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[Illustration: CHIMPANZEE. MAN.]
ELLIS'S PRIMARY PHYSIOLOGY
Or
Good Health for Boys and Girls
by
EDWARD S. ELLIS
Taintor Brothers & Co.
New York and Chicago
Copyright, 1889, by
Taintor Brothers & Co.
INTRODUCTION.
[Illustration]
Nothing need be said concerning the importance of the study of good
health. The first lesson that a child should learn is the law of his
being. Hitherto the aim has been mainly to train the mind regardless of
the requirements of the body. The vital connection of the two has been
ignored with a persistency little short of criminality.
Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene have their places in the curriculum of
our leading schools, but the knowledge too often is simply technical and
without practical results. What greater travesty than to listen to a
glib discourse on nutrition, digestion, circulation, respiration, the
muscles, nerves, bones or brain by a pupil with thin chest, lack-lustre
eye, sallow complexion, and weak frame?
With no wish to slight the value of a thorough knowledge of Physiology,
this little volume seeks to give the fundamental laws of health, in such
simple language that every boy and girl advanced enough to read, can
understand them. Accompanied and supplemented by the earnest words of
the teacher, who shall estimate the good that may be accomplished?
In the preparation of these pages, the author is glad to acknowledge the
valuable assistance received from C. Shepherd, M.D., Superintendent for
many years of Public Schools, Trenton, N. J., and Washington Hasbrouck,
Ph.D., Principal of the New Jersey State Normal School.
CONTENTS.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
WHY THE LAWS OF GOOD HEALTH SHOULD BE STUDIED 15
CHAPTER II.
CLEANLINESS—BATHING 18
CHAPTER III.
DRINKING 22
CHAPTER IV.
EATING 27
CHAPTER V.
THE HAIR, EARS, EYES 32
CHAPTER VI.
THE TEETH 40
CHAPTER VII.
EXERCISE 47
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ART OF SWIMMING 49
CHAPTER IX.
HOW TO TREAT DROWNED PERSONS 54
CHAPTER X.
ANOTHER METHOD OF TREATMENT IN CASES OF ASPHYXIA, DROWNING, 62
CHLOROFORM, COAL-GAS, ETC.
CHAPTER XI.
THE MUSCLES 66
CHAPTER XII.
REST AND POSTURE 70
CHAPTER XIII.
PURE AIR, CLOTHING, ETC. 75
CHAPTER XIV.
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES 82
CHAPTER XV.
BRAIN, NERVES, SPINAL CORD, ETC. 91
CHAPTER XVI.
SUNSTROKE AND POISONS 95
CHAPTER XVII.
CIGARETTE SMOKING 100
CHAPTER XVIII.
ALCOHOL 108
CHAPTER XIX.
BONES, SKELETON, ETC. 117
CHAPTER XX.
A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION 121
CHAPTER XXI.
THE DIGESTIBILITY OF SOLID FOODS 125
TO THE MALE TEACHER.
It is your bounden duty to instruct your pupils in the laws of health.
If you fail to do so, you are not fit to be their teacher.
The vices of cigarette smoking, of tobacco chewing, of beer and
alcoholic drinking, threaten the very existence of the rising
generation. You cannot be too earnest and persistent in impressing this
truth upon the boys who look up to you for counsel.
You need not be reminded that the most powerful teacher is your own
example. Boys respect and admire manly vigor. You ought to be able to
outrun, outjump, outthrow, outswim, outwrestle, outspar, and outplay, at
all points, the largest and most active boy in school. Many a teacher,
when he attempts to take part in an athletic game, becomes the
laughing-stock of the youngest urchin, by reason of his flabby
awkwardness.
While our youth often need to be restrained rather than encouraged to
cultivate their muscles, yet they should be told to play when the
opportunity is theirs. You ought to take the lead in their games. Your
eye should be as bright, your sight as true, your cheeks as rosy, your
step as elastic and your physical prowess the equal at least of any lad
in school.
All the text-books in the land are less effective than a few timely
words from you. Occasions are continually presenting themselves which
should be utilized. When a boy has been playing too violently, or when
he neglects play, when he is careless as to his clothing or shows
evidence of falling into any bad habit, a kind but pointed warning will
accomplish more than weeks of study.
There are other dangers to which boys are peculiarly exposed, and which
obviously cannot be referred to in these pages, concerning which it
would be criminal for you to remain silent, but in all such cases, your
warning must be uttered to the offender in private, or by the father to
whom you may make the suggestion.
Of course you will see that the school-room is properly warmed and
ventilated; that the pupils are kept out of all drafts; and that the air
is as pure as possible. The faithful teacher will find almost hourly
opportunities for impressing these vital truths upon the children, and,
only by doing so to the fullest extent, can he approach a proper
fulfillment of his own mission as the friend, counselor, and guide of
the coming generations.
TO THE FEMALE TEACHER.
What has been said to your co-laborer about assuming the lead in
observing the laws of health, applies with equal force to you. Your
experience and knowledge give you invaluable opportunities for
instructing the girls in what is truly the great question of life and
death.
Cleanliness, clothing, food, and all the subjects treated of in the
following pages, should be supplemented by the practical illustrations
which the girls themselves continually present. No observant teacher can
have failed to become acquainted with the rudimentary laws of her being,
and to none is given so golden an opportunity to make that knowledge a
living truth as to her whose calling it is to instruct the future
mothers of our country.
CHAPTER I.
WHY THE LAWS OF GOOD HEALTH SHOULD BE STUDIED.
Every boy and girl ought to live a hundred years. When worn out at last
by old age, death will come like sweet sleep, without pain, or
suffering.
No one can live very long, unless he obeys the laws of health. These
laws are so simple that all can learn them. Many people remain ignorant
of them until they grow to be men and women, when they find it too late
to escape the penalty which nature visits on those who break her laws.
One of the first things that boys and girls should study is how to keep
the health which their kind Creator has given them. Such knowledge will
save them days and nights of suffering and perhaps bring them many years
of enjoyment.
Children give little thought to the care of their bodies, and often form
habits whose ill effects are not seen for a long time. Let them,
therefore, try to learn, in early life, what is right and wrong in this
respect.
It is not a hard study. What is more interesting than to learn about the
most wonderful machine in the world? That machine is yourself. There
never can be any invention to compare with it. God alone can create it,
and it is your duty to do all you can to keep it running until worn out.
Anatomy is the study of the structure or make-up of our bodies.
Physiology tells of the offices or purposes of all the parts of our
bodies. Hygiene, or Good Health, is the knowledge of the laws by which
all the organs and parts of our bodies are kept in the best possible
condition.
* * * * *
How long ought every boy and girl to live? What is said of death
from old age?
What is necessary to secure long life? Are these laws simple? What
mistake is made by many people?
What should be one of the first things for boys and girls to learn?
What will such knowledge save them?
What do children do? What, therefore, should they try to learn?
Is it a hard study? What is the most wonderful machine in the world?
What is your duty?
What is Anatomy? Physiology? Hygiene, or Good Health?