, and this resolving of solid matter into a gaseous form, is the plan appointed by our Creator to remove the matter called carbon from our systems.

7. Why do our bodies feel warm?

Because, in the union of oxygen and carbon, heat is developed.

8. What is this union of oxygen and carbon called?

It is called combustion, which, in chemistry, means the decomposition of substances, and the formation of new combinations, accompanied by heat; and sometimes by light, as well as heat.

9. What is formed by the union of oxygen and carbon?

Carbonic acid gas.

10. What becomes of this carbonic acid gas?

It is sent out of our bodies by the compressure of the lungs, and mingles with the air that surrounds us.

11. Is this carbonic acid gas heavier or lighter than the air?

Pure carbonic acid gas is the heaviest of all the gases. That which is sent out of the lungs is not pure, because the whole of the air taken into the lungs at the previous inspiration has not been deprived of its oxygen, and the nitrogen is returned. Therefore the breath sent out of the lungs may be said to consist of air, with a large proportion of carbonic acid gas.

12. What is the composition of air in its natural state?

It consists of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid gas, in the proportions of oxygen 20 volumes, nitrogen 79 volumes, and carbonic acid gas 1 volume. It also contains a slight trace of watery vapour.

13. What is the state of the air after it has once been breathed?

It has parted with about one-sixth of its oxygen, and taken up an equivalent of carbonic acid. And were the same air to be breathed six times successively, it would have parted with all its oxygen, and could no longer sustain life.

14. Is the impure air sent out of the lungs lighter or heavier than common air?

At first, being rarefied by warmth, it is lighter. But, if undisturbed, it would become heavier as it cooled, and would descend.

15. Why is it proper to have beds raised about two feet from the ground?

Because at night, the bed-room being closed, the breath of the sleeper impregnates the air of the room with carbonic acid gas, which, descending, lies in its greatest density near to the floor.

16. What are the chief sources of carbonic acid gas?

The vegetable kingdom (as will be hereafter explained), the combustion of substances composed chiefly of carbon, the breathing of animals, and the decomposition of carbonic compounds.

17. Is breathing a kind of combustion?

It is. In the breathing of animals, the burning of coals, or of wood, or candles, &c., similar changes occur. The oxygen of the air combines with the carbon of the substance said to be burnt, and forms carbonic acid gas, which unfits the air for the purposes of either breathing or of burning, until it has been renewed by admixture with the air.

18. What is carbon?

It is one of the elementary bodies, and is very abundant throughout nature. It abounds mostly in vegetable substances, but is also contained in animal bodies, and in minerals. The form in which it is most familiar to us is that of charcoal, which is carbon almost pure.

19. What is meant by an elementary body?

An elementary body is one of those substances in which chemistry is unable to discover more than one constituent. For instance, the chemist finds that water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. Water is therefore a compound body. But carbon consists of carbon only, and therefore it is called a simple, or elementary body.

20. Why is it dangerous to burn charcoal in rooms?

Because, being composed of carbon that is nearly pure, its combustion gives off a large amount of carbonic acid gas.

21. What is the effect of carbonic acid gas upon the human system?

It induces drowsiness and stupor, which, if not relieved by ventilation, would speedily cause death.

22. What is the reason that people feel drowsy in crowded rooms?

Because the large amount of carbonic acid gas given off with the breaths of the people, makes the air poisonous and oppressive.

23. What other causes of drowsiness are there?

The candles, gas, or fires that may be burning in the rooms where people are assembled. Three candles produce as much carbonic acid gas as one human being; and it is probable that one gas-light produces as much carbonic acid gas as two persons.

24. Have people ever been poisoned by their own breaths?

In the reign of George the Second, the Rajah of Bengal took some English prisoners in Calcutta, and put 146 of them into a place which was called the "Black Hole." This place was only 18 feet square by 16 feet high, and ventilation was provided for only by two small grated windows. One hundred and twenty-three of the prisoners died in the night, and most of the survivors were afterwards carried off by putrid fevers. Many other instances have occurred, but this one is the most remarkable.

CHAPTER III.. 25. _what Is Oxygen?_

25. What is oxygen?

Oxygen is one of the most widely diffused of the elementary substances. It is a gaseous body.

26. Why do persons who are walking, or riding upon horseback feel warmer than when they are sitting still?

Because as they breathe more rapidly, the combustion of the carbon in the blood is increased by the oxygen inhaled, and greater heat is developed.

27. Why does the fire burn more brightly when blown by a bellows?

Because it receives, with every current of air, a fresh supply of oxygen, which unites with the carbon and hydrogen of the coals, causing more rapid combustion and increased heat.

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