FORMULA FOR THE LESSON ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
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]
9. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves extending from the base of my
brain, down through the whole length of my spine, or backbone. It is the
largest nerve in my body.
10. From the spine, thirty-one pairs of nerves, called _spinal nerves_,
pass to different parts of my body; some to the lungs, some to the heart,
some to the stomach, some to the bones, and some to the muscles and skin.
11. If a nerve be destroyed it cannot carry messages to and from the brain.
Before filling a tooth, the dentist sometimes destroys its nerve.
12. If a nerve be pressed upon too long it cannot perform its duty. If I
press upon the nerve passing to my foot, I stop it from communicating with
the brain; the foot loses its feeling, or, as I say, "is asleep."
13. If I drink alcoholic liquors, or snuff, smoke, or chew tobacco, my
brain and nerves cannot do their work well; because alcohol and nicotine
are very poisonous to the brain and nerves.
14. The brain must be supplied with good blood;
The brain must be used;
The brain must be rested;
I must drink wholesome drink, eat wholesome food, take enough exercise, and
breathe pure air, that my brain may be supplied with pure blood;
I must study and think, that my brain may grow and be strong for work;
I must rest my brain when it is tired, either by changing my employment, or
by going to sleep;
I must not poison my brain with alcohol or tobacco.
[3] NOTE.--_A fuller description of the Nerves of the Brain_: Twelve pairs
of nerves pass from the base of the brain; the first pair, called the
nerves of smell, to my nose; the second pair, called the nerves of sight,
to my eyes; the third, fourth, and sixth pairs to the muscles of my eyes;
the fifth pair to my forehead, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, teeth, and
different parts of my face; the seventh pair to different parts of my face;
the eighth pair, called the nerves of hearing, to the inner part of my ear;
the ninth pair to my mouth, tongue, and throat; the twelfth pair to my
tongue; the eleventh pair to my neck; the tenth pair to my neck, throat,
lungs, stomach, and different parts of my body.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS ON THE FORMULA.
1. Describe the brain.
2. Where is the brain placed?
3. Describe the outer membrane of the brain.
4. Describe the middle membrane of the brain.
5. Describe the inner membrane of the brain.
6. Tell about the nerves.
7. Tell about the use of the two kinds of nerves.
8. Tell about the nerves which pass from the brain.
9. Tell about the spinal cord.
10. Tell about the nerves which pass from the spinal cord.
11. What happens if a nerve be destroyed?
12. What happens if a nerve be pressed upon too long?
13. What happens if you drink alcoholic liquors, or snuff, smoke, or chew
tobacco?
14. What is necessary if you would have a healthy brain?
* * * * *
THE BRAIN AND ITS WORK.
The brain is egg-shaped, and of two parts, the large brain (_cerebrum_),
and the little brain (_cerebellum_). These are composed of a white and gray
substance, which in the large brain is so folded and wrinkled that it looks
like the meat of an English walnut; in the little brain it is so arranged
that it resembles a tree, and is called _arbor vitae_, tree of life. The
mind does its thinking through the large brain, and controls its muscles
through the little brain.
A drunken man can not walk straight because alcohol has hurt the little
brain; he can not think straight because it has poisoned the large brain.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE BRAIN AND THE SPINAL CORD.]
C, the large brain (_cerebrum_). B, the small brain (_cerebellum_). S, a
portion of the spinal cord.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
Where is your brain?--"In my skull."
What color is the brain?--"Gray and white."
What does the brain resemble?--"Marrow."
How is the brain protected?--"By three coats or membranes."
What may you name these membranes?--"The outer membrane, the middle
membrane, and the inner membrane."
Describe the outer membrane. See Formula.
Describe the middle membrane. See Formula.
What are the nerves?--"White ashen-gray pulpy cords, which are found in the
brain."
Where do they go from the brain?--"To every part of the body."
How many kinds of nerves have you?--"Two."
What names are given to the two kinds of nerves?--"Nerves of motion and
nerves of feeling."
Which is the largest nerve in the body?--"The spinal cord."
Where is the spinal cord?--"It extends from the brain throughout the whole
length of the backbone."
How may you describe the spinal cord?--"It is a bundle of nerves, etc." See
Formula.
Where are the spinal nerves?--"They pass from the spinal cord to different
parts of the trunk and limbs."
How many pairs of nerves pass from the base of the brain?--"Twelve."
Where do the first pair go?--"To the nose."
What are they called?--"The nerves of smell."
Where do the second pair go?--"To the eyes."
What are the second pair called?--"The nerves of sight."
Which move the muscles of the eyes?--"The third, fourth, and sixth pairs."
Where do the fifth pair go?--"To the forehead, eyes, nose, ears, tongue,
teeth, and different parts of the face."
The seventh pair?--"To the different parts of the face."
The eighth pair?--"To the inner ear."
What are the eighth pair called?--"The nerves of hearing."
Where do the ninth pair go?--"To the mouth, tongue, and throat."
Where do the twelfth pair go?--"To the tongue."
Where do the eleventh pair go?--"To the neck."
Where do the tenth pair go?--"To the neck, throat, lungs, stomach, and
different parts of the body."
What happens if a nerve be destroyed?--"It cannot carry messages to the
brain."
What happens if a nerve be pressed upon too long?--"It cannot carry
messages to the brain."
What is necessary if you would have a strong, healthy brain?--"My brain
must be used; my brain must be rested; my brain must be supplied with pure
blood."
How must you use your brain?--"In thinking and studying."
How may the brain be rested?--"By sleep."
In what other way may the brain be rested?--"By thinking of something
different from that which made it tired."
What two brain-poisons have you learned about?--"Alcohol and tobacco."[4]
With what may you show the harm done by alcohol to the gray part of the
brain?--"With alcohol and the white of an egg."
How could you show it with these?--"I would pour the alcohol upon the white
of the egg."
What would then happen?--"The white of the egg would harden as if it had
been boiled."
What is in the white of an egg?--"Water and albumen."
Where else may we find albumen?--"In some seeds, and in the gray part of
the brain and the nerves."
What harm does alcohol do to the nerves?--"It takes away their moisture and
hardens them."
What harm does this do to them?--"It paralyzes them, or makes them lose
their power."
What happens when nerves are paralyzed?--"They lose their power over the
muscles; they are unfit to carry messages to and from the brain."
What harm does alcohol do to the gray part of the brain?--"It hardens it,
as it hardens the white of an egg."
What harm does this do to the brain?--"It paralyzes it, or makes it lose
its power."
What then happens?--"It cannot properly do its work of thinking, and cannot
control the nerves."
What disease is sometimes caused by this hardening of the brain by
alcohol?--"Paralysis, which often ends in death."
What harm does alcohol do to the blood-vessels of the brain?--"It fills
them with impure blood."
What disease is caused by the blood-vessels of the brain being filled with
impure blood?--"Congestion of the brain, or apoplexy, which ends in death."
What else frequently happens to those who drink alcoholic liquors?--"They
become crazy, or insane."
If you wish to have a strong, healthy brain, what should you do about these
liquors?--
"Never put them into my mouth,
To steal away my brains."
Tell of what dreadful disease people die who are bitten by a mad dog.--"Of
hydrophobia."
Of what dreadful disease do people sometimes die who are bitten by the
serpent in alcoholic liquors?--"Of delirium tremens."
Which is the more dreadful, hydrophobia or delirium tremens?--"One is as
dreadful as the other."
How can you be sure never to have delirium tremens?--"By drinking nothing
which has alcohol in it."
Will a little beer or wine hurt you?--"Yes, it may make me love the taste
of alcohol."
What harm is there in loving the taste of alcohol?--"I may love it so much
as to become a drunkard."
Tell once more how you should treat alcoholic liquors.--"I should never
drink a drop of them."
[4] See Appendices.
* * * * *
ALCOHOL.
THE STORY ABOUT ALCOHOL.
Several hundred years ago many people were trying to discover something
that would keep them young and strong, and prevent them from dying. It is
said by some that a man named Paracelsus, in making experiments, discovered
_alcohol_. He called it "the water of life," and boasted that he would
never be weak and never die; so he went on drinking alcoholic liquors until
at last he died in a drunken fit.
What is this alcohol which has done and is doing so much mischief in the
world? I will show you some. What does it look like?--"Water." Yes; and if
you were to smell it you would say it has a somewhat pleasant odor; if you
were to taste it, that it has a hot, biting taste, _i.e._, is pungent. If
you put a lighted match to it you would notice that it burns easily, and
with a flame, and may therefore be said to be combustible and inflammable.
What does it come from? Is it one of the drinks God has given us? Some of
the class think it is; we will try to learn whether this answer is correct
or not. If we study about it very carefully we shall discover that it is
not a natural drink, that it is not found except where it has been made
from decayed or rotten fruits, grains, or vegetables.
If you take some apples, and squeeze the juice out of them, you will find
it sweet and pleasant; let that juice stand for several days and what will
happen to it?--"It will get bad." Yes; or, as grown people say, it will
_work_ or _ferment_; that is, the sugary part of the juice will be
separated into a kind of gas and a liquid. The gas is called _carbonic acid
gas_; the liquid is _alcohol_. Both the gas and the liquid are poisonous.
Alcohol may also be obtained from other fruits, as grapes, and from some
grains and vegetables. But all these must first become rotten before
alcohol will come out of them. This is one reason why we think that God,
who gives us good, wholesome food, did not intend alcohol to be a drink for
man, else He would have put it into the delicious ripe fruit, and not made
it impossible to get until they decay.
Now let us put upon the blackboard something which will help us remember
what we have learned about
ALCOHOL.
DISCOVERED BY DESCRIPTION. MADE FROM
Paracelsus. Water-like; with a Fruits, Grains, or
pleasant odor; a Vegetables.
CALLED hot, biting taste;
"The water of life." and will burn with a
flame.
* * * * *
USES OF ALCOHOL.
We put some sugar into water; the children see that it melts; then some
glue or shellac is placed in the same liquid; they see that this is not
melted, but that, when alcohol is used instead of water, the glue or
shellac is dissolved. From this experiment they learn that alcohol is used
in making varnishes.
Some water is poured into one saucer, and alcohol into another; a lighted
match is applied to each; the class notices that the alcohol takes fire and
burns, while the water does not.
Next, we fill a lamp with alcohol, and put a wick into it; when the wick
becomes wet with the fluid it burns steadily and without smoke, as may be
seen by holding a clean white saucer over the flame. This shows why
jewellers and others, who wish to use a lamp to make things very hot,
prefer alcohol to kerosene, which, as the children know, smokes
lamp-chimneys, or anything else, so easily.
We show a thermometer; the children are told its use if they are not
already familiar with the instrument; we talk about the quicksilver in the
tube, about its rising or falling according to the degree of heat or cold;
then we inform the class that in some countries where it is very cold
quicksilver freezes; for this reason alcohol, which does not freeze, is
colored red and put into the thermometer tube to be used in these Arctic
regions.
Another use for alcohol is to keep or preserve substances. This we
illustrate by placing a piece of meat into some alcohol. We explain that
the water in the meat is that which causes it to decay. Alcohol has the
power to take up or _absorb_ water; so when meat is put into this liquid
the water from the meat is absorbed by it, and the meat does not become
bad. Those who wish to preserve insects a long time, and doctors who desire
to keep any portion of a human body after death, put these into alcohol, in
which they may be kept for a long time.
Lastly, we let the children smell cologne or other perfumery, and tell them
this is made from different oils mixed with alcohol.
At the close of this lesson the class is ready to help us make the
following BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL. GOOD USES OF ALCOHOL.
It melts gums. To melt gums.
Burns with a flame. To make varnishes.
Burns without smoke. To burn in lamps.
Will not freeze. To make camphene, etc.
Likes water. To put into thermometer
Mixes with oils. tubes.
To preserve meats, etc.
To make perfumery.
In making jewelry.
* * * * *
USES OF ALCOHOL--_concluded_.
You see alcohol is very useful for some purposes; but do people ever drink
it? Some of the children think not, and we grant that no one is foolish
enough to drink _raw_ alcohol, because it is too strong. It would take only
a little to make them drunk, and only a few ounces to kill them instantly.
We ask the pupils if they have ever seen a drunken person, and what made
that person drunk? We soon obtain an answer, and place upon the board "Rum,
gin, whiskey, brandy," as the names of drinks which will take away the good
sense of those who drink them. To these are added "Wine, beer, ale, lager,
and cider."
We explain that all these have alcohol in them, as may be known by smelling
them, or by smelling the breath of those who have drunk even a little of
them; and that because they contain alcohol they are called _alcoholic
liquors_. If a person drinks any one of them he will be poisoned, more or
less, according to how much he takes. The children are astonished at the
word _poisoned_, but we explain that the very word, _intoxicated_, means
poisoned. So a drunken man is a poisoned man. If enough alcohol, or
alcoholic liquor, is drunk by anyone, he will drop down dead as quickly as
if he were shot by a cannon ball.
When told that alcohol is not a food, but a poison, the class readily
understands what we mean, and we have no difficulty in having the following
statements prepared and memorized:
* * * * *
FOOD.
That which makes the body grow, and helps to keep it alive.
POISON.
That which hurts the body, and makes it die.
ALCOHOL.
QUALITIES. GOOD USES.
Water-like, _looks like To melt gums.
water_. To make varnishes.
Transparent, _may be seen To burn in lamps.
through clearly_. To make camphene, etc.
Odorous, _has a smell_. To put in thermometer
Pungent, _has a hot, biting tubes.
taste_. To preserve meats, insects,
Liquid, _will flow in etc.
drops_. To make perfumery.
Poisonous, _hurts the In making jewelry.
body_.
Intoxicating, _takes away the BAD USE.
senses; makes drunk_. To drink.
Absorbent, _takes up or
absorbs water_.
Inflammable, _burns with a
flame_.
Uncongealable, _will not
freeze_.
Innutritious, _not good for
food_.
* * * * *
ABOUT FERMENTATION AND FERMENTED LIQUOR.
_ALCOHOL._--Alcohol may be obtained from any substance which contains sugar
or starch, or both sugar and starch, as apples, pears, grapes, potatoes,
beets, rice, barley, maple, honey, etc.
Alcohol can be obtained only by _fermentation_. By fermentation we mean the
change which takes place when a juice containing sugar decays, or goes to
pieces. You know decay always makes things fall to pieces.
You ask, what pieces is sugar made of? Very, very little pieces, called
_atoms_. There are different kinds of sugar. In that made from grapes,
called _grape sugar_, there are six atoms of carbon, twelve of hydrogen,
and six of oxygen. What are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen? Oxygen is the
kind of gas which keeps animals alive, and makes things burn. Hydrogen is
another kind, which you have smelled perhaps when water has been spilled on
a hot stove; the gas burned in street-lamps is hydrogen that has been
driven out of coal. Carbon you see in charcoal and soot; the black lead of
your lead-pencils is mostly composed of carbon and iron; lamp-black is pure
carbon, without form or shape.
We will let these circles of colored paper stand for the atoms of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen in grape sugar,--the largest, which are red, for the
oxygen; the second size, which you notice are black, will represent atoms
of carbon; while the little blue ones will make you think of hydrogen.
If you remember that it takes one atom of carbon and two of oxygen to make
carbonic acid gas; also, that two atoms of carbon, one of oxygen, and six
of hydrogen to form alcohol, you can easily find that two atoms of carbonic
acid gas and two atoms of alcohol may be formed from an atom of sugar. So
the more sugar a juice contains the more alcohol may be formed from it.
_CIDER._--Cider is made by pressing the juice out of apples. This sweet
cider ferments, and the sugar part of it changes into carbonic acid gas and
alcohol. People who do not understand this go on drinking cider, not
knowing that it makes drunkards of those who drink much of a beverage which
seems so pleasant and harmless.
_WINES._--Wines are made from the juices of fruits which have sugar in
them, especially grapes. Sometimes people have what they call _home-made
wines_, which they make from blackberries, currants, elderberries,
gooseberries, cherries, or other fruits. They may ask you to take some,
saying, "This will do you no harm; we did not put any alcohol into it."
They do not know what you have learned, that alcohol is always formed in
fermented juices which contain sugar. It does not wait to be put into the
home-made wines; it quietly comes in as they are getting made, at home or
any other place, and will make people drunk as surely as when it is found
in brandy or any other liquor.
Some of the wines in the stores are made from grape juice, but many more
are made by mixing hurtful and poisonous things together to make the liquor
strong, and give it what is called a fine color and good taste.
_BEER AND ALES._--These are made from grains and hops, which contain no
sugar, it is true, but are composed of starch, which may be changed into
sugar. When a seed of grain is put into the ground and begins to grow, the
starch in it becomes sugar, which feeds the young plant. When a brewer
wishes to make beer, he takes some grain, puts it in a dark place, wets it,
and leaves it to sprout, or begin to grow. Then he puts it into an oven to
dry it, and make it stop growing. This makes what is called _malt_. The
malt is mashed and soaked in warm water to get the sugar out of it; this
forms a liquid called _sweet wort_. The wort is separated from the mashed
grain and boiled; yeast is mixed with it to help it to ferment more
quickly; it soon becomes changed; a dirty yellow scum filled with bubbles
comes to the top, which we know is the poisonous carbonic acid gas; the
other poison, alcohol, stays in the liquid and makes the beer taste good to
those who like it.
Liquors made from grain are called _malt liquors_. Lager beer, and all
kinds of ales and porters, are malt liquors. They make people dull,
sluggish, and stupid who drink much of them. They do much mischief in the
body, though it takes a larger quantity of any one of them to make a person
drunk than it does of whiskey or brandy.
AN ATOM OF
GRAPE SUGAR. CARBONIC ACID GAS. ALCOHOL.
Carbon, 6 atoms. Carbon, 1 atom. Carbon, 2 atoms.
Oxygen, 6 atoms. Oxygen, 2 atoms. Oxygen, 1 atom.
Hydrogen, 12 atoms. Hydrogen, 6 atoms.
SUB-FERMENTED GRAPE SUGAR MAKES 2 atoms of carbonic acid gas and 2 atoms of
alcohol.
ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS
MADE FROM
FRUITS. GRAINS.
_Cider._ _Wines._ _Beer, Ales, etc._
Apples. Grapes, Gooseberries, Barley, Oats,
_Perry._ Currants, Elderberries, Wheat, Peas, etc.
Pears. Blackberries, Cherries, etc. Corn, (with hops).
* * * * *
DISTILLATION.
How does the sugar in grapes and other fruits become alcohol?--"By
fermenting." Yes, and liquors made by fermenting are called _fermented
liquors_. What other alcoholic drinks have you heard about beside cider,
wines, beer, and ales?--"Gin, whiskey, brandy, rum." These are stronger
than the fermented liquors, that is, they contain more alcohol; they are
made by what is called _distillation_.
If you boil water, and let the steam from it fall upon a cold plate, the
steam will change back into liquid and become _distilled_ water. Making a
liquid boil, catching the vapor or steam and cooling it, is what we mean by
distillation.
If two or more liquids are mixed together, the one that boils with the
least heat will be drawn off first. The alcohol of beer, cider, and wines
is mixed with water; it boils at a lower heat than water, so can be drawn
off from it very easily. This does not make more alcohol, it only makes the
alcohol stronger by separating it from the water.
When beer or any other alcoholic liquor is to be distilled, it is poured
into a large copper boiler, called a _still_, and boiled. A tube carries
the vapor from the boiler into a cask filled with cold water. This tube is
coiled like a spiral line or worm through the cask; it is called _the worm
of the still_, and the cask is _the worm-tub_. As the vapor passes through
the tube, it cools and drops out at the end into the worm-tub, changed into
a liquid stronger in alcohol than that from which it was drawn or
distilled.
In this way gin is made from beer, brandy from wine, and rum from fermented
molasses. These are very strong drinks, and only hard drinkers like them.
But very few people begin by taking these; they first learn to like alcohol
by drinking cider, beer, or wine, and end with gin, whiskey, or rum when
they have become drunkards.
DEFINITIONS.
_DISTILLATION._ Drawing the vapor from a boiling liquid and cooling it.
_STILL._ Machinery for distilling; the boiler which holds the liquid.
_THE WORM OF THE STILL._ The tube which passes from the still to a cask, in
which it coils like a worm.
_WORM-TUB._ The cask which holds the tube or worm, and receives the
distilled liquid.
_DISTILLED LIQUID._ A liquid formed by cooled steam.
_DISTILLED LIQUORS._ Liquors made by distilling alcoholic liquors.
_FERMENTED._ Changed by decay.
_FERMENTED LIQUORS._ Liquors which have been fermented or changed by decay,
and contain alcohol.
_UNFERMENTED._ Not decayed.
_UNFERMENTED LIQUORS._ Liquors which contain no alcohol.
KINDS OF LIQUORS
[5]UNFERMENTED. FERMENTED. DISTILLED.
Grape juice, Hard cider, Gin,
Sweet cider, (Malt liquors) Brandy,
Root beer, Beer, Whiskey,
Ginger beer. Lager beer, Rum.
Perry. Ale,
Porter,
Wine.
[5] These soon become fermented; they then contain alcohol.
* * * * *
HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE BODY.
Raw alcohol does not do much harm to people because it is too strong for
them to drink much of it; but the alcohol hidden in cider, ale, wine,
whiskey, and other alcoholic drinks kills not less than _sixty thousand_
persons in this country every year, besides those who die from its use in
other parts of the world.
There is great excitement when there is a mad dog around; and, if any one
is bitten and dies from the dreadful hydrophobia, people are ready to
destroy all the dogs of the neighborhood; but when a drunkard dies from
delirium tremens or alcohol craziness, how few take any notice of the cause
of his death, or do all they can to wage war against the use of alcoholic
liquors.
But why do we say such hard things against these liquors which some people
love so well and think so harmless? In what way do they hurt and kill
people? Let us see. Where does what we drink go after it has been put into
the mouth?--"Into the stomach." If it were the right thing to go into the
stomach, into what would it be changed?--"Into something which helps to
make good blood."
Learned men, who have examined and carefully studied about these things,
tell us that _the stomach is hurt_ by alcohol, because the fiery fluid is
not food, but poison which makes the stomach very sore, and gives it hard
work to do. The veins of the stomach take it up and send it into the liver.
The liver, which is a large organ weighing about four pounds, lies on the
right side below the lungs; its work is, to help make the blood pure. It
can do nothing with alcohol, so it drives it along to the heart; the heart
sends it to the lungs; the lungs throw some of it out through the breath,
which smells of the vile stuff that has been poisoning every part it has
passed through since it entered the mouth.
Some of the alcohol does not get out of the lungs through the breath, but
goes with the blood back to the heart, and from the heart is sent through
the arteries to every part of the body. No part of the body wants it.
_The Skin_ drives some of it out, through its little pores, with the
perspiration.
_The Kidneys_, which lie in the back below the waist, on each side of the
spine, send off some of the poison.
Yet some of it gets into _the brain_, and there does very much mischief, of
which you will learn more by and by. You know, if the brain is hurt, the
mind cannot do its work of thinking properly; thus, alcohol does great
_harm to the mind_ through the brain.
_The muscles_ and _the bones_ are hurt by not being supplied with pure
blood; _the heart_ gets tired out with overwork, and _the lungs_ become
diseased through this same terrible alcohol.
Therefore, if you would be strong and healthy, have nothing to do with
alcoholic liquors; for
ALCOHOL POISONS
The stomach, The liver, The blood,
The heart, The lungs, The brain,
The bones, The muscles, The skin,
And every part of the body.
* * * * *
IN THE STOMACH.
Children who have learned the Lesson on Digestion, and know about the coats
of the stomach, about mastication and chyme-making, are easily made to
understand why anything which has alcohol in it is unfit to go into the
stomach.
If we touch a drop of alcohol to the eye, it will make it sore; so alcohol
in the stomach irritates its coats and makes them sore.
Alcohol poisons the gastric juice. If we get some of this juice from the
stomach of a calf which has just been killed, and mix alcohol with it, the
alcohol will separate the watery part from the _pepsin_ or white part. This
is what alcohol does in the stomach. It takes up water from the gastric
juice, which prevents the pepsin from mixing well with the food, and
hinders the change of the food into chyme, which cannot take place without
pepsin.
The children have already learned that alcohol keeps meat from decaying, or
going to pieces. We explain that food in the stomach must go to pieces to
prepare it to make blood; when mixed with alcohol, it is preserved, and the
gastric juice cannot melt or dissolve it. Thus the stomach is hindered from
doing its work until it gets rid of the alcohol.
A true story we have read will help you to remember how troublesome alcohol
is to the stomach. Some men in Edinburgh were paid their wages, one
Saturday, soon after they had eaten their dinner. They got drunk and
remained so till the next day at noon. When they became sober they had a
headache and were so ill that they sent for a doctor; he gave them some
medicine which brought up their Saturday's dinner just as it had gone down
into the stomach. The poor stomach could do nothing with dinner mixed with
whiskey or rum, because these liquors are half alcohol.
You have already learned that the stomach hurries to drive out the alcohol
into the liver; the liver sends it with the blood into the heart; the heart
pours it into the lungs; the lungs breathe it out through the nose and
mouth, and tell that some kind of alcoholic liquor has been taken into the
stomach.
Remember, that the alcohol which comes out in the breath is a part of that
which _went into the mouth_. It could not be changed. It did nothing but
mischief in its journey, which shows that it is not food, but poison. God,
who created the body, has not given any part of it power to change alcohol
into blood.
People sometimes take ale or wine because they think it gives them an
appetite. This is a great mistake. When any alcoholic liquor goes into the
stomach, there is such hard work to get it out that the pain of hunger is
not felt; when it is out, the stomach is tired and does not tell the brain
that it is hungry. When alcohol is poured into it, day after day, it loses
its desire for good, wholesome food, _and wants more and more alcoholic
liquor_. It has an appetite for alcohol.
Alcohol makes the stomach sore and full of disease; people who take much of
it in liquors always suffer much from dyspepsia.
So, if the stomach could speak, it would say: "Don't pour any alcohol into
me, though you mix it and call it ale, cider, wine, or any other name that
makes folks think it will do me no harm. You cannot deceive me. I know
alcohol as soon as it comes down, and it always makes me suffer."
* * * * *
BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
ALCOHOL--
Burns or inflames the coats of the stomach.
Spoils the gastric juice.
Makes the food hard to be dissolved.
Makes the stomach tired and weak.
Takes away the appetite for wholesome food.
Makes an appetite for alcoholic liquors.
Causes disease in the stomach and other digestive organs.
* * * * *
QUESTION ON BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
What harm does alcohol do in the stomach?
* * * * *
TO THE BONES, MUSCLES, AND SKIN.
_TO THE BONES._--You have already learned that the bones require to be
supplied with good blood to make them strong and healthy, and that alcohol
does not make good blood, so we need spend no time in deciding that
alcoholic liquors do injury to the bones, and that the bones of those who
drink these liquors are less likely to heal, when broken, than those of
persons whose blood has not been poisoned by alcohol.
_TO THE MUSCLES._--The muscles, as you know, cover and move the bones; good
blood makes them grow, and keeps them healthy and strong. People like to
have plenty of good muscle, for this not only gives them strength, but
makes them look plump and well.
Alcohol poisons the blood by killing many of the very little, round, red
parts in it, called by a long name, which you can learn if you try. This
hard name is _corpuscles_ [kor'pussls]; _corpuscle_ means _a little body_.
These little bodies float in the fluid portion of the blood, and go to
every part of the body to help keep it alive and healthy. When alcohol
hurts them, they turn into a poor kind of fat, like suet, and cannot do any
good. They stay in different parts and do much harm. Sometimes they lodge
between the muscles, and make a person look strong because plump; but he is
not strong, for his muscles are filled with fat.
Sometimes the liver or the heart, which are only large muscles, become so
heavy and soft with fat that they cannot do their work properly; they
become weak and diseased, wear out, and cause the death of their owner, who
has poisoned them with ale, wine, or other alcoholic drink.
_TO THE SKIN._--Alcohol hurts the skin also, by feeding it with poisoned
blood, by giving the pores extra work in carrying off some of the alcohol
in the perspiration, and by making the little blood-vessels larger than
they should be in a way you will learn more about by and by. These little
blood-vessels become very full of blood, and cause the red face and blue
nose which mark the drinker of alcoholic liquors. This redness of the skin
tells of the mischief which alcohol is doing inside of the body. It is the
danger-signal which warns against the use of the fiery poison.
ALCOHOL HURTS
THE BONES, THE MUSCLES, THE SKIN,
By supplying them with By supplying them with By supplying it with
bad blood. bad blood; bad blood;
By loading them with By over-working the
fat which makes them perspiratory pores.
weak.
* * * * *
TO THE BLOOD, THE LUNGS, AND THE HEART.
_TO THE BLOOD._--The wonderful fluid which is the life of the body consists
of a water-like liquid in which floats millions of the very little,
circle-shaped, red particles which you have been taught to call
_corpuscles_. You have also been told that alcohol kills these little
bodies, and thus takes some of the life out of the blood, and fills it with
useless, suet-like fat.
The blood, you know, flows everywhere through the body, giving its goodness
to make every part grow and live, and carrying away the worn-out particles
it meets. Blood, when poisoned with alcohol, goes through the body, giving
disease and death instead of health and life. So, if you want good, red
blood, do not let alcohol get into it.
_TO THE HEART._--When alcohol comes with the blood from the liver, the
heart begins to beat fast to get rid of the firewater; this makes it very
tired, for it always has enough to do in carrying bad blood to the lungs,
and pumping good blood into the arteries, without having the extra trouble
of driving out alcohol. Wise people will not give it this extra work to do.
Besides, we told you, in the talk about the harm done by alcohol to the
muscles, that the heart,--which is only a large muscle, or rather many
muscles fastened together so as to make a pear-shaped organ about the size
of your fist,--is hurt in another way by alcohol. It gets too much of the
poor kind of fat from the blood, which fills between the muscles, and after
awhile makes the walls of the heart so soft and weak, that we could almost
push through them with a finger, if we could get at them.
Very often the tired, overworked, weakened heart suddenly stops beating,
and the person who would keep on drinking beer, wine, brandy, or rum falls
down dead. "Died from heart disease," people say, when the truth is, _died
from drinking alcoholic liquors_.
_TO THE LUNGS._--What are the lungs?--"The breathing-machines of the body."
What do they throw out?--"Bad air." What do they take in?--"Fresh air." In
pure air there is a good kind of gas which is necessary to keep us alive;
this gas is called _oxygen_.
When air is taken into the lungs, the oxygen mixes with the blood in them
and makes it pure. If alcohol is in the lungs, it hardens the walls of
their air-cells, and keeps out the oxygen or good gas; at the same time it
keeps in the impure gas, called _nitrogen_, which ought to come out through
the nose and mouth into the air. Thus the blood in the lungs cannot be
properly purified, and goes back to the heart impure blood which is unfit
to be used.
The lungs are also obliged to work faster when alcohol is in them, because
with the heart they are striving to drive out the enemy. This makes the
lungs tired, sore, and inflamed. They are not as strong to do their work,
and are more likely to breathe in any contagious disease than are the lungs
of people who do not drink alcoholic liquors.
Some people go on drinking these poisons for many years, and seem not to be
hurt by them; but at last they suffer from what is called Alcoholic
Phthisis, a kind of consumption which doctors cannot cure.
HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL TO THE
HEART. BLOOD-VESSELS. LUNGS.
Overworks it. Hurries the blood through Makes them work too
Makes it tired. them. fast.
Loads it with fat. Stretches the small Heats and inflames
Softens and destroys arteries and makes them them.
it. unfit to work. Hardens the walls of
Poisons the blood in the their air-cells.
hair-like blood-vessels Keeps in the poisonous
(capillaries). gas.
Keeps out the good gas
(oxygen).
Weakens them and makes
them diseased.
* * * * *
THE BLOOD ("The life ... is in the blood")
Consists of
A colorless liquid (plasma), and
Little, red, circle-shaped bodies (corpuscles).
* * * * *
ALCOHOL (a blood-poison)
Mixes with the colorless liquid, and takes away some of its goodness.
Makes some of the corpuscles
Smaller.
Change shape.
Lose color.
Lose oxygen.
Die, and change into useless fat
* * * * *
TO THE BRAIN AND NERVES.
Where is your brain?--"In my skull." What color is it?--"Gray and white."
What does it resemble?--"Marrow." What work is done in the brain?--"The
work of thinking." You may repeat what you have learned about the membranes
of the brain. (See Formula for the Lesson on the Nervous System.)
You say "the inner membrane is a net-work of blood-vessels." If these are
blood-vessels in the membranes, what fills them?--"Blood." Do you think
alcohol can get into the brain?--"Yes." How can it get there?--"It goes
there with the blood." How can we know that alcohol does mischief in the
brain? You cannot answer? Did you never see a drunken man? Now tell me how
you might know his brain has been hurt by alcohol.--"He talks funny; he
acts strangely; he is very cross; he does not know what he is doing; he
walks crookedly; he falls down; sometimes he falls asleep, and is almost
like a dead man; he is dead drunk."
Let us study to learn why the drunken man does such strange things. The
alcohol in this bottle, and this egg which you see, will help us find the
cause of the mischief. You may tell what is in the egg.--"A white liquid
and a yellow liquid." How could they be made hard?--"By making the egg hot;
by boiling." We will try what alcohol will do to the white part. You see
when it is poured upon the white of the egg it hardens this part as boiling
would harden it. This white portion is composed of water and something
called _albumen_. The alcohol dries up the water and thickens the albumen.
Albumen is found not only in eggs but in some seeds, as beans, peas, corn,
etc., also in the gray part of the brain and in the nerves.
We will talk first of the harm alcohol does to the nerves. You know they
are the grayish-white cords which pass from the brain and the spine to
every part of the body. What do they act like in the kind of work they
do?--"Like telegraph wires." What is their work?--"To carry messages to and
from the brain." What kinds of nerves have you learned about?--"Nerves of
feeling and nerves of motion."
When alcohol touches a nerve, it draws away the moisture or water from it,
and hardens the white part or albumen; this makes the nerve shrivel as if
it had been burned; it loses its power to feel and move, or, to use a long
word, is _paralyzed_.
Alcohol paralyzes all the nerves it touches. It makes them so stupid that
they cannot understand what the brain says to them, and they do not carry
the right messages back to it. For instance: when the nerves of the stomach
are poisoned by the alcohol in beer, wine, etc., they do not feel the pain
of hunger as much as they otherwise would, and they let the brain think the
stomach is satisfied and does not need any more food, when it is only
stupefied by these liquors.
Again, it is the work of some nerves to tell the muscles of the small
arteries to tighten, or contract, when too much blood is coming into them.
Alcohol so paralyzes these nerves that they do not carry their message; the
arteries let in the blood, and become swollen and enlarged. They tell the
mischief done to them, by causing the skin to be red or flushed. If people
drink much of any intoxicating liquor, and often, their skin is always a
bad color, or, as grown folks say, becomes permanently discolored. All this
because the nerves have been made unfit to do their duty by alcohol poison.
The nerves also lose power over the muscles of the limbs. This is plainly
seen in the trembling of the hands and the unsteady walking of the
drunkard; but is equally true of those who drink only a little now and
then. Their nerves are not as strong and wide-awake to control the
machinery of the body as they would be if no alcohol were troubling them.
Sometimes the nerves of hearing and sight tell the brain queer stories, and
the poor brain believes them all, for it, too, is stupefied by the same
fire-water which has hurt the nerves. Indeed, the harm done by alcohol to
the brain is greater than that done to any other part of the body. It takes
the water from the albumen, and makes the white part of the brain hard, as
if it had been cooked. It kills the little, circle-shaped, red parts of the
blood--the corpuscles; these collect in the blood-vessels of the brain, and
keep the blood from flowing as fast as it ought, which causes disease and
very often death. Sometimes the brain is so much injured by the poison that
the drinker becomes crazy, and is a great deal of trouble to himself and
everybody else.
Since all this is true, wise children will let cider, lager, ale, wine, and
every other kind of alcoholic drink alone, and never, NEVER,
"Put an enemy into their mouths,
To steal away their brains."
* * * * *
HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL TO THE
NERVES. BRAIN.
Takes away their moisture, and Fills or congests its
paralyzes them. blood-vessels with impure
Takes away their power to blood.
control the muscles. Collects in it, and paralyzes
Makes them unfit to carry it.
messages to and from the Hardens its albumen.
brain. So hurts it as to cause
craziness (insanity) and
death.
* * * * *
MORE ABOUT THE HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL.
In the lessons you have learned you have been taught about the harm done by
alcohol to the body and the mind; can you tell, from what you have seen of
drunken people, in what other way alcoholic liquors hurt them?--"They make
people waste their money; they make them waste their time; they make them
cross; they make them fight; they make them say silly and wicked words;
they sometimes make fathers and mothers hurt their children; they make
people lose their good name; they often make them do things for which they
are sent to prison."
Yes, this is only some of the mischief done by alcohol. If you could fly
around the world and see everybody who has been hurt in any way by this
terrible poison, what a sad, sad sight you would behold! At least half the
trouble in the world comes from strong drink.
Are _you_, little girl, little boy, going to join the army of drunkards?
No, indeed! you think; but probably no one who has become a drunkard ever
intended to do so. They all began with one glass, a few drops of some
alcoholic liquor,--cider, wine, or beer perhaps,--and thus learned to love
the taste of alcohol, and soon became its slaves. For this poison has the
strange power of making those who drink it want more and more of itself,
though they know it is doing them harm.
The only safety is in letting alcoholic liquors alone, forever.
BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS HURT
The body,
The mind, and
The soul;
AND MAKE PEOPLE
WASTE LOSE UNFIT TO UNFIT TO SERVE
Money, Strength, Think, or Themselves,
Talents, and Health, and Work. Their neighbor,
Time. Good name. or GOD.
* * * * *
STORIES ABOUT THE HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL.[6]
A YOUNG BEGINNER.--The hardest drinker I ever knew commenced on cider when
he was only five years old. He would go to the barrel of cider in the
cellar, which had been put there to make vinegar, and, getting a straw,
would suck all the cider he wanted; and then, after he had played awhile,
he would go back and get more. He kept on drinking alcoholic liquors of
some kind, until he died a drunkard.
CIDER DELIRIUM.--Dr. J.H. Travis, of Masonville, N.Y., was once called to a
child six years old, who was raving in the wildest delirium. His symptoms
were so peculiar that he questioned the family closely, and found that the
day previous, at a raising, the child had drank freely of cider. After the
men left he had procured a straw and gone to the barrel and drank till he
was senseless, and after this the delirium came on. He exhibited undoubted
symptoms of delirium tremens. Cider was the common beverage of the family.
Dr. Travis has been called to several other cases of delirium tremens from
the use of cider.--_Mrs. E.J. Richmond._
A CAUTION TO MOTHERS.--One of the first literary men in the United States
said to a temperance lecturer: "There is one thing which I wish you to do
everywhere; entreat every mother never to give a drop of strong drink to a
child. I have had to fight as for my life all my days to keep from dying a
drunkard, because I was fed with spirits when a child. I thus acquired an
appetite for it. My brother, poor fellow, died a drunkard."
A GIRL DRUNKARD.--A young girl of eighteen, beautiful, intelligent, and
temperate, the pride of her home, was recommended to take a little gin for
some chronic ailment. She took it; it soothed the pain; she kept on taking
it; it created an artificial appetite, and in four years she died a
drunkard.--_Medical Temperance Journal._
"A LITTLE WON'T HURT HIM."--I was the pet of the family. Before I could
well walk I was treated to the sweet from the bottom of my father's glass.
My dear mother would gently chide with him, "Don't, John, it will do him
harm." To this he would smilingly reply, "This little sup won't hurt him."
When I became a school-boy I was ill at times, and my mother would pour for
me a glass of wine from the decanter. At first I did not like it; but, as I
was told that it would make me strong, I got to like it. When I became an
apprentice, I reasoned thus: "My parents told me that these drinks are
good, and I cannot get them except at the public-house." Step by step I
fell.... I have grown to manhood, but my course of intemperance has added
sin to sin. My days are now nearly ended. Hope for the future I have
none.--_Dying Drunkard._
DANGER.--In one of Mr. Moody's temperance prayer meetings at Chicago, a
reformed man attributed a former relapse of drunkenness wholly to a
physician's prescription to take whiskey three times a day!
KILLED BY THE POISON.--Many years ago, when stage coaches were in use in
England, during a very cold night, a young woman mounted the coach. A
respectable tradesman sitting there asked her what induced her to travel on
such a night, when she replied that she was going to the bedside of her
mother, of whose illness she had just heard. She was soon wrapped in such
coats, etc., as the passengers could spare, and when they stopped the
tradesman procured her some brandy. She declined it at first, saying she
had never drank spirits in her life. But he said, "Drink it down; it won't
hurt you on such a bitter night." This was done repeatedly, until the poor
girl fell fast asleep, and when they arrived in London she could not be
roused. She was stiff and cold in death, and the doctor, on the coroner's
inquest, said that she had been killed by the brandy.--_Mrs. Balfour._
IN CASE OF SHIPWRECK.--In the winter of 1796 a vessel was wrecked on an
island of the Massachusetts coast, and five persons on board determined to
swim ashore. Four of them drank freely of spirits to keep up their
strength, but the fifth would drink none. One was drowned, and all that
drank spirits failed and stopped, and froze one after another, the man that
drank none being the only one that reached the house at some distance from,
the shore, and he lived many years after that.
IT EXHAUSTS STRENGTH.--Concerning one cold winter when there were very
severe snow-storms in the Highlands of Scotland, James Hogg, the poet,
says: "It was a received opinion all over the country that sundry lives
were lost, and a great many more endangered, by the administration of
ardent spirits to the sufferers _while in a state of exhaustion_. A little
bread and sweet milk, or even bread and cold water, proved a much safer
restorative in the fields. Some who took a glass of spirits that night
never spoke another word, even though they were continuing to walk and
converse when their friends joined them. One woman found her husband lying
in a state of insensibility; she had only sweet milk and oatmeal cake to
give him, but with these she succeeded in getting him home and saving
him."--_Bacchus._
SHIPMASTER OF THE KEDRON.--"I was brought up in a temperance school, and
when I shipped before the mast I stuck to my principles, though everyone
else on board drank excepting two boys whom I persuaded to abstain. In a
very severe storm off a lee-shore, when it was so cold they had to break
the icicles off the ropes to tack the ship, all drank but myself and these
two boys. The men would work very well for a few minutes, and then slack
off and take another drink, until they were all keeled up, and we three
boys had all we could do to keep the ship from going ashore. If we had
drank with the rest, all would have been lost, for the men were too drunk
to save themselves. Providentially, the storm abated before morning, and we
were saved. Now, for many years I have been captain of my own ship, and I
never give out one drop of liquor."--_Captain Brown._
ON THE PLAINS.--Twenty-six men, travelling on one of the great Western
plains in the United States, were overtaken by cold and night. They had
food, clothing, and whiskey, but no fire. They were warned not to drink
whiskey or they would freeze. Three did not drink a drop, and though they
felt cold they did not suffer nor freeze. Three more drank a little, and
though they suffered much they did not freeze. Seven others that drank a
good deal had their toes and fingers frozen. Six that drank pretty strong
were badly frozen and never got over it. Four that got very boozy were
frozen so badly that they died three or four weeks afterward. Three that
got dead drunk were stiff dead by daylight. They all suffered just in
proportion to the amount of whiskey they took. They were all strong men,
and had about the same amount of clothing and blankets; the whiskey was all
that made the difference.
THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION in Canada, in 1870, is often quoted as one of the
most laborious on record, 1200 troops travelling 1200 miles through a very
dense wilderness, and having all their supplies to carry. They were
ninety-four days out, and none of them had liquor. They were constantly wet
through, sometimes for days together, and all the while at the severe labor
of rowing, poling, tracking, and portaging, yet they were always well and
cheery, and there was a total absence of crime.
IN AFRICA it is far safer to do without intoxicating drink. Livingstone
says that he lived without it for twenty years. Stanley performed his
wonderful journey without it. Bruce said more than one hundred, years ago:
"I laid down as a positive rule of health that spirits and all fermented
liquors should be regarded as poisonous. Spring, or running water, if you
can find it, is to be your only drink."
WATERTON, the great naturalist, who travelled so much in South America,
says: "I eat moderately, and never drink wine, spirits, or any fermented
liquors in any climate. This abstemiousness has proved a faithful friend."
He died by accident at the age of eighty-three.
MR. HUBER, who saw 2160 perish of cholera in twenty-five days in one town
in Russia, says that "Persons given to drinking are swept away like flies.
In Tiflis, containing 20,000 inhabitants, every drunkard has fallen." Of
204 cases of cholera in the Park Hospital, New York, there were but six
temperate persons, and these recovered. In Albany, where cholera prevailed
with severe mortality for several weeks, only two of the 5000 members of
temperance societies became its victims. In Montreal, where the victims of
the disease were intemperate, it usually cut them off. In Great Britain,
those who have been addicted to spirituous liquors and irregular habits
have been the greatest sufferers from cholera. In some towns the drunkards
are all dead.--_Bacchus._
MALT LIQUORS, under which title are included all kinds of porters and ales,
produce the worst species of drunkenness. The effects of malt liquors are
more stupefying than those of ardent spirits, and less easily removed. In a
short time they render dull and sluggish the gayest disposition.--_Anatomy
of Drunkenness._
GINGER-BEER.--A man who has been a temperance-worker for forty-five years,
says that there is often alcohol in ginger-beer. He told of a case known to
him of a reformed man who, after drinking some, felt strongly drawn to the
bar-room, where he drank until he brought on delirium tremens. The beer
will sometimes ferment enough in a few hours to produce alcohol--if it
answers the conditions--a sweet liquid and a ferment.
DANGER TO THE REFORMED.--A lady who had become a drunkard through taking
alcoholic drinks as medicines, at length, after many efforts, succeeded in
breaking away from the power of the appetite, and for a long time she
seemed to be saved. At length she went to visit her mother, and that mother
put brandy peaches on the table for tea. They aroused the slumbering
appetite, the victim fell again, became worse than ever, and died a
miserable drunkard.
[6] From _Juvenile Temperance Manual_, by Julia Colman.
* * * * *
STORIES ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO TREAT ALE, BEER, Etc.
THE RIGHT SIDE.--"Boys, which is the right side of the public house? Can
you tell me?"--"Yes, sir, the outside."
THE GOAT AND THE ALE.--Many years ago, when everybody drank freely, a Welsh
minister named Rees Pritchard was at the ale-house drinking, when he took
it into his head to offer some ale to a large tame goat. The animal drank
till he fell down drunk, and the minister drank on till he was carried home
drunk. The next day he was sick all day, but on the third day he went again
to the ale-house, and began to drink. The goat was there, and he offered
him more ale, but the animal would not touch it. The minister, seeing the
animal wiser than himself, was ashamed, and gave up drinking, and became a
worthy minister.
HOW THE MONKEY WAS CURED.--A monkey named Kees had been taught to drink
brandy. At dinner every day he had his share like his more manly (?)
neighbors, only that his was given to him in a plate. One day, as he was
about to drink it, his master set it on fire, and he ran off frightened and
chattering. No inducement could afterward make him drink brandy. We have
many stories of animals who would never drink again after they had once
experienced its effects.
THE KEEN MARKSMAN does not poison his nerves and brain with alcohol. Angus
Cameron, a Highlander, at the age of twenty, took the Queen's prize for the
best marksmanship, and when he was twenty-two (in 1869), he won in the same
way a cup worth $1000. He made the best shot each time that ever had been
made in the contest, and neither of them has been beaten by anyone else.
Angus is a slight, modest, unassuming young man, who had been a Band of
Hope boy. When he was announced as the winner, and all the friends made an
ado over him, and offered him a generous glass of champagne, he quietly
refused their mistaken kindness, and kept his pledge.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, when a printer boy in London, would drink no beer, and
his companions called him the water American, and wondered that he was
stronger than they who drank beer. His companion at the press drank six
pints of beer every day, and had it to pay for. He was not only saved the
expense, but he was stronger than they, and better off in every way. If he
had gone to drinking beer at that time, like the other printer boys, it is
likely we should never have heard of him.
OATMEAL DRINK.--"In Boulton and Watts' factory we saw an immense workman at
the hottest and heaviest work, wielding a ponderous hammer, and asked him
what liquor he drank. He replied by pointing to an immense vessel filled
with water and oatmeal, to which the men went and drank as much as they
liked." This is made by adding one pound fine oatmeal to each gallon of
water, and is much used in factories and at heavy work of all kinds in
Government works, instead of the old rations of alcoholic liquors. Iron
puddlers, glass blowers, and athletic trainers, all do their work now
better without alcoholic liquors.
A CHANGE IN AFFAIRS.--A poor boy was once put as an apprentice to a
mechanic; and, as he was the youngest, he was obliged to go for beer for
the older apprentices, though he never drank it. In vain they teased and
taunted him to induce him to drink; he never touched it. Now there is a
great change. Every one of those older apprentices became a drunkard, while
this temperance boy has become a master, and has more than a hundred men in
his employ. So much for total abstinence.
BOOKS BETTER THAN BEER.--An intelligent young mechanic stood up in a
temperance meeting and said: "I have a rich treat every night among my
books. I saved my beer money and spent it in books. They cost me, with my
book-case, nearly $100. They furnish enjoyment for my winter evenings, and
have enabled me, by God's blessing, to gain much useful knowledge, such as
pots and pipes could never have given me."
A LITTLE DRUMMER-BOY was a favorite among the officers, who one day offered
him a glass of strong drink. He refused it, saying that he was a Cadet of
Temperance. They accused him of being afraid; but that did not move him.
Then the major commanded him to drink, saying: "You know it is death to
disobey orders." The little fellow stood up at his full height, and fixing
his clear blue eyes on the face of the officer, he said: "When I entered
the army I promised my mother on bended knees that, by the help of God, I
would not taste a drop of rum, and I mean to keep my promise. I am sorry to
disobey orders, sir, but I would rather suffer than disgrace my mother, and
break my temperance pledge." He was excused from drinking.
* * * * *
TOBACCO.
INTRODUCTORY LESSON.
You have been learning about the poison alcohol, and what mischief is done
by it; we will now study about another poison which thousands of persons
are using every day. It is rolled in cigars and cigarettes, and hidden in
snuff and pieces of tobacco, and does more harm to children and young
people who use these things than to grown persons.
Perhaps you know how a person feels who takes tobacco or smokes a cigar for
the first time; if not, we will tell you. He begins to be dizzy, to
tremble, to become faint, and to vomit; his head aches, and he is so sick
for hours, often for several days, that he scarcely knows what to do. Why
is he so sick? Because tobacco poison has been taken into his lungs; also,
some has mixed with the saliva and gone down into his stomach; and each
part it has reached is striving to drive it out, and is saying, by the pain
it causes, "You have given me poison; do not give me any more." If he had
taken enough it would have killed him.
He recovers from this sickness and tries chewing or smoking again and
again, until he becomes accustomed to the poison and can chew or smoke and
it does not hurt him; so he thinks, but he is very much mistaken.
Tobacco is a poison, and hurts everybody who uses it every time they do so,
although it does its evil work very slowly, unless taken in large
quantities. To understand more about this we will try to learn how tobacco
is obtained, what poison is in it, and in what way it harms people.
* * * * *
THE STORY ABOUT TOBACCO.
_HOW IT CAME TO BE USED._--Tobacco is the leaves of the tobacco plant, a
native of America. It was used by the Indians of this country before
Columbus came here in 1492. Some of the Spaniards who were with him on his
second visit took some of it back with them to Portugal, and told the
people they had discovered a wonderful medicine. From Spain tobacco seed
was sent to France by Jean Nicot, in 1560. It is said that Sir Walter
Raleigh carried it to England in 1586, when Elizabeth was queen.
In a few years many civilized people were snuffing, chewing, and smoking
tobacco, like the wild Indians, although it cost them a great deal of money
to do so. King James does not seem to have liked it very much, for he said,
"It is a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the
brain, and dangerous to the lungs." He called the smoke "stinking fumes."
_THE TOBACCO PLANT._ This plant belongs to the same family as the deadly
nightshade, henbane, belladonna, thorn-apple, Jerusalem cherry, potato,
tomato, egg-plant, cayenne pepper, bitter-sweet, and petunia. Most of the
plants of this Nightshade family have more or less poison in their leaves
or fruit. Tobacco is supposed to have been named from the pipe used by the
Indians in smoking its leaves.
The common tobacco plant grows from three to six feet high, and has large,
almost lance-shaped, leaves growing down the stems; its flowers are
funnel-shaped and of a purplish color. When fresh the leaves have very
little odor or taste.
_HOW TOBACCO IS USED._--When the plants are ripe, they are cut off above
the roots and placed where they will become dry, sometimes in a building
made for this purpose, called "a tobacco house." After a short time they
begin to smell strong and taste bitter. They are then stripped from the
stems very carefully and sorted. The leaves nearest the root are considered
the poorest, those at the top generally the best.
The different sorts are packed in separate hogsheads, and sent away to be
sold to manufacturers of cigars, snuff, etc.
The manufacturer has some leaves rolled into cigars, some pressed into
cakes for chewing, or into little pieces to be smoked in a pipe; while some
are ground for snuff. While the dried leaves are being rolled, pressed, or
ground, various substances are mixed with them to give them an agreeable
odor and pleasant taste.
Yet, however pleasant the manufacturer may make them as he rolls, presses,
or grinds, he cannot take the poison out of them. It remains in its brown
covering to do much harm to those who may smoke the cigars, use the snuff,
or chew the tobacco.
BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
THE TOBACCO PLANT.
NATIVE OF FOUND BY TAKEN TO GROWS IN THE
America. Columbus, 1492. Portugal, Torrid and
1496. temperate zones.
France, 1560.
(About 50 species.) England, 1586.
DESCRIPTION. FAMILY
_Height_, 3 to 6 feet. _The same as the_ Jerusalem Cherry,
_Leaves,_ lance-ovate, and running Petunia,
down the stem. Potato,
_Stem,_ hairy and sticky. Tomato,
_Flowers,_ funnel-shaped and Egg-plant,
purplish. Red pepper, etc.
HOW MADE READY FOR USE.
(1) (2)
Cut-off above the roots. Flavored and scented.
Dried. Rolled for cigars.
Stripped; sorted. Pressed for chewing.
Packed, and sold to the Ground for snuff.
manufacturers.
* * * * *
THE POISON IN TOBACCO AND THE HARM IT DOES.
_THE POISON._--What is the poison in fermented liquors?--"Alcohol." In
distilled liquors?--"Alcohol" True; and the strongest poison in tobacco is
_nicotine_, named from the man who first sent it to France, Jean Nicot.
Beside this it contains several others, some of which we shall tell you
about when we make up our blackboard outline.
Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic; that is, it soothes pain and produces
sleep. Alcohol acts first upon the nerves; tobacco upon the muscles, which
it weakens and causes to tremble. It often causes palpitation of the heart.
If the skin is scratched or punctured, and tobacco poison put into the
wound, it will do the same harm as if it were taken into the stomach.
Tobacco is so dangerous that physicians do not use it much as a medicine.
_HARM DONE IN THE STOMACH._--You remember that after alcohol has been
swallowed, the little mouths of the stomach take it up and carry it to the
liver, which sends it with the blood to different parts of the body.
Tobacco, as we have already told you, poisons more slowly. People do not
swallow it purposely, yet some of it goes down, accidentally, into the
stomach with the saliva, and makes trouble there, causing nausea and
vomiting when taken for the first time. By and by the stomach seems to take
the poison without being hurt, but it really suffers from dyspepsia or
other diseases, and often loses its appetite for wholesome food.
_HARM DONE IN THE MOUTH, THROAT, AND LUNGS._--The mouth takes in some of
the poison through the pores of the membrane, or skin, which lines it;
those who smoke, sometimes have what is called "smokers' sore throat";
besides this, the senses of taste and smell arc more or less injured by
nicotine and the other poisons in tobacco.
The fumes, or smoke, from the weed fills the air with poisonous vapor which
irritates the lungs, not only of the smoker, but of all who are where they
must breathe the same atmosphere. Lungs thus irritated are liable to become
diseased.
Cigarettes are still more injurious than cigars because of the smoke from
their paper coverings; also, because from the way they are made, more of
the tobacco poison goes into the lungs. The cheap cigarette which boys use
is made from cast-away cigar stumps and other filthy things.
_HARM DONE IN THE BRAIN AND NERVES._--The smoker feels so rested and
comfortable, after his cigar, and his brain is so rested, that he does not
think about the mischief that is going on among its blood-vessels and
nerves; perhaps he has never heard that tobacco, snuffed, chewed, or smoked
hurts the brain, and does not learn about it until he finds he is losing
his memory, that his mind is not so strong to think as it should be, and
his will too weak to help him conquer his love for the snuff, tobacco, or
cigar, when he wishes to stop using it. He has become the slave of tobacco,
and it is not easy to get free from his cruel enemy.
The nerves also lose their power, or become more or less paralyzed by
nicotine and the other tobacco poisons.
_MORE ABOUT THE HARM DONE BY TOBACCO._--Some persons who continue to use
tobacco are strong enough to throw off the poison through the lungs, the
skin, and in other ways; but how much better it would be if they were not
obliged to employ their strength in getting rid of that which does them no
good, which only gives a little pleasure to nobody but themselves, and
often makes those suffer who are compelled to remain where they are having
"a good smoke." Beside, their breath and clothing have the tobacco odor,
which not only makes the air impure, but is disagreeable to most people.
If this be true of smoking, what shall we say about the filthy habit of
chewing, and the utterly useless and disgusting practice of taking snuff,
which injures the voice as well as the senses of taste and smell?
And what about spitting tobacco juice on the floors of cars, steamboats,
churches,--any place where it is convenient for the man or boy who has lost
his common politeness in his love for tobacco?
We must not forget that cigars, etc., cost money. No one who smokes, chews,
or snuffs would throw away dollars and cents which might be put into the
savings bank, or used in buying something worth having for himself or
somebody else.
Lastly, we would have you know that tobacco causes thirst, and this often
leads to drinking alcoholic liquors. Some one who has studied this subject,
says that "nine out of ten of the boys and young men who become drunkards
have first learned to smoke or chew tobacco." A New York daily paper gave a
list of 294 cases of insanity caused by drinking, in 246 of which the
whiskey drinking followed tobacco chewing.
Tobacco and alcohol make thousands of wretched homes, and send a great many
people to prison or to the insane asylum; so we entreat you to turn from
beer, wine, and all alcoholic liquors as you would from a serpent, and say
No, when tempted to smoke a cigar or use tobacco in any form.
Do this all the more decidedly because, as we have told you before, alcohol
and tobacco hurt children and young persons in every way more than they
injure any one else. If you have begun to use these poisons, give them up
this very day, before the habit of using them becomes too strong for you to
break.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS ON THE USE OF TOBACCO.
Of what poison beside alcohol have you been studying?--"Tobacco."
How is tobacco used?--"Some take it in snuff; some chew it; some smoke it
in a pipe; some smoke it in cigars or cigarettes."
What is the name of the strongest poison in tobacco?--"Nicotine."
What harm does tobacco poison do to the body?--See Blackboard Outline.
What harm does it do to the mind?--See Blackboard Outline.
Whom does it harm most?--"Those who begin to use it when they are children
or very young."
What happens to children or young people if they use tobacco in any
way?--"They are not healthy; they are not strong; they do not grow fast;
they look pale and sickly."
How does the tobacco poison hurt their minds?--"They cannot learn fast;
they often forget what they have learned."
What often makes tobacco-chewers, snuffers, and smokers disagreeable to
clean people?--"Their breath smells of tobacco; their clothes smell of
tobacco; they poison the air with tobacco-fumes; some have the filthy habit
of spitting tobacco-juice wherever they happen to be."
What other harm does the use of tobacco do to people?--"It makes them waste
time and money; it leads some to drink alcoholic liquors and to go with bad
company."
If you are wise how will you treat tobacco?--"I will let it alone."
If you have begun to use it what had you better do?--"Give it up to-day."
Why to-day?--"Because the longer I use it the harder it will be for me to
give it up."
If you keep on using it what will you be?--"A tobacco slave."
* * * * *
BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
TOBACCO.
POISONS IN TOBACCO SMOKE. EFFECTS OF THE POISONS.
Carbonic acid Causes sleepiness and headache.
Carbonic oxide Causes trembling of the muscles and
heart.
Ammonia Bites the tongue; makes too much
work for the salivary glands.
Nicotine See below.
NICOTINE
IS CAUSES
Odorous, Weakness,
Pungent, Nervousness,
Emetic, Dizziness,
Poisonous, Nausea,
Pain-soothing, Faintness,
Sleep-producing, _i.e._ Narcotic. Loss of strength,
Stupor,
_If taken in large quantities_ Convulsions and Death.
SOME OF THE HARM DONE BY TOBACCO
TO THE BODY. TO THE MIND, ETC.
Poisons the saliva. Makes the memory poor.
Injures the sense of smell, taste, Lessens the power to think.
sight, and hearing. Weakens the will.
Causes "smokers' sore-throat." Makes people grow in selfishness
Injures the stomach, causing and impoliteness.
dyspepsia, etc. Makes people waste time and
Often takes away the appetite for money.
wholesome food. Often leads to drunkenness and bad
Irritates the air-cells of the company.
lungs. Sometimes causes insanity.
Causes palpitation of the heart.
Weakens the muscles, causing
trembling.
Injures the eyes.
Excites, then stupefies and
paralyzes the brain and the nerves.
* * * * *
OPIUM AND OTHER NARCOTICS.
_OPIUM._--Opium is the juice obtained from the seed-vessels of the white
poppy before they are ripe; this is dried, and smoked in a pipe or chewed.
It makes a person feel very pleasant and happy for a little while, then so
horribly wretched that he takes more of the poison to forget his misery. So
he keeps on until mind and body are a complete wreck. Now and then an opium
slave gets free from the dreadful habit which has mastered him, but usually
the slavery ends only in death.
_LAUDANUM AND MORPHINE._--These soothe pain and cause sleep; but beware of
them; they are made from opium, and like it, though more slowly, hurt mind
and body.
Beware also of _chloral hydrate_ and _chloroform_, which physicians give to
ease suffering and produce sleep. _Endure pain_ rather than form the habit
of using these narcotics.
_HASHISH, ETC._--This is prepared from the hemp plant growing in hot
countries, and is a terribly exciting poison.
The _areca nut_, the seed from a kind of palm, pear-shaped, and resembling
a nutmeg, is mixed with quick-lime and wrapped in a betel-leaf, which grows
on a vine belonging to the pepper family. This mixture reddens the saliva
and lips, and blackens the teeth. It is chewed by millions of people in
India.
The leaves of the _coca_, also of the _thorn apple_, are smoked or chewed
by the South American Indian.
ALL these poisons mean the same thing,--
_A little pleasure_, DISEASE, and DEATH.
* * * * *
Practical Work in the School-Room.
BY SARAH F. BUCKELEW & MARGARET W. LEWIS.
Part I.--THE HUMAN BODY.
TEACHERS' EDITION.
A TRANSCRIPT OF LESSONS GIVEN IN THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL
NO. 49, NEW YORK CITY.
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