OUR OWN SELVES.
A human being is very wonderful. Even the smallest baby is entirely
separate from all the rest of the world. He is a part of the great
whole, but he has his own life and separate being, just as much as the
greatest man in the world. If everybody in the world did just what was
right excepting one man, both that man and the rest of the world would
suffer because of his doing wrong. If all the rest of the world were
healthy and clean and he was not, the cleanliness and health of all the
others would not save him from being dirty and unhealthy. Each one of us
must do all that he can to help the rest of the world to be good and
healthy and clean. Now, the first and greatest thing that any one of us
can do toward this, is to do right and be healthy and clean himself.
The human being is not only very wonderful, but he lives in a wonderful
body. This body can do much and endure much. It is very perfectly
adapted to its use. If man had not his reason to help him; if he did not
walk upright when all other creatures crawl or go on all fours; if he
did not differ from the lower animals in any other way than by having a
thumb on each hand, he would still be superior to them. All the other
large creatures are stronger than man, but his skillful hands, with
their thumbs, make him master of them. These help him to grasp and to
hold, to make things for his own use. He makes clothing to wear, houses
to shelter himself, and weapons with which to defend himself.
Hundreds of years ago there lived a great doctor, named Galen. He wrote
one of the first books ever written about the human body, and he has
left it on record that he was obliged to believe that God lives; for
none but divine power could have made so wonderful a thing as the joint
that turns the human hand at the wrist. Yet this joint is only one of
the many wonderful things in the body.
Now, to each of us is intrusted one of these bodies to take care of,
that it may do our work for us. Our work is not just to live for
ourselves, but to do something useful in the world; to help it all to be
better because we are here. So you see how very much worth while it is
that we should keep these useful bodies of ours as well and strong as we
can.
Besides the outer garments in which we clothe it, the body has a garment
of its own. This garment is never laid aside; and though it is in
constant use, it never wears out. We call it the _skin_. The skin is
meant to protect the body. Lying close under it are many nerve ends,
delicate blood vessels, oil glands, sweat glands, and other tiny organs
that are too small to be seen without a microscope, but which are needed
to keep the body in good order. In the pictures which are shown on this
page, you will see how these tiny organs look when they are many times
magnified.
[Illustration:
THE SKIN MAGNIFIED
Fig. 1. Surface showing openings of pores.
Fig. 2. Side view of sweat glands and pores.
]
Now, like our outer clothing, this garment of the body needs to be kept
very clean. You know that in this country when we take exercise, or,
during the heat of the day, even without our taking exercise, the
surface of the skin gets moist, little drops of water stand on it, and
even run down our faces or make our hands wet. We call this moisture
_perspiration_, and say that we are _sweating_ or _perspiring_ with the
heat. The drops of water come from openings in the skin, which we call
_pores_. These are little tubes connecting with sweat glands below the
skin. You will see in the picture how these sweat glands look, and how
the pores come to the surface.
The perspiration is not pure, clean water; it contains many impurities
which the lungs, kidneys, and other organs have not cast out from the
body. It is the work of the skin to help carry off these impurities, and
it does this by means of sweat glands and pores. If the perspiration
dries on the skin, the impurities remain; they stop up the pores and
make the body unhealthy. It is to prevent all this that we bathe often.
Bathing keeps the pores of the skin open and the skin itself in a
healthy condition. We use soap because the skin secretes oil as well as
perspiration. This oil is to keep it soft and smooth, but it is needful
that the excess of it should be washed off with soap, in order that the
oil glands may not become clogged.
We should be very careful not to become chilled when in a perspiration.
We should not plunge into cold water at this time. Neglect of this rule
often causes bowel trouble, and is a great cause of the catarrh and
bronchitis so common among the Filipino people. To keep it perfectly
clean, the body should be washed with soap once a day. Just before noon
is the best time to bathe, or else about four o’clock in the afternoon.
One should never bathe right after eating. If one takes a sponge bath
with water alone, immediately on rising, one feels better all day, but,
in this climate, the bath with soap is needed as well. Babies and very
little children should be bathed with soap and water without being
plunged into the bath. They are delicate, and unable to withstand the
chill that might result. Chills are very dangerous, and a person should
be careful in the rainy season not to get drenched.
A person who has any kind of skin trouble should be very careful not to
give it to any one else. He owes it to all others to take pains about
this. If he does not, he is not a good citizen. He should be careful not
to use the towels that any one else is likely to use, and his soiled
clothing, when taken off, should be disinfected before being sent to the
laundry.
The custom of going barefoot is a dangerous one. The sole of the foot is
a very delicate surface; a great many nerves and blood vessels center in
the instep, and any injury to these may produce the disease called
_lockjaw_, which usually results fatally. Even if nothing so serious as
this happens, the foot is often injured by bruising or by other hurts.
The feet are susceptible to chill, especially in the rainy season, when
they should be kept dry and warm. Disease is often taken through the
feet, especially such diseases as the bubonic plague, and the different
kinds of itch which are known in the tropics. Aside from all these
reasons why we should dress the feet, it is an untidy practice to go
barefoot. The low shoes without fastenings, into which so many Filipinos
thrust their feet, give people who wear them an awkward, shuffling walk.
A shoe which fits the foot well and is fastened upon it so that it does
not flap at the heel is the only one that should be worn out-of-doors,
and no shoes should be worn without stockings.
Every boy or girl who wants to be well must take exercise. If we do not
use our muscles, they become weak and small. The brain suffers as well.
When we exercise we not only strengthen our muscles, but we set the
blood in quicker circulation. The heart must work faster; the lungs must
expand more; the food digests better and the brain is clearer. The best
sort of exercise is useful work out-of-doors or about the house, but
boys and girls need to play as well as work. All games that take them
out-of-doors and make them move about actively are good for them.
Many Filipino boys and girls do one thing that is very hurtful; that is,
they smoke. The use of tobacco injures growing young people. It stunts
the growth, so that even when grown they are small and weak. Boys who
smoke do not grow so fast or so large as those who do not. Smoking
injures the memory and makes people heavy and stupid; it makes them less
inclined to take exercise, and so the muscles become weak; it hurts the
digestion and makes the stomach weak. Besides these things, it induces
the constant spitting so common in this country; and we have seen how
hurtful this waste of the saliva is.
Chewing betel nut is even worse than smoking. If all of the betel juice
is not spit out, some of it will be swallowed, and this is very bad
indeed, as the betel acts like a poison on the system. So the betel
chewer must waste all the saliva that comes into his mouth while he is
chewing the nut. More than this, he stains the sidewalks and floors with
the filthy stuff, and makes himself ugly to look at, as well as
offensive to cleanliness. It is to be hoped that the boys and girls who
study this book will never take up such a disgusting habit.
Still another thing which is very bad for the health in this country is
the use of alcohol. Alcohol is bad for the system; it irritates the
delicate lining of the food canal, and hurts the liver and the kidneys.
We have said that tuba, the juice from the cocoanut tree, is good and
refreshing to drink when just drawn from the tree; but in a few hours
after it is drawn changes begin to take place in it. The greatest of
these changes we call _fermentation_; it is caused by tiny vegetable
growths, called _ferments_. These are too small to be seen unless
magnified, but they float about in the air. They get into the tuba, and,
because there is something there which they like and thrive upon, they
grow and increase in numbers very fast. They separate the sugar of the
tuba into the parts that make up sugar, and take from it the part which
they like. What is left forms two other things. One is a poisonous gas,
called _carbonic acid_ gas.
At one stage in the fermenting process, there is a great deal of this
carbonic acid gas in the tuba, and that is what gives it its dreadful
taste when it first begins to _work_ or _ferment_. The other thing found
in the tuba is alcohol. If this were not distilled, the tuba would
simply go on working until all the sugar was gone; then it would be as
sour as vinegar and disagreeable to drink. But distillers heat it until
it boils; the alcohol rises and passes off into a vessel especially
prepared to receive it, and becomes the drink called _bino_. This drink
is really an active poison to most people. If a man drinks much of it he
becomes crazy, his actions are dangerous to society, and at last he has
to be kept in confinement. Often he does terrible mischief under the
influence of bino.
It is very fortunate for this country that Filipinos know how dangerous
it is to drink this stuff. Still, there are some weak and foolish people
who think that they can stand it, and who drink it until they form a
habit which holds them in bondage.
None of the alcohol made in this country is refined; therefore it is
full of impurities and very poisonous. Those who know the climate agree
that the less alcohol of any sort one uses here, the better. Those
soldiers and others who let it quite alone are the ones who best
withstand the bad effects of the tropics and keep well and strong.
Alcohol weakens the brain sooner than it does any other part of the
body. A person cannot think clearly when he has had too much; he cannot
walk straight, and often a man does things under its influence which he
never would do if he had not been drinking it.
There are five different ways in which a person can tell something of
what is going on around him. He can see, he can hear, smell, or touch
some things, and some he can also taste. We call these five faculties of
man the _special senses_. Each of these special senses has its own home
in the body, its own organ to do its work. For instance, the eyes see,
the ears hear, the organs of taste are in the mouth, those of the smell
in the nose, while the sense of touch is everywhere in the body where
there are any nerves.
In this country the organs of the special senses need great care. There
are a great many blind people here, who have become blind because they
have not understood how to take care of the eyes. The lids and the
eyelashes are meant to protect the eyes and keep out dust, to prevent
insects, etc., from getting into them.
Nature has taken wonderful pains to protect our eyes, but we must do all
we can to help her. She has prepared a fluid which washes the balls, but
the outside of the eyes as well should be carefully washed once or twice
a day, and wiped dry. We should be very particular to wipe them on a
clean cloth. We should never use a towel that is used by any one who has
any trouble with the eyes or who has any skin disease. The eyes should
never be rubbed with the fingers. When any foreign matters, as specks of
dust, or cinders, get into them, we should go at once to some skillful
physician to have them removed. We should shade the eyes from the direct
rays of the sun. If we walk out in the middle of the day, we should
carry an umbrella or wear a broad hat. We should not strain the eyes, or
use them when they are tired or when the light is bad.
Alcohol is very bad for the eyes; it makes them weak. The eyes of a hard
drinker become red and watery. Such a person may often become blind.
Tobacco, too, causes dimness of sight, and has been known to produce
blindness.
Strange as it may seem, the ears are even more delicate than the eyes,
and more readily injured; and when hurt, there is less that science can
do for them. The outer ear only catches sound and turns it inward. The
parts of the ear that really hear are deep in the head, where they can
be well protected. The little canal leading into the ear secretes wax,
which hinders insects from crawling in. Sometimes they do get in,
despite the wax. In some parts of this country, there are leeches that
get into the ear. When they do this they cause great pain and often
produce deafness. We should never try to pick or lift anything of this
sort out of the ear. The best way, when anything alive gets into the
ear, is to pour in a little quantity of oil. This nearly always causes
the creature which has gotten in to back out, in order to escape the
oil. If, instead of coming out, it is drowned, it must be removed by
some skillful physician.
[Illustration:
THE EAR.
Showing the drum and bones.
]
Nothing should ever be inserted in the ear for the purpose of cleaning
it except the little finger. The ear should be washed very carefully
with soap and water and dried thoroughly. Sometimes, when swimming,
people get water into their ears. They should shake it out at once, or
the ears may ache. Sometimes water that gets in this way causes
inflammation and cold, which hurt the sense of hearing. No one should
ever strike another on the ear, even in play. It is likely to cause
deafness. What is called the _drum_ of the ear is a very delicate
membrane which receives the sound. This is what really hears, and a blow
on the side of the head may rupture this membrane and destroy the
hearing.
The sense of smell is high up in the nose. It is a very useful sense and
warns us of danger. We can often detect bad air by its odor. We know
whether food is good or whether it is spoiled, by its smell.
We taste things with the tongue. Substances which do not dissolve in
water have no taste. Even our food would have no taste if it were dry.
The saliva must dissolve it before we can taste it. We can hurt the
sense of taste by eating too fast, or by seasoning our food too strongly
with pepper and other hot spices. Chewing the betel nut helps to destroy
the sense of taste, and so does much use of alcohol. We need the sense
of taste to tell us whether food is good or bad. Food which has a
pleasant taste is more easily digested than that which we do not like.
The sense of touch tells us whether things are hard or soft; it tells us
when we are hurt. It does this by the feeling which we call pain. If we
did not feel pain when we were being injured, we might be killed before
we could know of our danger and protect ourselves from it.
So we see how true it is that our bodies are wonderful machines. But
they are something besides machines,—they are houses in which the soul
dwells, and as such they are worthy of great care and honor. We must
keep them clean. It is our duty to feed them right and guard them from
injury. We should be careful, too, never to injure them ourselves by
putting them to uses not clean and pure, or by making them accustomed to
things which are bad for them. When we do any of these things, we hurt
the soul, as well as the body, and bring shame upon ourselves and sorrow
to others.
QUESTIONS.
Why should we try to keep our bodies well and strong?
What is perspiration?
Why should we bathe often?
How should children be bathed?
When is the best time to bathe?
Why is it imprudent to go barefoot in the tropics?
Is smoking hurtful to boys and girls?
What does it do?
Why is betel chewing injurious?
How does alcohol affect those who drink it to excess?
What is its effect on the mind? On the eyes?
How do we tell what is going on about us?
What are the organs of the five senses?
How can we best take care of our eyes? Of our ears?
What tells us when we are hurt?
What is our duty toward our bodies?