HOW TO KEEP THE LUNGS HEALTHY.
~1. Pure Air Necessary.~--A person may go without eating for a month, or
without drinking for several days, and still live; but a strong man will
die in a few moments if deprived of air. It is very important that we
breathe plenty of pure air. There are many ways in which the air becomes
impure.
~2. Bad Odors.~--Anything which rots or decays will in so doing produce
an unpleasant odor. Bad odors produced in this way are very harmful and
likely to make us sick. Many people have rotting potatoes and other
vegetables in their cellars, and swill barrels, and heaps of refuse in
their back yards. These are all dangerous to health, and often give rise
to very serious disease. We should always remember that bad odors caused
by decaying substances are signs of danger to health and life, and that
these substances should be removed from us, or we should get away from
them, as soon as possible.
~3. Germs.~--The chief reason why bad odors are dangerous is that they
almost always have with them little living things called _germs_. Germs
are so small that they cannot be seen by the naked eye: it takes a
strong microscope to enable us to see them, but they are so powerful to
do harm that if we receive them into our bodies they are likely to make
us very sick, and they often cause death.
~4. Contagious Diseases.~--You have heard about diphtheria and scarlet
fever and measles, and other "catching diseases." When a person is sick
with one of these diseases, the air about him is poisoned with germs or
something similar, which may give the same disease to other persons who
inhale it. So when a person is sick from one of these diseases, it is
very important that he should be put in a room by himself and shut away
from every one but the doctor and the nurse. It is also necessary that
all the clothing and bedding used by the sick person, and everything in
the room, as well as the room itself, should be carefully cleansed and
disinfected when the person has recovered, so as to wipe out every trace
of the disease. The writer has known many cases in which persons who
have been sick with some of these diseases were careless and gave the
disease to others who died of it, although they themselves recovered. Do
you not think it very wrong for a person to give to another through
carelessness a disease which may cause his death?
~5.~ Unhealthful vapors and odors of various sorts arise from cisterns
and damp, close places under a house. Rooms which are shaded and shut up
so closely that fresh air and sunshine seldom get into them should be
avoided as dangerous to health.
~6. Breath-Poisoned Air.~--The most dangerous of all the poisons to
which we are exposed through the air are those of the breath, of which
we learned in a preceding lesson. We need plenty of fresh air to take
the place of the air which we poison by our breath. Every time we
breathe, we spoil at least _half a barrelful of air_. We breathe twenty
times a minute, and hence spoil ten barrels of air in one minute. How
many barrels would this make in one hour? We need an equal quantity of
pure air to take the place of the spoiled air, or not less than ten
barrels every minute, or _six hundred barrels every hour_.
~7. Ventilation.~--The only way to obtain the amount of fresh air
needed, when we are shut up in-doors, is to have some means provided by
which the fresh air shall be brought in and the old and impure air
carried out. Changing the air by such means is called _ventilation_.
Every house, and especially every sleeping-room, should be well
ventilated. School-houses, churches, and other places where many people
gather, need perfect ventilation. Ask your teacher to show you how the
school-room is ventilated; and when you go home, talk to your parents
about the ventilation of the house in which you live.
~8.~ Many people ventilate their houses by opening the doors and
windows. This is a very good way of ventilating a house in warm weather,
but is a very poor way in cold weather, as it causes cold draughts, and
makes the floor cold, so that it is difficult to keep the feet warm. It
is much better to have the air warmed by a furnace or some similar
means, before it enters the rooms. There ought also to be in each room a
register to take the foul air out, so that it will not be necessary to
open the windows. This register should be placed at the floor, because
when the pure air enters the room warm, it first rises to the upper part
of the room, and then as it cools and at the same time becomes impure,
it settles to the floor, where it should be taken out by the register.
~9. How to Breathe.~--We should always take pains to expand the lungs
well in breathing, and to use the entire chest, both the upper and the
lower part. Clothing should be worn in such a way that every portion of
the chest can be expanded. For this reason it is very wrong to wear the
clothing tight about the waist. Clothing so worn is likely to cause the
lungs to become diseased.
~10. Bad Habits.~--Students are very apt to make themselves flat-chested
and round-shouldered by leaning over their desks while writing or
studying. This is very harmful. We should always use great care to sit
erect and to draw the shoulders well back. Then, if we take pains to
fill the lungs well a great many times every day, we shall form the
habit of expanding the lungs, and shall breathe deeper, even when we are
not thinking about doing so.
~11. Breathing through the Nose.~--In breathing, we should always take
care to draw the air in through the nose, and not through the mouth. The
nose acts as a strainer, to remove particles of dust which might do harm
if allowed to enter the lungs. It also warms and moistens the air in
cold weather. The habit of breathing through the mouth often gives rise
to serious disease of the throat and lungs.
~12. Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco upon the Lungs.~--Both alcohol and
tobacco produce disease of the breathing organs. Smoking injures the
throat and sometimes causes loss of smell. Serious and even fatal
diseases of the lungs are often caused by alcohol.
~13.~ Many people suppose that the use of alcohol will save a man from
consumption. This is not true. A man may become a drunkard by the use of
alcohol, and yet he is more likely to have consumption than he would
have been if he had been a total abstainer. "Drunkard's consumption" is
one of the most dreadful forms of this disease.
SUMMARY.
1. Pure air is as necessary as food and drink.
2. Anything which is rotting or undergoing decay causes a bad odor, and
thus makes the air impure.
3. Foul air contains germs which cause disease and often death.
4. Persons sick with "catching" diseases should be carefully avoided.
Such persons should be shut away from those who are well, and their
rooms and clothing should be carefully cleansed and disinfected.
5. The breath poisons the air about us. Each breath spoils half a
barrelful of air.
6. We should change the air in our houses, or ventilate them, so that we
may always have pure air.
7. We should always keep the body erect, and expand the lungs well in
breathing.
8. The clothing about the chest and waist should be loose, so that the
lungs may have room to expand.
9. Always breathe through the nose.
10. Tobacco causes disease of the throat and nose.
11. Alcohol causes consumption and other diseases of the lungs.