4. CHLORAL HYDRATE.

CHLORAL HYDRATE is a drug frequently used to cause sleep. It leaves behind no headache or lassitude, as is often the case with morphine. It is, however, a treacherous remedy. It is cumulative in its effects, i. e., even a small and harmless dose, persisted in for a long period, may produce a gradual accumulation of evil results that in the end will prove fatal.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT of its prolonged use is very marked. The appetite becomes capricious. The secretions are unnatural. Nausea and flatulency often ensue. Then the nervous system is involved. The heart is affected. Sleep, instead of responding to the drug, as at first, is broken and disturbed. The eyesight fails. The circulation is enfeebled, and the pulse becomes weak, rapid, and irregular. There is a tendency to fainting and to difficult respiration. Sometimes the impoverished blood induces a disease resembling scurvy, the ends of the fingers ulcerate, and the face is disfigured by blotches. An excessive dose may result in death.

Prolonged habitual use of chloral hydrate tends to debase the mind and morals of the subject in the same manner as indulgence in alcohol, ether, or chloroform.

5. CHLOROFORM.

CHLOROFORM is an artificial product generally obtained, by distillation, from a mixture of chloride of lime, water, and alcohol. It was discovered in 1831 by Samuel Guthrie, of Sackett's Harbor, New York. It is a colorless, transparent volatile liquid, with a strong ethereal odor.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT.—Chloroform is a powerful anesthetic, which, when inhaled, causes a temporary paralysis of the nervous system, and thus a complete insensibility to pain. There is great peril attending its use, even in the hands of the most skillful and experienced practitioners. It is sometimes prescribed by a physician, and afterward (as in the case of laudanum, morphine, and chloral) the sufferer, charmed with the release from pain and the peaceful slumber secured, buys the Lethean liquid for himself. Its use soon becomes an apparent necessity. The craving for the narcotic at a stated time is almost irresistible. The patient, compelled to give up the use of chloroform, will demand, entreat, pray for another dose, in a heartrending manner, never to be forgotten. Paleness and debility, the earliest symptoms, are followed by mental prostration. Familiarity with this dangerous drug begets carelessness, and its victims are frequently found dead in their beds, with the handkerchief from which they inhaled the volatile poison clutched in their lifeless hands.

6. COCAINE.

Cocaine is an alkaloid prepared from the erythroxylon coca, a shrub, five or six feet high, found wild in the mountainous regions of Ecuador and Peru, where it is also cultivated by the natives. The South American Indians, for centuries, have chewed coca leaves as a stimulant, but the highly poisonous principle, now called cocaine, to which the plant owes its peculiar effects, was not discovered till 1859. Within a few years this drug has come into favor as an agent to produce local anesthesia, and has proved exceedingly valuable in surgical operations upon the eye and other sensitive organs. It has already, however, been diverted from its legitimate use as a benefaction, and to the other evils of the day is now added the "cocaine habit," which is, perhaps, even more dangerous and difficult to abandon than either the alcohol or the opium habit.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT.—Applied locally, cocaine greatly lessens and even annihilates pain. Taken internally, it acts as a powerful stimulant to the nervous system, its physiological action being similar to that of theine (p. 170), caffeine, and theobromine. Used hypodermically, its immediate effect, says one to whom it was thus administered, is to cause "great pallor of countenance, profuse frontal perspiration, sunken eyes, enlarged pupils, lessened sensitiveness of the cornea and conjunctiva, lowered arterial tension, and a feeble pulse and heart beat. Under its influence I could not reason. Everything seemed to run through my brain, and in vain I summoned all my will power to overcome an overwhelming sleepiness." A few doses of this drug will in some persons produce temporary insanity. Used to excess, it leads to permanent madness or idiocy. "Cocaine," says a writer in the Medical Review, "is a dangerous therapeutic toy not to be used as a sensational plaything. If it should come into as general use as the other intoxicants of its class, it will help to fill the asylums, inebriate and insane."

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS.

1. Why is the pain of incipient hip disease frequently felt in the knee?

2. Why does a child require more sleep than an aged person?

3. When you put your finger in the palm of a sleeping child, why will he grasp it?

4. How may we strengthen the brain?

5. What is the object of pain?

6. Why will a blow on the stomach sometimes stop the heart?

7. How long will it take for the brain of a man six feet high to receive news of an injury to his foot, and to reply?

8. How can we grow beautiful?

9. Why do intestinal worms sometimes affect a child's sight?

10. Is there any indication of character in physiognomy?

11. When one's finger is burned, where is the ache?

12. Is a generally closed parlor a healthful room?

13. Why can an idle scholar read his lesson and at the same time count the marbles in his pocket?

14. In amputating a limb, what part, when divided, will cause the keenest pain?

15. What is the effect of bad air on nervous people?

16. Is there any truth in the proverb that "he who sleeps dines"?

17. What does a high, wide forehead indicate?

18. How does indigestion frequently cause a headache?

19. What is the cause of one's foot being "asleep"? [Footnote: Here the nervous force is prevented from passing by compression. Just how this is done, or what is kept from passing, we can not tell. If a current of electricity were moving through a rubber tube full of mercury, a slight squeeze would interrupt it. These cases may depend on the same general principle, but we can not assert it.—HUXLEY. The tingling sensation caused by the compression is transferred to the foot, whence the nerve starts.]

20. When an injury to the nose has been remedied by transplanting skin from the forehead, why is a touch to the former felt in the latter?

21. Are closely curtained windows healthful?

22. Why, in falling from a height, do the limbs instinctively take a position to defend the important organs?

23. What causes the pylorus to open and close at the right time?

24. Why is pleasant exercise most beneficial?

25. Why does grief cause one to lose his appetite?

26. Why should we never study directly after dinner?

27. What produces the peristaltic movement of the stomach?

28. Why is a healthy child so restless and full of mischief?

29. Why is a slight blow on the back of a rabbit's neck fatal?

30. Why can one walk and carry on a conversation at the same time?

31. What are the dangers of overstudy?

32. What is the influence of idleness upon the brain?

33. State the close relation which exists between physical and mental health and disease.

34. In what consists the value of the power of habit?

35. How many pairs of nerves supply the eye?

36. Describe the reflex actions in reading aloud.

37. Under what circumstances does paralysis occur?

38. If the eyelids of a profound sleeper were raised, and a candle brought near, would the iris contract?

39. How does one cough in his sleep?

40. Give illustrations of the unconscious action of the brain.

41. Is chewing tobacco more injurious than smoking?

42. Ought a man to retire from business while his faculties are still unimpaired?

43. Which is the more exhaustive to the brain, worry or severe mental application?

44. Is it a blessing to be placed beyond the necessity for work?

45. Show how anger, hate, and the other degrading passions are destructive to the brain. [Footnote: "One of the surest means for keeping the body and mind in perfect health consists in learning to hold the passions in subservience to the reasoning faculties. This rule applies to every passion. Man, distinguished from all other animals by the peculiarity that his reason is placed above his passions to be the director of his will, can protect himself from every mere animal degradation resulting from passionate excitement. The education of the man should be directed not to suppress such passions as are ennobling, but to bring all under governance, and specially to subdue those most destructive passions, anger, hate, and fear."]

46. Are not amusements, to repair the waste of the nervous energy, especially needed by persons whose life is one of care and toil?

47. Is not severe mental labor incompatible with a rapidly growing body?

48. How shall we induce the system to perform all its functions regularly

49. How does alcohol interfere with the action of the nerves?

50. What is the general effect of alcohol upon the character?

51. Does alcohol tend to produce clearness and vigor of thought?

52. What is the general effect of alcohol on the muscles?

53. Does alcohol have any effect on the bones? The skin?

54. What is the cause of the "alcoholic chill"?

55. Show how alcohol tends to develop man's lower, rather than his higher, nature.

56. When we wish really to strengthen the brain, should we use alcohol?

57. Why is alcohol used to preserve anatomical specimens?

58. What is meant by an inherited taste for liquor?

59. Ought a person to be punished for a crime committed during intoxication?

60. Should a boy ever smoke?

61. To what extent are we responsible for the health of our body?

62. Why does alcohol tend to collect in the brain?

63. Does the use of alcohol tend to increase crime and poverty?



VIII.

THE SPECIAL SENSES.

"See how yon beam of seeming white Is braided, out of seven-hued light; Yet in those lucid globes no ray By any chance shall break astray. Hark, how the rolling surge of sound, Arches and spirals circling round, Wakes the hush'd spirit through thine ear With music it is heaven to hear."

HOLMES.

"Let us remember that if we get a glimpse of the details of natural phenomena, and of those movements which constitute life, it is not in considering them as a whole, but in analyzing them as far as our limited means will permit. In the vibrations of the globe of air which surrounds our planet, as in the undulations of the ether which fills the immensity of space, it is always by molecules which are intangible for us, put in motion by nature, always by the infinitely little, that she acts in exciting the organs of sense, and she has modeled these organs in a proportion which enables them to partake in the movement which she impresses upon the universe. She can paint with equal facility on a fraction of a line of space on the retina, the grandest landscape or the nervelets of a rose leaf; the celestial vault on which Sirius is but a luminous point, or the sparkling dust of a butterfly's wing; the roar of the tempest, the roll of thunder, the echo of an avalanche, find equal place in the labyrinth whose almost imperceptible cavities seem destined to receive only the most delicate sounds."

1. THE TOUCH... 1. Description of the Organ. 2. Its Uses. 2. THE TASTE... 1. Description of the Organ. 2. Its Uses. 3. THE SMELL... 1. Description of the Organ. 2. Its Uses. 1. Description of the a. External Ear. Organ............... b. Middle Ear. 4. THE HEARING. c. Internal Ear. 2. How we Hear 3. Hygiene of the Ear. 1. Description of the Organ. 2. Eyelids, and Tears. 3. Structure of the Retina. 5. THE SIGHT... 4. How we see. 5. The Use of the Crystalline Lens. 6. Near and Far Sight. 7. Color Blindness. 8. Hygiene of the Eyes.

THE SPECIAL SENSES

1. TOUCH.

DESCRIPTION.—Touch is sometimes called the "common sense," since its nerves are spread over the whole body. It is most delicate, however, in the point of the tongue and the tips of the fingers. The surface of the cutis is covered with minute, conical projections called papille (Fig. 24). [Footnote: In the palm of the hand, where there are at least twelve thousand in a square inch, we can see the fine ridges along which they are arranged.] Each one of these papille contains its tiny nerve twigs, which receive the impression and transmit it to the brain, where the perception is produced.

USES.—Touch is the first of the senses used by a child. By it we obtain our idea of solidity, and throughout life rectify all other sensations. Thus, when we see anything curious, our first desire is to handle it.

The sensation of touch is generally relied upon, yet, if we hold a marble in the manner shown in Fig. 57, it will seem like two marbles; and if we touch the fingers thus crossed to our tongue, we shall seem to feel two tongues. Again, if we close our eyes and let another person move one of our fingers over a plane surface, first lightly, then with greater pressure, and then lightly again, we shall think the surface concave.

FIG. 57.



This organ is capable of wonderful cultivation. The physician acquires by practice the tactus eruditus, or learned touch, which is often of great service, while the delicacy of touch possessed by the blind almost compensates the loss of the absent sense. [Footnote: The sympathy between the different organs shows how they all combine to make a home for the mind. When one sense fails, the others endeavor to remedy the defect. It is touching to see how the blind man gets along without eyes, and the deaf without ears. Cuthbert, though blind, was the most efficient polisher of telescopic mirrors in London. Saunderson, the successor of Newton as professor of mathematics at Cambridge, could distinguish between real and spurious medals. There is an instance recorded of a blind man who could recognize colors. The author knew one who could tell when he was approaching a tree, by what he described as the "different feeling of the air."] (See p. 346.)

2. TASTE.

DESCRIPTION.—This sense is located in the papille of the tongue and palate. These papillae start up when tasting, as you can see by placing a drop of vinegar on another person's tongue, or your own before a mirror. The velvety look of this organ is given by hair-like projections of the cuticle upon some of the papille. They absorb the liquid to be tasted, and convey it to the nerves. [Footnote: An insoluble substance is therefore tasteless.] The back of the tongue is most sensitive to salt and bitter substances, and, as this part is supplied by the ninth pair of nerves (Fig. 56), in sympathy with the stomach, such flavors, by sympathy, often produce vomiting. The edges of the tongue are most sensitive to sweet and sour substances, and as this part is supplied by the fifth pair of nerves, which also goes to the face, an acid, by sympathy, distorts the countenance.

FIG. 58.



THE USE OF THE TASTE was originally to guide in the selection of food; but this sense has become so depraved by condiments and the force of habit that it would be a difficult task to tell what are one's natural tastes.

3. SMELL. [Footnote: The sense of smell is so intimately connected with that of taste that we often fail to distinguish between them. Garlic, vanilla, coffee and various spices, which seem to have such distinct taste, have really a powerful odor, but a feeble flavor.]

DESCRIPTION.—The nose, the seat of the sense of smell, is composed of cartilage covered with muscles and skin, and joined to the skull by small bones. The nostrils open at the back into the pharynx, and are lined by a continuation of the mucous membrane of the throat. The olfactory nerves (first pair, Fig. 55) enter through a sieve-like, bony plate at the roof of the nose, and are distributed over the inner surface of the two olfactory chambers. (See p. 346.) The object to be smelled need not touch the nose, but tiny particles borne on the air enter the nasal passages. [Footnote: Three quarters of a grain of musk placed in a room will cause a powerful smell for a considerable length of time without any sensible diminution in weight, and the box in which musk has been placed retains the perfume for almost an indefinite period. Haller relates that some papers which had been perfumed by a grain of ambergris, were still very odoriferous after a lapse of forty years. Odors are transported by the air to a considerable distance. A dog recognizes his master's approach by smell even when he is far away; and we are assured by navigators that the winds bring the delicious odors of the balmy forests of Ceylon to a distance of ten leagues from the coast. Even after making due allowance for the effects of the imagination, it is certain that odors act as an excitant on the brain, which may be dangerous when long continued. They are especially dreaded by the Roman women. It is well known that in ancient times the women of Rome indulged in a most immoderate use of baths and perfumes; but those of our times have nothing in common with them in this respect; and the words of a lady are quoted, who said on admiring an artificial rose, "It is all the more beautiful that it has no smell." We are warned by the proverb not to discuss colors or tastes, and we may add odors also. Men and nations differ singularly in this respect. The Laplander and the Esquimaux find the smell of fish oil delicious. Wrangel says his compatriots, the Russians, are very fond of the odor of pickled cabbage, which forms an important part of their food; and asafoetida, it is said, is used as a condiment in Persia, and, in spite of its name, there are persons who do not find its odor disagreeable any more than that of valerian.—Wonders of the Human body.]

FIG. 59.



THE USES of the sense of smell are to guide us in the choice of our food, and to warn us against bad air, and unhealthy localities. (See p. 348.)

4. HEARING.

DESCRIPTION.—The ear is divided into the external, middle, and internal ear.

1. The External Ear is a sheet of cartilage curiously folded for catching sound. The auditory canal, B, or tube of this ear trumpet, is about an inch long. Across the lower end is stretched the membrane of the tympanum or drum, which is kept soft by a fluid wax.

FIG. 60.



2. The Middle Ear is a cavity, at the bottom of which is the Eustachian tube, G, leading to the mouth. Across this chamber hangs a chain of three singular little bones, C, named from their shape the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. All together these tiny bones weigh only a few grains, yet they are covered by a periosteum, are supplied with blood vessels, and they articulate with perfect joints (one a ball-and-socket, the other a hinge), having synovial membranes, cartilages, ligaments, and muscles.

3. The Internal Ear, or labyrinth, as it is sometimes called from its complex character, is hollowed out of the solid bone. In front, is the vestibule or antechamber, A, about as large as a grain of wheat; from it open three semicircular canals, D, and the winding stair of the cochlea, or snail shell, E. Here expand the delicate fibrils of the auditory nerve. Floating in the liquid which fills the labyrinth is a little bag containing hair-like bristles, fine sand, and two ear stones (otoliths). All these knocking against the ends of the nerves, serve to increase any impulse given to the liquid in which they lie. Finally, to complete this delicate apparatus, in the cochlea are minute tendrils, named the fibers of Corti, from their discoverer. These are regularly arranged,—the longest at the bottom, and the shortest at the top. Could this spiral plate, which coils two and a half times around, be unrolled and made to stand upright, it would form a beautiful microscopic harp of three thousand strings. If it were possible to strike these cords as one can the keyboard of a piano, he could produce in the mind of the person experimented upon every variety of tone which the ear can distinguish.

HOW WE HEAR.—Whenever one body strikes another in the air, waves are produced, just as when we throw a stone into the water a series of concentric circles surrounds the spot where it sinks. These waves of air strike upon the membrane. This vibrates, and sends the motion along the chain of bones in the middle ear to the fluids of the labyrinth. Here bristles, sand, and stones pound away, and the wondrous harp of the cochlea, catching up the pulsations, [Footnote: The original motion is constantly modified by the medium through which it passes. The bristles, otoliths, and Cortian fibers of the ear, and the rods and cones of the eye (p. 239) serve to convert the vibrations into pulsations which act as stimuli of the appropriate nerve. The molecular change thus produced in the nerve fibers is propagated to the brain.—See Popluar Physics, p. 182.] carries them to the fibers of the auditory nerve, which conveys them to the brain, and gives to the mind the idea of sound.

CARE OF THE EAR.—The delicacy of the ear is such that it needs the greatest care. Cold water should not be allowed to enter the auditory canal. If the wax accumulate, never remove it with a hard instrument, lest the delicate membrane be injured, but with a little warm water, after which turn the head to let the water run out, and wipe the ear dry. The hair around the ears should never be left wet, as it may chill this sensitive organ. If an insect get in the external ear, pour in a little oil to kill it, and then remove with tepid water. The object of the Eustachian tube is to admit air into the ear, and thus equalize the pressure on the membrane. If it become closed by a cold, or if, from any cause, the pressure be made unequal, so as to produce an unpleasant feeling in the ear, relief may often be obtained by grasping the nose and forcibly swallowing. (See p. 350.)

5. SIGHT.

FIG. 61.



DESCRIPTION.—The eye is lodged in a bony cavity, protected by the overhanging brow. It is a globe, about an inch in diameter. The ball is covered by three coats—(l) the sclerotic, d, a tough, horny casing, which gives shape to the eye, the convex, transparent part in front forming a window, the cornea, d; (2) the choroid, e, a black lining, to absorb the superfluous light [Footnote: Neither white rabbits nor albinos have this black lining, and hence their sight is confused.] and (3) the retina, b, a membrane in which expand fibers of the optic nerve, o. The crystalline lens, a, brings the rays of light to a focus on the retina. The lens is kept in place by the ciliary processes, g, arranged like the rays in the disk of a passion flower. Between the cornea and the crystalline lens is a limpid fluid termed the aqueous humor; while the vitreous humor—a transparent, jelly-like liquid fills the space (h) back of the crystalline lens. The pupil, k, is a hole in the colored, muscular curtain, i, the iris (rainbow). (See p. 352.)

FIG. 62.



EYELIDS AND TEARS.—The eyelids are close-fitting shutters to screen the eye. The inner side is lined with a mucous membrane that is exceedingly sensitive, and thus aids in protecting the eye from any irritating substance. The looseness of the skin favors swelling from inflammation or the effusion of blood, as in a "black eye." The eyelashes serve as a kind of sieve to exclude the dust, and, with the lids, to shield against a blinding light. Just within the lashes are oil glands, which lubricate the edges of the lids, and prevent them from adhering to each other. The tear or lachrymal gland, G, is an oblong body lodged in the bony wall of the orbit. It empties by several ducts upon the inner surface, at the outer edge of the upper eyelid. Thence the tears, washing the eye, run into the lachrymal lake, D, a little basin with a rounded border fitted for their reception. On each side of this lake two canals, C, C, drain off the overplus through the duct, B, into the nose. In old age and in disease, these canals fail to conduct the tears away, and hence the lachrymal lake overflows upon the face.

FIG. 63.



STRUCTURE OF THE RETINA.—In Fig. 63 is shown a section of the retina, greatly magnified, since this membrane never exceeds 1/80 an inch in thickness. On the inner surface next to the vitreous humor, is a lining membrane not shown in the cut. Next to the choroid and comprising about 1/4 the entire thickness of the retina, is a multitude of transparent, colorless, microscopic rods, a, evenly arranged and packed side by side, like the seeds on the disk of a sunflower. Among them, at regular intervals, are interspersed the cones, b. Delicate nerve fibers pass from the ends of the rods and cones, each expanding into a granular body, c, thence weaving a mesh, d, and again expanding into the granules, f. Last is a layer of fine nerve fibers, g, and gray, ganglionic cells, h, like the gray matter of the brain, whence filaments extend into i, the fibers of the optic nerve. (See p. 354.)

The layer of rods and cones is to the eye what the bristles, otoliths, and Cortian fibers are to the ear. Indeed, the nerve itself is insensible to light. At the point where it enters the eye, there are no rods and cones, and this is called the blind spot. A simple experiment will illustrate the fact. Hold this book directly before the face, and, closing the left eye, look steadily with the right at the left-hand circle in Fig. 64. Move the book back and forth, and a point will be found where the right-hand circle vanishes from sight. At that moment its light falls upon the spot where the rods and cones are lacking.

FIG. 64.



HOW WE SEE.—There is believed to be a kind of universal atmosphere, termed ether, filling all space. This substance is infinitely more subtle than the air, and occupies its pores, as well as those of all other substances. As sound is caused by waves in the atmosphere, so light is produced by waves in the ether. A lamplight, for example, sets in motion waves of ether, which pass in through the pupil of the eye, to the retina, where the rods and cones transmit the vibration through the optic nerve to the brain, and then the mind perceives the light. (Note, p. 236.)

THE USE OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS. [Footnote: The uses of the eye and ear are dependent upon the principles of Optics and Acoustics. They are therefore best treated in Physics.]—A convex lens, as a common burning glass, bends the rays of light which pass through it, so that they meet at a point called the focus. The crystalline lens converges the rays of light which enter the eye, and brings them to a focus on the retina. [Footnote: The cornea and the humors of the eye act in the same manner as the crystalline lens, but not so powerfully.] The healthy lens has a power of changing its convexity so as to adapt [Footnote: The simplest way of experimenting on the "adjustment of the eye" is to stick two stout needles upright into a straight piece of wood,—not exactly, but nearly in the same straight line, so that, on applying the eye to one end of the piece of wood, one needle (A) shall be seen about six inches off, and the other (B) just on one side of it, at twelve inches distance. If the observer looks at the needle B he will find that he sees it very distinctly, and without the least sense of effort; but the image of A is blurred, and more or less double. Now, let him try to make this blurred image of the needle A distinct. He will find he can do so readily enough, but that the act is accompanied by a sense of fatigue. And in proportion as A becomes distinct, B will become blurred. Nor will any effort enable him to see A and B distinctly at the same time.—HUXLEY.] itself to near and to distant objects. (See Fig. 66.)

FIG. 65.



NEAR AND FAR SIGHT.—If the lens be too convex, it will bring the rays to a focus before they reach the retina; if too flat, they will reach the retina before coming to a focus. In either case, the sight will be indistinct. A more common defect, however, is in the shape of the globe of the eye, which is either flattened or elongated. In the former case (see G, Fig. 67), objects at a distance can be seen most distinctly— hence that is called farsightedness. [Footnote: This should not be confounded with the long sight of old people, which is caused by the stiffness of the ciliary muscles, whereby the lens can not adapt itself to the varying distances of objects.] In the latter, objects near by are clearer, and hence this is termed nearsightedness. Farsightedness is remedied by convex glasses; nearsightedness, by concave. When glasses will improve the sight they should be worn; [Footnote: Dr. Henry W. Williams, the celebrated ophthalmologist, says that, in some cases, glasses are more necessary at six or eight years of age than to the majority of healthy eyes at sixty. Sometimes children find accidentally that they can see better through grandmother's spectacles. They should then be supplied with their own.] any delay will be liable to injure the eyes, by straining their already impaired power. Cataract is a disease in which there is an opacity of the crystalline lens or its capsules, which obscures the vision. The lens may be caused to be absorbed, or may be removed by a skillful surgeon and the defect remedied by wearing convex glasses.

FIG. 66.



FIG. 67.



COLOR-BLIND PERSONS receive only two of the three elementary color sensations (green, red, violet). The spectrum appears to them to consist of two decidedly different colors, with a band of neutral tint between. The extreme red end is invisible, and a bright scarlet and a deep green appear alike. They are unable to distinguish between the leaves of a cherry tree and its fruit by the color of the two, and see no difference between blue and yellow cloth. Whittier, the poet, it is said, could not tell red from green unless in direct sunlight. Once he patched some damaged wall paper in his library by matching a green vine in the pattern with one of a bright autumnal crimson. This defect in the eye is often unnoticed, and many railway accidents have doubtless happened through an inability to detect the color of signal lights.

CARE OF THE EYES.—The shape of the eye can not be changed by rubbing and pressing it, as many suppose, but the sight may thus be fatally injured. Children troubled by nearsightedness should not lean forward at their work, as thereby the vessels of the eye become overcharged with blood. They should avoid fine print, and try, in every possible way, to spare their eyes. If middle age be reached without especial difficulty of sight, the person is comparatively safe. Most cases of squinting are caused by longsightedness, the muscles being strained in the effort to obtain distinct vision. In childhood, it may be cured by a competent surgeon, who will generally cut the muscle that draws the eye out of place.

After any severe illness, especially after measles, scarlatina, or typhoid fever, the eyes should be used with extreme caution, since they share in the general debility of the body, and recover their strength slowly. Healthy eyes even should never be used to read fine print or by a dim light. Serious injury may be caused by an imprudence of this kind. Reading upon the cars is also a fruitful source of harm. The lens, striving to adapt itself to the incessantly varying distance of the page, soon becomes wearied. Whenever the eyes begin to ache, it is a warning that they are being overtaxed and need rest.

Objects that get into the eye should be removed before they cause inflammation; rubbing in the meantime only irritates and increases the sensitiveness. If the eye be shut for a few moments, so as to let the tears accumulate, and the upper lid be then lifted by taking hold of it at the center, the cinder or dust is often washed away at once. Trifling objects can be removed by simply drawing the upper lid as far as possible over the lower one; when the lid flies back to its place, the friction will detach any light substance. If it becomes necessary, turn the upper lid over a pencil, and the intruder may then be wiped off with a handkerchief. "Eye-stones" are a popular delusion. When they seem to take out a cinder, it is only because they raise the eyelid, and allow the tears to wash it out. No one should ever use an eyewash, except by medical advice. The eye is too delicate an organ to be trifled with, and when any disease is suspected, a reliable physician should be consulted. This is especially necessary, since, when one eye is injured, the other, by sympathy, is liable to become inflamed, and perhaps be destroyed.

When reading or working, the light should be at the left side, or at the rear; never in front.

The constant increase of defective eyesight among the pupils in our schools is an alarming fact. Dr. Agnew considers that our schoolrooms are fast making us a spectacle-using people. Nearsightedness seems to increase from class to class, until in the upper departments, there are sometimes as high as fifty per cent of the pupils thus afflicted. The causes are (1), desks so placed as to make the light from the windows shine directly into the eyes of the scholars; (2), cross lights from opposite windows; (3), insufficient light; (4), small type that strains the eyes; and (5), the position of the pupil as he bends over his desk or slate, causing the blood to settle in his eyes. All these causes can be remedied; the position of the desks can be changed; windows can be shaded, or new ones inserted; books and newspapers that try the eyes can be rejected; and every pupil can be taught how to sit at study.

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS.

1. Why does a laundress test the temperature of her flatiron by holding it near her cheek?

2. When we are cold, why do we spread the palms of our hands before the fire?

3. What is meant by a "furred tongue"?

4. Why has sand or sulphur no taste?

5. What was the origin of the word palatable?

6. Why does a cold in the head injure the flavor of our coffee?

7. Name some so-called flavors that are really sensations of touch.

8. What is the object of the hairs in the nostrils?

9. What use does the nose subserve in the process of respiration?

10. Why do we sometimes hold the nose when we take unpleasant medicine?

11. Why was the nose placed over the mouth?

12. Describe how the hand is adapted to be the instrument of touch.

13. Besides being the organ of taste, what use does the tongue subserve?

14. Why is not the act of tasting complete until we swallow?

15. Why do all things have the same flavor when one's tongue is "furred" by fever?

16. Which sense is the more useful—hearing or sight?

17. Which coat is the white of the eye?

18. What makes the difference in the color of eyes?

19. Why do we snuff the air when we wish to obtain a distinct smell?

20. Why do red-hot iron and frozen mercury (-40 degrees) produce the same sensation?

21. Why can an elderly person drink tea which to a child would be unbearably hot?

22. Why does an old man hold his paper so far from his eyes?

23. Would you rather be punished on the tips of your fingers than on the palm of your hand?

24. What is the object of the eyelashes? Are the hairs straight?

25. What is the use of winking?

26. When you wink, do the eyelids touch at once along their whole length? Why?

27. How many rows of hairs are there in the eyelashes?

28. Do all nations have eyes of the same shape?

29. Why does snuff taking cause a flow of tears?

30. Why does a fall cause one to "see stars"?

31. Why can we not see with the nose, or smell with the eyes?

32. What causes the roughness of a cat's tongue?

33. Is the cuticle essential to touch?

34. Can one tickle himself?

35. Why does a bitter taste often produce vomiting?

36. Is there any danger in looking "crosseyed" for fun?

37. Should schoolroom desks face a window?

38. Why do we look at a person to whom we are listening attentively?

39. Do we really feel with our fingers?

40. Is the eye a perfect sphere? (See Fig. 61.)

41. How often do we wink?

42. Why is the interior of a telescope or microscope often painted black?

43. What is "the apple of the eye"?

44. What form of glasses do old people require?

45. Should we ever wash our ears with cold water?

46. What is the object of the winding passages in the nose?

47. Can a smoker tell in the dark, whether or not his cigar is lighted?

48. Will a nerve reunite after it has been cut?

49. Will the sight give us an idea of solidity? [Footnote: A case occurred a few years ago, in London, where a friend of my own performed an operation upon a young woman who had been born blind, and, though an attempt had been made in early years to cure her, it had failed. She was able just to distinguish large objects, the general shadow, as it were, without any distinct perception of form, and to distinguish light from darkness. She could work well with her needle by the touch, and could use her scissors and bodkin and other implements by the training of her hand, so to speak, alone Well, my friend happened to see her, and he examined her eyes, and told her that he thought he could get her sight restored; at any rate, it was worth a trial. The operation succeeded; and, being a man of intelligence and quite aware of the interest of such a case, he carefully studied and observed it; and he completely confirmed all that had been previously laid down by the experience of similar cases. There was one little incident which will give you an idea of the education which is required for what you would suppose is a thing perfectly simple and obvious. She could not distinguish by sight the things that she was perfectly familiar with by the touch, at least when they were first presented to her eyes. She could not recognize even a pair of scissors. Now, you would have supposed that a pair of scissors, of all things in the world, having been continually used by her, and their form having become perfectly familiar to her hands, would have been most readily recognized by her sight; and yet she did not know what they were; she had not an idea until she was told, and then she laughed, as she said, at her own stupidity. No stupidity at all; she had never learned it, and it was one of those things which she could not know without learning. One of the earliest cases of this kind was related by the celebrated Cheselden, a surgeon of the early part of last century. Cheselden relates how a youth just in this condition had been accustomed to play with a cat and a dog; but for some time after he attained his sight he never could tell which was which, and used to be continually making mistakes. One day, being rather ashamed of himself for having called the cat the dog, he took up the cat in his arms and looked at her very attentively for some time stroking her all the while; and in this way he associated the impression derived from the touch, and made himself master (so to speak) of the whole idea of the animal. He then put the cat down, saying: "Now, puss, I shall know you another time."—CARPENTER.]

50. Why can a skillful surgeon determinate the condition of the brain and other internal organs by examining the interior of the eye? [Footnote: This is done by means of an instrument called the ophthalmoscope. Light is thrown into the eye with a concave mirror, and the interior of the organ examined with a lens.]

51. Is there any truth in the idea that the image of the murderer can be seen in the eye of the dead victim?

52. What is the length of the optic nerve? Ans. About three fourths of an inch.

53. Why does an injury to one eye generally affect the other eye? Ans. The optic nerves give off no branches in passing from their origin in two ganglia situated between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, and their termination in the eyeballs; but, in the middle of their course, they decussate, or unite in one mass. The fibers of the two nerves here pass from side to side, and intermingle. The two ganglia are also united directly by fibers. Thus the eyes are not really separate organs of sight, but a kind of double organ to perform, a single function.



IX.

HEALTH AND DISEASE.—DEATH AND DECAY.

"Health is the vital principle of bliss."

THOMSON.

"There are three wicks to the lamp of a man's life: brain, blood, and breath. Press the brain a little, its light goes out, followed by both the others. Stop the heart a minute, and out go all three of the wicks. Choke the air out of the lungs, and presently the fluid ceases to supply the other centers of flame, and all is soon stagnation, cold, and darkness."

O. W. HOLMES.

"Calmly he looked on either Life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; From Nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd, Thank'd Heaven that he had lived, and that he died."

POPE.

HEALTH AND DISEASE.—DEATH AND DECAY.

VALUE OF HEALTH.—The body is the instrument which the mind uses. If it be dulled or nicked, the effect of the best labor will be impaired. The grandest gifts of mind or fortune are comparatively valueless unless there be a healthy body to use and enjoy them. The beggar, sturdy and brave with his outdoor life, is really happier than the rich man in his palace with the gout to twinge him amid his pleasures. The day has gone by when delicacy is considered an element of beauty. Weakness is timid and irresolute; strength is full of force and energy. Weakness walks or creeps; strength speeds the race, wins the goal, and rejoices in the victory.

FALSE IDEAS OF DISEASE.—It was formerly supposed that diseases were caused by evil spirits, who entered the body, and deranged its action. Incantations, spells, etc., were resorted to in order to drive them out. By others, disease was thought to come arbitrarily, or as a special visitation of an overruling power. Hence, it was to be removed by fasting and prayer. Modern science teaches us that disease is not a thing, but a state. When our food is properly assimilated, the waste matter promptly excreted, and all the organs work in harmony, we are well; when any derangement of these functions occurs, we are sick. Sickness is discord, as health is concord. If we abuse or misuse any instrument, we impair its ability to produce a perfect harmony. A suffering body is simply the penalty of violated law.

PREVENTION OF DISEASE.—Doubtless a large proportion of the ills which now afflict and rob us of so much time and pleasure might easily be avoided. A proper knowledge and observance of hygienic laws would greatly lessen the number of such diseases as consumption, catarrh, gout, rheumatism, dyspepsia, etc. There are parts of England where one half the children die before they are five years old. Every physiologist knows that at least nine tenths of these lives could be saved by an observance of the simple laws of health. Professor Bennet, in a lecture at Edinburgh, estimated that one hundred thousand persons die annually in Great Britain from causes easily preventable.

With the advance of science, the causes of many diseases have been determined. Vaccination has been found to prevent or mitigate the ravages of smallpox. Scurvy, formerly so fatal among sailors that it was deemed "a mysterious infliction of Divine Justice against which man strives in vain," is now entirely avoided by the use of vegetables or lime juice. Cholera, whose approach still strikes dread, and for which there is no known specific, is but the penalty for filthy streets, bad drainage, and overcrowded tenements, and may be controlled, if not prevented, by suitable sanitary measures. It was, no doubt, the intention that we should wear out by the general decay of all the organs, [Footnote: So long as the phenomena of waste and repair are in harmony—so long, in other words, as the builder follows the scavenger—so long man exists in integrity and repair—just, indeed, as houses exist. Derange nutrition, and at once degeneration, or rather let us say, alteration begins. Alas! that we are so ignorant that there are many things about our house, which, seeing them, weaken, we know not how to strengthen. About the brick and the mortar, the frame and the rafters, we are not unlearned; but within are many complexities, many chinks and crannies, full in themselves of secondary chinks and crannies, and these so small, so deep, so recessed, that it happens every day that the destroyer settles himself in some place so obscure, that, while he kills, he laughs at defiance. You or I meet with an accident in our watch. We consult the watchmaker, and he repairs the injury. If we were all that watchmakers, like ourselves, should be, a man could be made to keep time until he died from old age or annihilating accident. This I firmly and fully believe.—Odd Hours of a Physician.] rather than by the giving out of any single part, and that all should work together harmoniously until the vital force is exhausted.

CURE OF DISEASE.—The first step in the cure of any disease is to obey the law of health which has been violated. If medicine be taken, it is not to destroy the disease, since that is not a thing to be destroyed, but to hold the deranged action in check while nature repairs the injury, and again brings the system into harmonious movement. This tendency of nature is our chief reliance. The best physicians are coming to have diminished confidence in medicine itself, and to place greater dependence upon sanitary and hygienic measures, and upon the efforts which nature always makes to repair injuries and soothe disordered action. They endeavor only to give to nature a fair chance, and sometimes to assist her by the intelligent employment of proper medicines. The indiscriminate use of patent nostrums and sovereign remedies of whose constituents we know nothing, and by which powerful drugs are imbibed at haphazard, can not be too greatly deprecated. When one needs medicine, he needs also a competent physician to advise its use.

DEATH AND DECAY.—By a mystery we can not understand, life is linked with death, and out of the decay of our bodies they, day by day, spring afresh. At last the vital force which has held death and decay in bondage, and compelled them to minister to our growth, and to serve the needs of our life, faints and yields the struggle. These powers which have so long time been our servants, gather about our dying couch, and their last offices usher us into the new life and the grander possibilities of the world to come. This last birth, we who see the fading, not the dawning, life, call death.

"O Father! grant Thy love divine, To make these mystic temples Thine, When wasting age and wearying strife Have sapp'd the leaning walls of life; When darkness gathers over all, And the last tottering pillars fall, Take the poor dust Thy mercy warms, And mold it into heavenly forms."

HOLMES.

HINTS ABOUT THE SICK ROOM

A SICK ROOM should be the lightest and cheeriest in the house. A small, close, dark bedroom or a recess is bad enough for one in health, but unendurable for a sick person. In a case of fever, and in many acute diseases, it should be remote from the noise of the family; but when one is recovering from an accident, and in all attacks where quiet is not needed, the patient may be where he can amuse himself by watching the movements of the household, or looking out upon the street.

The ventilation must be thorough. Bad air will poison both the sick and the well. A fireplace is, therefore, desirable. Windows should open easily. By carefully protecting the patient with extra blankets, the room may be frequently aired. If there be no direct draught, much may be done to change the air, by simply swinging an outer door to and fro many times.

A bare floor, with strips of carpet here and there to deaden noise, is cleanest, and keeps the air freest from dust. Cane-bottomed chairs are preferable to upholstered ones. All unnecessary furniture should be removed out of the way. A straw bed or a mattress is better than feathers. The bed hangings, lace curtains, etc., should be taken down. Creaking hinges should be oiled. Sperm candles are better than kerosene lamps.

Never whisper in a sick room. All necessary conversation should be carried on in the usual tone of voice. Do not call a physician unnecessarily, but if one be employed, obey his directions implicitly. Never give nostrums overofficious friends may suggest. Do not allow visitors to see the patient, except it be necessary. Never bustle about the room, nor go on tiptoe, but move in a quiet, ordinary way. Do not keep the bottles in the continued sight of the sick person. Never let drinking water stand in the room.

Do not raise the patient's head to drink, but have a cup with a long spout, or use a bent tube, or even a straw. Do not tempt the appetite when it craves no food. Bathe frequently, but let the physician prescribe the method. Give written directions to the watchers. Have all medicines carefully marked. Remove all soiled clothing, etc., at once from the room. Change the linen much oftener than in health. When you wish to change the sheets, and the patient is unable to rise, roll the under sheet tightly lengthwise to the middle of the bed; put on the clean sheet, with half its width folded up, closely to the other roll; lift the patient on to the newly-made part, remove the soiled sheet, and then spread oat the clean one.

DISINFECTANTS.

Remember, first, that deodorizers and disinfectants are not the same. A bad smell, for instance, may be smothered by some more powerful odor, while its cause remains uninfluenced. Bear also in mind the fact that no deodorizer and no disinfectant can take the place of perfect cleanliness and thorough ventilation. No purifyer can rival the oxygen contained in strong and continued currents of fresh, cold air, and every disinfectant finds an indispensable ally in floods of scalding water.

An excellent disinfectant may be made by dissolving in a pail of water either of the following: (1), a quarter of a pound of sulphate of zinc and two ounces of common salt for each gallon of water; (2), a pound and a half of copperas, for each gallon of water. Towels, bed linen, handkerchiefs, etc., should be soaked at least an hour, in a solution of the first kind, and then be boiled, before washing. [Footnote: It is best to burn all articles which have been in contact with persons sick with contagious or infectious diseases.

In using the zinc solution, place the articles in it as soon as they are removed from the patient, and before they are taken from the room; if practicable, have the solution boiling hot at the time. In fumigating apartments, all the openings should be made as nearly air-tight as possible. The articles to be included in the fumigation should be so exposed and spread out that the sulphurous vapor may penetrate every portion of them. For a room about ten feet square, at least two pounds of sulphur should be used; for larger rooms, proportionally increased quantities. Put the sulphur in iron pans supported upon bricks placed in washtubs containing a little water, set it on fire by hot coals or with the aid of a spoonful of alcohol, or by a long fuse set on train as the last opening to the room is closed. Allow the apartment to remain sealed for twenty-four hours. Great care should be taken not to inhale the poisonous fumes in firing the sulphur. After the fumigation, allow free currents of air to pass through the apartment; expose all movable articles for as long time as may be to the sun and the wind out of doors; beat and shake the carpets, hangings, pillows, etc.

The disinfectants and the instructions for using them, as given above, are mainly those recommended by the National Board of Health.] Vaults, drains, vessels used in the sick room, etc., should be disinfected by a solution of the second kind; chloride of lime may also be used for the same purpose. Rooms, furniture, and articles that can not be treated with the solution of the first kind, should be thoroughly fumigated with burning sulphur. Where walls are unpapered, re-whitewash with pure, freshly slacked quicklime, adding one pint of the best fluid carbolic acid to every gallon of the fluid whitewash. Powdered stone lime sprinkled on foul, wet places, or placed in pans in damp rooms, will absorb the moisture; and dry, fresh charcoal powder may be combined with it to absorb noxious gases.

WHAT TO DO TILL THE DOCTOR COMES.

The following instructions are intended simply to aid in an emergency. When accidents or a sudden severe illness occur, there is necessarily, in most cases, a longer or shorter interval before a physician can arrive. These moments are often very precious, and life may depend upon a little knowledge and much self-possession. The instructions are therefore given as briefly as possible, that they may be easily carried in the memory. A few suggestions in regard to common ailments are included.

BURNS.—When a person's clothes catch fire, quickly lay him on the ground, wrap him in a coat, mat, shawl, carpet, or in his own garments, as best you can to extinguish the flame. Pour on plenty of water till the half- burned clothing is cooled. Then carry the sufferer to a warm room, lay him on a table or a carpeted floor, and with a sharp knife or scissors remove his clothing.

The treatment of a burn consists in protecting from the air. [Footnote: It is a great mistake to suppose that salves will "draw out the fire" of a burn, or heal a bruise or cut. The vital force must unite the divided tissue by the deposit of material and the formation of new cells.] An excellent remedy is to apply soft cloths kept wet with sweet oil, or with tepid water which contains all the "cooking soda" that it will dissolve. Afterward dress the wound with carbolic acid salve. Wrap a dry bandage upon the outside. Then remove the patient to a bed and cover warmly. [Footnote: In case of a large burn, lose no delay in bringing a physician. If a burn be near a joint or on the face, even if small, let a doctor see it, and do not be in any hurry about having it healed. Remember that with all the care and skill which can be used, contractions will sometimes take place. The danger to life from a burn or scald is not in proportion to its severity, but to its extent—that is, a small part, such as a hand or a foot, may be burned so deeply as to cripple it for life, and yet not much endanger the general health; but a slight amount of burning, a mere scorching, over two thirds of the body, may prove fatal.— HOPE.] Apply cool water to a small burn till the smart ceases, and then cover with ointment. Do not remove the dressings until they become stiff and irritating; then take them from a part at a time; dress and cover again quickly.

CUTS, WOUNDS, ETC.—The method of stopping the bleeding has been described on page 128. If an artery is severed, a physician should be called at once. If the bleeding is not profuse, apply cold water until it ceases, dry the skin, draw the edges of the wound together, and secure them by strips of adhesive plaster. Protect with an outer bandage. This dressing should remain for several days. In the meantime wet it frequently with cool water to subdue inflammation. When suppuration begins, wash occasionally with tepid water and Castile soap.

Dr. Woodbridge, of New York, in a recent address, gave the following directions as to "What to do in case of a sudden wound when the surgeon is not at hand." "An experienced person would naturally close the lips of the wound as quickly as possible, and apply a bandage. If the wound is bleeding freely, but no artery is spouting blood, the first thing to be done is to wash it with water at an ordinary temperature. To every pint of water add either five grains of corrosive sublimate, or two and a half teaspoonfuls of carbolic acid. If the acid is used, add two tablespoonfuls of glycerine, to prevent its irritating the wound. If there is neither of these articles in the house, add four tablespoonfuls of borax to the water. Wash the wound, close it, and apply a compress of a folded square of cotton or linen. Wet it in the solution used for washing the wound and bandage quickly and firmly. If the bleeding is profuse, a sponge dipped in very hot water and wrung out in a dry cloth should be applied as quickly as possible. If this is not available, use ice, or cloths wrung out in ice water. If a large vein or artery is spouting, it must be stopped at once by compression. This may be done by a rubber tube wound around the arm tightly above the elbow or above the knee, where the pulse is felt to beat; or an improvised 'tourniquet' may be used. A hard apple or a stone is placed in a folded handkerchief, and rolled firmly in place. This bandage is applied so that the hard object rests on the point where the artery beats, and is then tied loosely around the arm. A stick is thrust through the loose bandage and turned till the flow of blood ceases."

BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE is rarely dangerous, and often beneficial. When it becomes necessary to stop it, sit upright and compress the nostrils between the thumb and forefinger, or with the thumb press upward upon the upper lip. A piece of ice, a snowball, or a compress wet with cold water may be applied to the back of the neck.

A SPRAIN [Footnote: "A sprain," says Dr. Hope, in that admirable little book entitled Till the Doctor comes and How to help Him, "is a very painful and very serious thing. When you consider that from the tips of the fingers to the wrist, or from the ends of the toes to the leg, there are not less than thirty separate bones, all tied together with straps, cords, and elastic bands, and about twenty hinges, all to be kept in good working order, you will not wonder at sprains being frequent and sometimes serious."] is often more painful and dangerous than a dislocation. Wrap the injured part in flannels wrung out of hot water, and cover with a dry bandage, or, better, with oiled silk. Liniments and stimulating applications are injurious in the first stages, but useful when the inflammation is subdued. Do not let the limb hang down, keep the joint still. Without attention to these points, no remedies are likely to be of much service. A sprained limb must be kept quiet, even after all pain has ceased. If used too soon, dangerous consequences may ensue. Many instances have been known in which, from premature use of an injured limb, the inflammation has been renewed and made chronic, the bones at the joint have become permanently diseased, and amputation has been necessitated.

DIARRHEA, CHOLERA MORBUS, ETC., are often caused by eating indigestible or tainted food, such as unripe or decaying fruit, or stale vegetables; or by drinking impure water or poisoned milk (see p. 321). Sometimes the disturbance may be traced to a checking of the perspiration; but more frequently to peculiar conditions of the atmosphere, especially in large cities. Such diseases are most prevalent in humid weather, when the days are hot and the nights cold and moist. Especial attention should at such times be paid to the diet. If an attack comes on, ascertain, if possible, its cause. You can thereby aid your physician, and, if the cause be removable, can protect the rest of the household. If the limbs are cold, take a hot bath, followed by a thorough rubbing. Then go to bed and lie quietly on the back. In ordinary cases, rest is better than medicine. If there be pain, have flannels wrung out of hot water applied to the abdomen. [Footnote: If it be difficult to manage the foments, lay a hot plate over the flannels and cover with some protection. By having a change of hot plates, the foments can be kept at a uniform high temperature. This plan will be found useful in all cases where foments are needed.] A mustard poultice will serve the same purpose if more convenient. Eat no fruit, vegetables, pastry, or pork. Use water sparingly. If much thirst exist, give small pieces of ice, or limited quantities of cold tea or toast water. Take particular pains with the diet for some days after the bowel irritation has ceased.

CROUP.—There are two kinds of croup—true and false. True croup comes on gradually, and is less likely to excite alarm than false croup, which comes on suddenly. True croup is attended with fever and false membrane in the throat; false croup is not attended with fever or false membrane. True croup is almost always fatal in four or five days; false croup recovers, but is liable to come on again. The great majority of cases of the so- called croup are simply cases of spasm of the glottis. "Croupy children" are those who are liable to these attacks of false croup, which are most frequent during the period of teething.—DR. GEO. M. BEARD. Croup occurs commonly in children between the ages of two and seven years. At this period, if a child has a hollow cough, with more or less fever, flushed face, red watery eyes, and especially if it have a hoarse voice, and show signs of uneasiness about the throat, send at once for a doctor. Induce mild vomiting by doses of syrup of ipecac. Put the feet in a hot mustard-and-water bath. Apply hot fomentations, rapidly renewed, to the chest and throat. A "croupy" child should be carefully shielded from all physical excitation, sudden waking from sleep, and any punishment that tends to awaken intense fear or terror. Irritation of the air passages through faulty swallowing in drinking hastily, should be guarded against. Good pure air, warm clothing, and a nourishing diet are indispensable.

COMMON SORE THROAT.—Wrap the neck in a wet bandage, and cover with flannel or a clean woolen stocking. Gargle the throat frequently with a solution of a teaspoonful of salt in a pint of water, or thirty grains of chlorate of potash in a wineglass of water.

FITS, APOPLEXY, EPILEPSY, ETC.—These call for immediate action and prompt medical attendance. Children who are teething, or troubled with intestinal worms, or from various causes, are sometimes suddenly seized with convulsions. Apply cloths wet in cold water—or, better still, ice wrapped in oiled silk—to the head, and especially to the back of the neck, taking care, however, that the ice or wet cloths do not remain too long. Apply mustard plasters to the stomach and legs. A full hot bath is excellent if the cold applications fail. Endeavor to induce vomiting. Seek to determine the cause, and consult with your physician for further guidance.

Apoplexy may be distinguished from a fainting fit by the red face, hot skin, and labored breathing; whereas, in a faint, the face and lips lose color, and the skin becomes cold. In many cases, death follows so quickly upon an apoplectic seizure, that little effectual service can be given. Call the nearest physician, loosen the clothing, and raise the head and shoulders, taking care not to bend the head forward on the neck. Keep the head cool. Do not move the patient unnecessarily.

In a common fainting fit, give the patient as much air as possible. Lay him flat upon the floor or ground, and keep the crowd away.

All that can be done in a fit of epilepsy is to prevent the patient from injuring himself; especially put something in his mouth to keep him from biting his tongue. A cork, a piece of India rubber, or even a tightly- rolled handkerchief, placed between the teeth will answer this purpose. Give the sufferer fresh air; loosen his clothing, and place him in a comfortable position. Epilepsy may be due to various causes,—improper diet, overexcitement, etc. Consult with a physician, and study to avoid the occasion.

CONCUSSION OF THE BRAIN generally arises from some contusion of the head, from violent blows, or from a shock received by the whole body in consequence of falling from a height. In any case of injury to the head where insensibility ensues, a doctor should be called at once. Remove the patient to a quiet room; loosen his clothing; strive to restore circulation by gentle friction, using the hand or a cloth for this purpose; apply cold water to the head, and, if the patient's body be cold and his skin clammy, put hot bottles at his feet. Ammonia may be cautiously held to the nose. Beyond this, it is not safe for a non- professional to go, in case of a severe injury to the head. Concussion is more or less serious, according to the injury which the brain has sustained; but even in slight cases, when a temporary dizziness appears to be the only result, careful treatment should be observed both at the time of the injury and afterward. Cases of head injury are often more grave in their consequences than in their immediate symptoms. Sometimes the patient appears to be getting better when really he is worse. Rest and quiet should be observed for several weeks after an accident which has in any way affected the brain.

TOOTHACHE AND EARACHE.—Insert in the hollow tooth cotton wet with laudanum, spirits of camphor, or chloroform. When the nerve is exposed, wet it with creosote or carbolic acid. Hot cloths or a hot brick wrapped in cloth and held to the face will often relieve the toothache. In a similar manner treat the ear, wetting the cloth in hot water, and letting the vapor pass into the ear.

CHOKING.—Ordinarily a smart blow between the shoulders, causing a compression of the chest and a sudden expulsion of the air from the lungs, will throw out the offending substance. If the person can swallow, and the object be small, give plenty of bread or potato, and water to wash it down. Press upon the tongue with a spoon, when, perhaps, you may see the object, and draw it out with your thumb and finger, or a blunt pair of scissors. If neither of these remedies avail, give an emetic of syrup of ipecac or mustard and warm water.

FROSTBITES are frequently so sudden that one is not aware when they occur. In Canada it is not uncommon for persons meeting in the street to say, "Mind, sir, your nose looks whitish." The blood cools and runs slowly, and the blood vessels become choked and swollen. Keep from the heat. Rub the part quickly with snow, if necessary for hours, till the natural color is restored. If one is benumbed with cold, take him into a cold room, remove the wet clothes, rub the body dry, cover with blankets, and give a little warm tea or other suitable drink. On recovering, let him be brought to a fire gradually. [Footnote: If you are caught in a snowstorm, look for a snow bank in the lee of a hill, or a wood out of the wind, or a hollow in the plain filled with snow. Scrape out a hole big enough to creep into, and the drifting snow will keep you warm. Men and animals have been preserved after days of such imprisonment. Remember that if you give way to sleep in the open field, you will never awake.]

FEVERS, and many acute diseases, are often preceded by a loss of appetite, headache, shivering, "pains in the bones," indisposition to work, etc. In such cases, sponge with tepid water, and rub the body till all aglow. Go to bed, place hot bricks to the feet, take nothing but a little gruel or beef tea, and drink moderately of warm, cream-of-tartar water. If you do not feel better the next morning, call a physician. If that be impossible, take a dose of castor oil or Epsom salts.

SUNSTROKE is a sudden prostration caused by intense heat. The same effect is produced by the burning rays of the sun and the fierce fire of a furnace. When a person falls under such circumstance, place your hand on his chest. If the skin be cool and moist, it is not a sunstroke; but if it be dry and "biting hot," there can be no mistake. Time is now precious. At once carry the sufferer to the nearest pump or hydrant, and dash cold water on the head and chest until consciousness is restored.—DR. H. C. WOOD.

To prevent sunstroke, wear a porous hat, and in the top of it place a wet handkerchief; also drink freely of water, not ice cold, to induce abundant perspiration.

ASPHYXIA, or apparent death, whether produced by drowning, suffocation, bad air, or coal gas, requires very similar treatment. Send immediately for blankets, dry clothing, and a physician. Treat upon the spot, if the weather be not too unfavorable.

1. Loosen the clothing about the neck and chest, separate the jaws, and place between them a cork or bit of wood.

2. Turn the patient on his face, place his arm under his forehead to raise the head, and press heavily with both hands upon the ribs to squeeze out the water.

3. Place the patient on his back, wipe out the mouth and nostrils, and secure the tongue from falling backward over the throat. Kneel at his head, grasp his arms firmly above the elbows, and pull them gently upward until they meet over the head, in order to draw air into the lungs; reverse this movement to expel the air. Repeat the process about fifteen times per minute. Alternate pressure upon the chest, and blowing air into the mouth through a quill or with a pair of bellows, may aid your efforts. Use snuff or smelling salts, or pass hartshorn under the nose. Do not lose hope quickly. Life has been restored after five hours of suspended animation. [Footnote: Another simple method of artificial respiration is described in the British Medical Journal. The body of the patient is laid on the back, with clothes loosened, and the mouth and nose wiped; two bystanders pass their right hands under the body at the level of the waist, and grasp each other's hand, then raise the body until the tips of the fingers and the toes of the subject alone touch the ground; count fifteen rapidly; then lower the body flat to the ground, and press the elbows to the side hard; count fifteen again; then raise the body again for the same length of time; and so on, alternately raising and lowering. The head, arms, and legs are to be allowed to dangle down freely when the body is raised.]

4. When respiration is established, wrap the patient in dry, warm clothes, and rub the limbs under the blankets or over the dry clothing energetically toward the heart. Apply heated flannels, bottles of hot water, etc., to the limbs, and mustard plasters [Footnote: The best mustard poultice is the paper plaster now sold by every druggist. It is always ready, and can be carried by a traveler. It has only to be dipped in water, and applied at once.] to the chest.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EAR.—Insects may be killed by dropping a little sweet oil into the ear. Beans peas, etc., may generally be removed by so holding the head that the affected ear will be toward the ground, and then cautiously syringing tepid water into it from below. Do not use much force lest the tympanum be injured. If this fail, dry the ear, stick the end of a little linen swab into thick glue, let the patient lie on one side, put this into the ear until it touches the substance, keep it there three quarters of an hour while it hardens, and then draw them all out together. Be careful that the glue does not touch the skin at any point, and that you are at work upon the right ear. Children often deceive one as to the ear which is affected.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE NOSE, such as beans, cherry pits, etc., may frequently be removed by closing the opposite nostril, and then blowing into the child's mouth forcibly. The air, unable to escape except through the affected nostril, will sweep the obstruction before it.

ANTIDOTES TO POISONS.

ACIDS: Nitric (aqua fortis), hydrochloric (muriatic), sulphuric (oil of vitriol), oxalic, etc.—Drink a little water to weaken the acid, or, still better, take strong soapsuds. Stir some magnesia in water, and drink freely. If the magnesia be not at hand, use chalk, soda, lime, whiting, soap, or even knock a piece of plaster from the wall, and scraping off the white outside coat pound it fine, mix with milk or water, and drink at once. Follow with warm water, or flaxseed tea.

ALKALIES: Potash, soda, lye, ammonia (hartshorn).—Drink weak vinegar or lemon juice. Follow with castor or linseed oil, or thick cream.

ANTIMONY: Antimonial wine, tartar emetic, etc.—Drink strong, green tea, and in the meantime chew the dry leaves. The direct antidote is a solution of nutgall or oak bark.

ARSENIC: Cobalt, Scheele's green, fly powder, ratsbane, etc.—Give plenty of milk, whites of eggs, or induce vomiting by mustard and warm water; [Footnote: See that the mustard is well mixed with the water, in the proportion of about half an ounce of the former to a pint of the latter.] or even soapsuds.

BITE OF A SNAKE OR A MAD DOG.—Tie a bandage above the wound, if on a limb. Wash the bite thoroughly, and, if possible, let the person suck it strongly. Rub some lunar caustic or potash in the wound, or heat the point of a small poker or a steel sharpener white hot, and press it into the bite for a moment. It will scarcely cause pain, and will be effectual in arresting the absorption of the poison, unless a vein has been struck.

COPPER: Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), acetate of copper (verdigris).—Take whites of eggs or soda. Use milk freely.

LAUDANUM: Opium, paregoric, soothing cordial, soothing syrup, etc. —Give an emetic at once of syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, etc. After vomiting, use strong coffee freely. Keep the patient awake by pinching, pulling the hair, walking about, dashing water in the face, and any expedient possible.

LEAD: White lead, acetate of lead (sugar of lead), red lead.—Give an emetic of syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, or salt and water. Follow with a dose of Epsom salts.

MATCHES: Phosphorus.—Give magnesia, chalk, whiting, or even flour in water, and follow with mucilaginous drinks.

MERCURY: Calomel, chloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate, bug poison), red precipitate.—Drink milk copiously. Take the whites of eggs, or stir flour in water, and use freely.

NITRATE OF SILVER (lunar caustic).—Give salt and water, and follow with castor oil.

NITRATE OF POTASH (saltpeter, niter).—Give mustard and warm water, or syrup of ipecac. Follow with flour and water, and cream or sweet oil.

PRUSSIC ACID (oil of bitter almonds), cyanide of potassium.—Take a teaspoonful of hartshorn in a pint of water. Apply smelling salts to the nose, and dash cold water in the face.

STING OF AN INSECT.—Apply a little hartshorn or spirits of camphor, or soda moistened with water, or a paste of clean earth and saliva.

SULPHATE OF IRON (green vitriol).—Give syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, or any convenient emetic; then magnesia and water.



X.

SELECTED READINGS

TO ILLUSTRATE AND SUPPLEMENT THE TEXT.

Arranged in order of the subjects to which they refer.

"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh, and consider."

LORD BACON.

"He who learns the rules of wisdom without conforming to them in his life, is like a man who labored in his fields but did not sow."

SAADI.

SELECTED READINGS.

The figures indicate the pages in the text upon which the corresponding subjects will be found.

THE SKELETON.

MAN, AS COMPARED WITH OTHER VERTEBRATE ANIMALS (p. 3).—Man, the lord of the animal kingdom, is constructed after the same type as the cat that purrs at his feet, the ox that he eats, the horse that bears his burden, the bird that sings in his cage, the snake that crawls across his pathway, the toad that hides in his garden, and the fish that swims in his aquarium. All these are but modifications of one creative thought, showing how the Almighty Worker delights in repeating the same chord, with infinite variations. There are marked physical peculiarities, however, which distinguish man from the other mammals. Thus, the position of the spinal opening in the middle third of the base of the skull, thereby balancing the head and admitting an upright posture; the sigmoid S-curve of the vertebral column; the ability of opposing the well-developed thumb to the fingers; the shortened foot, the sole resting flat on the ground; the size and position of the great toe; the length of the arms, reaching halfway from the hip to the knees; the relatively great development of the brain; the freedom of the anterior extremities from use in locomotion, and the consequent erect and biped position. In addition, man is the only mammal that truly walks; that is endowed with the power of speech; and that is cosmopolitan, readily adapting himself to extremes of heat and cold, and making his home in all parts of the globe.—STEELE'S Popular Zoology.

FIG. 68.



UNION OF FRACTURES (p. 8).—In the course of a week after a fracture, there is a soft yet firm substance, something between ligament and cartilage in consistence, which surrounds the broken extremities of the bone, and adheres to it above and below. The neighboring muscles and tendons are closely attached to its surface, and the fractured extremities of the bone lie, as it were, loose in a cavity in the center, with a small quantity of vascular albumen, resembling a semitransparent jelly.

Here, then, is a kind of splint which nature contrives, and which is nearly completed within a week from the date of the accident. We call this new formation the callus. This process goes on, the surrounding substance becoming thicker and of still firmer consistence. In the course of a few days more, the thin jelly which lay in contact with the broken ends of the bone has disappeared, and its place is supplied by a callus continuous with that which formed the original capsule. This is the termination of the first stage of curative progress. The broken ends of the bones are now completely imbedded in a mass of vascular organized substance or callus, something between gristle and cartilage in consistence; and as yet there are no traces of bony matter in it. At this time, if you remove the adventitious substance, you will find the broken ends of bone retaining exactly their original figure and presenting the same appearance as immediately after the fracture took place.

At the end of about three weeks, if you make a section of the callus, minute specks of earthy matter are visible, deposited in it here and there, and at the same time some of the callus, appears to disappear on the outside, so that the neighboring muscles and tendons no longer adhere to it. The specks of bone become larger and more numerous until they extend into each other; and thus by degrees the whole of the callus is converted into bone. Even at this period, however, there is not absolute bony union, for although the whole of the callus has become bone, it is not yet identified with the old bone, and you might still pick it off with a penknife, leaving the broken extremities not materially altered from what they were immediately after the injury. This may be regarded as the end of the second stage of the process by which a fracture is repaired. Now a third series of changes begins to take place. The broken extremities of the bones become intimately united by bony matter passing from one to the other. The mass of new bone on the outside, formed by the ossification of the callus, being no longer wanted, is absorbed; by degrees the whole of it disappears, and the bone is left having the same dimensions which it had before the occurrence of the accident.

The process of union is completed in young persons sooner than in those advanced in life; in the upper extremities sooner than in the lower; and in smaller animals more speedily than in man. In human subjects a broken arm or forearm will be healed in from six to eight weeks, while a leg or thigh will occupy nine or ten weeks.—SIR B. C. BRODIE.

FIG. 69.



THE HAND AND THE FOOT (p. 2l).—Man Compared with the Ape.— The peculiar prehensible power possessed by the hand of man is chiefly dependent upon the size and power of the thumb, which is more developed in him than it is in the highest apes. The thumb of the human hand can be brought into exact opposition to the extremities of all the fingers, whether singly or in combination; while in those quadrumana which most nearly approach man, the thumb is so short, and the fingers so much elongated, that their tips can scarcely be brought into opposition; and the thumb and the fingers are so weak that they can never be opposed to each other with any degree of force. Hence, though well suited to cling round bodies of a certain size, such as the small branches of trees, the anterior extremities of the quadrumana can neither seize very minute objects with such precision nor support large ones with such firmness as are essential to the dexterous performance of a variety of operations for which the hand of man is admirably adapted.

The human foot is, in proportion to the size of the whole body, larger, broader, and stronger than that of any other mammal, save the kangaroo. The surface of the astragalus (ankle bone) which articulates with the tibia, looks almost vertically upward, and hardly at all inward, when the sole is flat upon the ground; and the lateral facets are more nearly at right angles to this surface than in any ape. The plane of the foot is directed at right angles to that of the leg; and its sole is concave, so that the weight of the body falls on the summit of an arch, of which the os calcis (heel bone) and the metatarsal bones form the two points of support. This arched form of the foot, and the contact of the whole plantar surface with the ground, are particularly noticeable in man, most of the apes having the os calcis small, straight, and more or less raised from the ground, while they touch, when standing erect, with the outer side only of the foot. The function of the hallux, or great toe, moreover, is strikingly contrasted in man and the ape; for, while in the latter it is nearly as opposable as the thumb, and can be used to almost the same extent as an instrument of prehension, it chiefly serves in the former to extend the basis of support, and to advance the body in progression.—DR. W. B. CARPENTER.

FIG. 70.



The Natural Flexibility of the Toes, and How it is Destroyed.—We often admire the suppleness of the fingers by means of which we can perform such a variety of acts with swiftness and delicacy. Did it ever occur to you that the toes, which in most feet seem incapable of a free and graceful motion, even when they are not stiffened and absolutely deformed by the compression of the modern shoe, are also provided by Nature with a considerable degree of flexibility? The phalanges of the toes, though more feebly developed, have really the same movements among themselves as those of the fingers, and, in case of necessity, their powers can be strengthened and educated to a surprising degree. There are well-known instances of persons who, born without hands, or having lost them by accident, have successfully supplied the deficiency by a cultivated use of their feet. Some of these have distinguished themselves in the world of art. Who that has been so fortunate as to visit the Picture Gallery in Antwerp on some fine morning when the armless artist, M. Felu, was working at his easel, can forget the wonderful dexterity with which he wielded his brushes, mixed the oils on his palette, and shaded the colors on his canvas, all with his agile feet? The writer well remembers the ease and grace with which, at the close of a pleasant interview, this cultured man put the tip of his foot into his coat pocket, drew out a visiting card, wrote his name and address upon it, and presented it to her between his toes!

Contrast this intelligent adaptation of a delicate physical mechanism with the barbarous treatment it too commonly receives. The Chinese are at least consistent. They cripple and distort the feet of their highborn daughters until they crush out all the power and gracefulness of nature in the artificial formation of what they term a "golden lily"; but they never expect these golden-lilied women to make their withered feet useful. With us, on the contrary, every girl would like to walk well, to display in her general movements something of the "poetry of motion"; yet the absurd and arbitrary fashion of our foot gear not only makes an elastic step one of the rarest of accomplishments, but renders oftentimes the simple act of walking a painful burden. The calluses, corns, bunions, ingrowing nails, and repulsive deformities that are caused by and hidden under the narrow- toed, high-heeled instruments of torture we often wear for fashion's sake are uncomfortable suggestions that our practices are not greatly in advance of those of our Celestial sisters. Dowie, a sensible Scotch shoemaker, satirizes the shape of a fashionable boot as suited only to "the foot of a goose with the great toe in the middle." The error which may have led to the adoption of this conventional shape appears to lie in a misconception of the natural formation of the foot, and of the relation of the two feet to each other. It is true, that when the toes are covered with their soft parts, the second toe appears a little longer than the first, and this appearance, emphasized and exaggerated, is perhaps responsible for a practical assumption that Nature intended an even-sided, tapering foot. On the contrary, the natural foot gradually expands in breadth from the instep to the toes and, in the skeleton itself, the great toe is the longest.

"There is no law of beauty," says Dr. Ellis, "which makes it necessary to reduce the foot to even-sided symmetry. An architect required to provide more space on one than on the other side of a building would not seek to conceal or even to minimize the difference; he would seek rather to accentuate it, and give the two sides of the structure distinctive features....Moreover, the sense of symmetry is, or ought to be, satisfied by the exact correspondence of the two feet, which, taken jointly, may be described as the two halves of an unequally expanded dome."—E. B. S.

THE MUSCLES.

ATTACHMENT OF THE MUSCLES TO THE BONES (p. 30).—One of the two bones to which a muscle is attached is usually less mobile than the other, so that when the muscle shortens, the latter is drawn down against the former. In such a case, the point of attachment of the muscle to the less mobile bone is called its origin, while the point to which it is fixed on the more mobile bone is called its attachment....A muscle is not always extended between two contiguous bones. Occasionally, passing over one bone it attaches itself to the next. This is the case with several muscles which, originating from the pelvic bone, pass across the upper thigh bone, and attach themselves to the lower thigh bone. In such cases the muscle is capable of two different movements: it can either stretch the knee, previously bent, so that the upper and the lower thigh bones are in a straight line; or it can raise the whole extended leg yet higher, and bring it nearer to the pelvis. But the points of origin and of attachment of muscles may exchange offices. When both legs stand firmly on the ground, the above-mentioned muscles are unable to raise the thigh; instead, on shortening, they draw down the pelvis, which now presents the more mobile point, and thus bend forward the whole upper part of the body.

One important consequence of the attachment of the muscles to the bones is the extension thus effected. If the limb of a dead body is placed in the position which it ordinarily occupied during life, and if one end of a muscle is then separated from its point of attachment, it draws itself back, and becomes shorter. The same thing happens during life, as is observable in the operation of cutting the tendons, as practiced by surgeons to cure curvatures. The result being the same during life and after death this phenomenon is evidently due to the action of elasticity. It thus appears that the muscles are stretched by reason of their attachment to the skeleton, and that, on account of their elasticity, they are continually striving to shorten. Now, when several muscles are attached to one bone in such a way that they pull in opposite directions, the bone must assume a position in which the tension of all the muscles is balanced, and all these tensions must combine to press together the socketed parts with a certain force, thus evidently contributing to the strength of the socket connection....This balanced position of all the limbs, which thus depends on the elasticity of the muscles, may be observed during sleep, for then all active muscular action ceases. It will be observed that the limbs are then generally slightly bent, so that they form very obtuse angles to each other.

Not all muscles are, however, extended between bones. The tendons of some pass into soft structures, such as the muscles of the face. In this case, also, the different muscles exercise a mutual power of extension, though it is but slight, and they thus effect a definite balanced position of the soft parts, as may be observed in the position of the mouth opening in the face.—ROSENTHAL, Muscles and Nerves.

MUSCULAR FIBERS (p. 3l).—The anatomical composition of flesh is very similar in every kind of creature, whether it be the muscle of the ox or of the fly; that is to say, there are certain tubes which are filled with minute parts or elements, and the adhesion of the tubes together makes up the substance of the flesh. These tubes may be represented grossly by imagining the finger of a glove, to be called the sarcolemma, or muscle- fiber pouch, and this to be so small as not to be apparent to the naked eye, but filled with nuclei and the juices peculiar to each animal. Hundreds of such fingers attached together would represent a bundle of muscular fibers. The tubes are of fine tissue, but are tolerably permanent; whilst the contents are in direct communication with the circulating blood and pursue an incessant course of chemical change and physical renewal.—EDWARD SMITH, Foods.

FIG. 71.



THE SMOOTH MUSCLE FIBERS consist of long, spindle-shaped cells, the ends of which are frequently spirally twisted, and in the center of which exists a long, rod-shaped kernel or nucleus. Unlike striated muscle, they do not form separate muscular masses, but occur scattered, or arranged in more or less dense layers or strata, in almost all organs. [Footnote: An instance of a considerable accumulation of smooth, muscle fibers is afforded by the muscle pouch of birds, which, with the exception of the outer and inner skin coverings, consists solely of these fibers collected in extensive layers.] Arranged in regular order, they very frequently form widely extending membranes, especially in such tube-shaped structures as the blood vessels, the intestine, etc., the walls of which are composed of these smooth muscle fibers. In such cases they are usually arranged in two layers, one of which consists of ring-shaped fibers surrounding the tube, while the other consists of fibers arranged parallel to the tube. When, therefore, these muscle fibers contract, they are able both to reduce the circumference and to shorten the length of the walls of the tube in which they occur. This is of great importance in the case of the smaller arteries, in which the smooth muscle fibers, arranged in the form of a ring, are able greatly to contract, or even entirely to close the vessels, thus regulating the current of blood through the capillaries. In other cases, as in the intestine, they serve to set the contents of the tubes in motion. In the latter cases the contraction does not take place simultaneously throughout the length of the tube; but, commencing at one point, it continually propagates itself along fresh lengths of the tube, so that the contents are slowly driven forward.

As a rule, such parts as are provided only with smooth muscle fibers are not voluntarily movable, while striated muscle fibers are subject to the will. The latter have, therefore, been also distinguished as voluntary, the former as involuntary muscles. The heart, however, exhibits an exception, for, though it is provided with striated muscle fibers, the will has no direct influence upon it, its motions being exerted and regulated independently of the will. Moreover, the muscle fibers of the heart are peculiar in that they are destitute of sarcolemma, the naked muscle fibers directly touching each other. This is so far interesting that direct irritations, if applied to some point of the heart, are transferred to all the other muscle fibers. In addition to this, the muscle fibers of the heart are branched, but such branched fibers occur also in other places; for example, in the tongue of the frog, where they are branched like a tree. Smooth muscle fibers being, therefore, not subject to the will, are caused to contract, either by local irritation, such as the pressure of the matter contained within the tubes, or by the nervous system. The contractions of striated muscle fibers are effected, in the natural course of organic life, only by the influence of the nerves.—ROSENTHAL.

OVEREXERTION AND PERSONAL IMPRUDENCE (p. 40).—Among children there is little danger of overexertion. When a little child reaches the point of healthy fatigue, he usually collapses into rest and sleep. But with youth comes the spirit of ambition and emulation. A lad, for instance, is determined to win a race, to throw his opponent in a football scramble, to lift a heavier weight than his strength will warrant; or a girl is stimulated by the passion she may possess for piano playing, painting, dancing, or tennis. The moment of exhaustion comes, but the end is not accomplished, and the will goads on the weary muscles, perhaps to one supreme effort which terminates in a sharp and sudden illness, perhaps to days and weeks of continued and incessant application, during which the whole system is undermined. Thus is laid the foundation for a feeble and suffering maturity.