John Harvey Kellogg
First Book in Physiology and Hygiene
CHAPTER XXIII
HOW TO KEEP THE BRAIN AND NERVES HEALTHY
1. Uses of the Brain.—What do you think a boy or girl would be good for without any brain or nerves? Such a boy or girl could not see, hear, feel, talk, run about, or play, and would not know any more than a cabbage or a potato knows. If the brain or nerves are sick, they cannot work well, and so are not worth as much as when they are healthy.
2. The Brain Sympathizes with Other Organs.—Did you ever have a headache? Did you feel happy and good-natured when your head ached hard, and could you study and play as well as when you are well? It is very important that we should keep our brain and nerves healthy, and to do this we must take good care of the stomach and all other organs, because the brain sympathizes with them when they are sick.
3. We must have Pure Air.—How do you feel when the school-room is too warm and close? Do you not feel dull and sleepy and so stupid that you can hardly study? This is because the brain needs good, pure blood to enable it to work well. So we must always be careful to have plenty of pure air to breathe.
4. We should Exercise the Brain.—What do we do when we want to strengthen our muscles? We make them work hard every day, do we not? The exercise makes them grow large and strong. It is just the same with our brains. If we study hard and learn our lessons well, then our brains grow strong, and study becomes easy. But if we only half study, and do not learn our lessons perfectly, then the study does not do our brains very much good.
5. We should Take Muscular Exercise.—When you get tired of study, an hour's play, or exercise of some sort, rests you and makes you feel brighter, so that you can learn more easily. This is because exercise is necessary to make the blood circulate well. It will then carry out the worn-out particles and supply the brain and nerves with fresh, pure blood. So the same exercise which makes our muscles strong makes our brains healthier also.
6. We should be Careful of our Diet.—We ought to eat plenty of good, simple food, such as milk, fruits, grains, and vegetables. It is not well for children to eat freely of meat, as it is very stimulating and likely to excite the brain and make the nerves irritable. Mustard, pepper, and all hot sauces and spices have a tendency to injure the brain and nerves.
7. We should Allow the Brain to Rest at the Proper Time.—When we are tired and sleepy we cannot think well, and cannot remember what we learn if we try to study. If we have plenty of sleep, free from bad or exciting dreams, we awake in the morning rested and refreshed, because while we have been asleep Nature has put the brain and nerves in good repair for us. We ought not to stay up late at night. We should not eat late or hearty suppers, as this will prevent our sleeping well.
8. We Ought Not to Allow Ourselves to Become Angry.—When a person flies into a passion he does his brain and nerves great harm. It is really dangerous to get angry. Persons have dropped dead instantly in a fit of anger.
9. We should Shun Bad Habits.—Bad habits are very hard to give up, and hence we should be careful to avoid them. When a child learns to swear, or to use slang phrases, the brain after a while will make him swear or use bad words before he thinks. In a similar manner other bad habits are acquired.
SUMMARY
1. A person without a brain or nerves would be of no more account than a vegetable.
2. When the brain or nerves are sick they cannot perform their duties properly.
3. To keep the brain and nerves in good health, we must take good care of the stomach and all other important organs of the body.
4. There are many things which we may do to keep the brain and nerves strong and well.
5. The brain needs pure blood, and so we must be careful to breathe pure air.
6. The brain gets strength by exercise, just as the muscles do. Hence, study is healthful, and makes the brain strong.
7. A good memory is very necessary, but we should not try to remember everything.
8. It is very important that we learn how to observe things closely.
9. Exercise in the open air rests and clears the brain by helping the blood to circulate.
10. Plenty of wholesome and simple food is necessary to keep the brain and nerves in good health. Spices, condiments, and rich foods in general are stimulating and harmful.
11. Plenty of sleep is needed to rest the brain and nerves.
12. It is dangerous as well as wicked to become very angry.
13. We should be careful to avoid forming bad habits of any sort, as they are hard to break, and often adhere to one through life.
CHAPTER XXIV
BAD EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON THE BRAIN AND NERVES
1. Drunkenness.—Did you ever see a man who was drunk? If you live in a city it is very likely that you have. How did the drunken man behave? Perhaps he was noisy and silly. Perhaps he was angry and tried to pick a quarrel with some one.
2. What made the man drunk? You say whiskey, but it may have been wine, or beer, or hard cider that he drank. Anything that contains alcohol will make a man drunk, for it is the alcohol which does all the mischief.
3. The Whiskey Flush.—You can almost always tell when a man has been drinking, even when he has not taken enough to make him drunk. You know by his flushed face and red eyes. When a man's face blushes from the use of alcohol, his whole body blushes at the same time. His muscles, his lungs, and his liver blush; his brain and spinal cord blush also.
4. When a man has taken just enough alcohol to make his face blush a little, the extra amount of blood in the brain makes him think and talk more lively, and he is very jolly and gay. This makes many people think that alcohol does them good. But if we notice what a man says when he is excited by alcohol, we shall find that his remarks are often silly and reckless. He says very unwise and foolish things, for which he feels sorry when he becomes sober.
5. Alcohol Paralyzes.—How does a drunken man walk? Let us see why he staggers. When a man takes a certain amount of alcohol his small brain and spinal cord become partly paralyzed, so that they cannot do their duty well; and so, when he tries to walk he reels and stumbles along, often falling down, and sometimes hurting himself very much. The fact is that the alcohol has put his spinal cord and small brain to sleep so that he cannot make his legs do what he wants them to do. Now, if still more alcohol is taken the whole brain becomes paralyzed, and then the man is so nearly dead that we say he is "dead drunk." It is exceedingly dangerous to become dead drunk, as the brain may be so completely paralyzed that it will not recover.
6. A small amount of alcohol does not make a man dead drunk, but it poisons and paralyzes his brain and nerves just according to the quantity he takes.
7. If a person holds a little alcohol in his mouth for a few moments, the tongue and cheeks feel numb. This is because the alcohol paralyzes them so that they cannot feel or taste. When taken into the stomach it has much the same kind of effect upon the nerves of the whole body.
8. Alcohol a Deceiver.—A hungry man takes a drink of whiskey and benumbs the nerves of his stomach so that he does not feel hungry. Alcohol puts to sleep the sentinels which Nature has set in the body to warn us of danger. A man who is cold takes alcohol and feels warm, though he is really colder. He lies down in his false comfort and freezes to death. A tired man takes his glass of grog and feels rested and strong, though he is really weaker than before. A poor man gets drunk and feels so rich that he spends what little money he has. The alcohol paralyzes his judgment and steals away his good sense. Thus alcohol is always a deceiver.
9. Delirium Tremens. (De-lir'-i-um Tre'-mens.)—When a man takes strong liquors regularly he very soon injures his brain and nerves so that they do not get quiet, as they should, at night, and he does not sleep well. He has frightful dreams. He sees all sorts of wild animals and horrid shapes in his dreams. Perhaps you have sometimes had such dreams from eating late suppers or indigestible food.
10. Did you ever have a dream when you were awake? If a man drinks a great deal he is likely to have a terrible disease known as delirium tremens, in which he sees the same frightful things when he is wide awake that he dreams about when he is asleep. This is one of the terrible effects of alcohol upon the brain and nerves.
11. Alcohol Paralysis.—You have seen how a drunken man staggers when he walks. Did you ever see a man who walked just as though he were drunk when he was really sober? This is because a part of the brain or spinal cord has been permanently injured or paralyzed. Alcohol is not the only cause of this disease, and so you must not think every person who staggers is or has been a drunkard; but alcohol is a very frequent cause of paralysis.
12. Effects of Alcohol upon the Mind and Character.—When a man is under the influence of alcohol is his character good or bad? Is a man likely to be good, or to be bad, when he is drunk or excited by drink? Most men behave badly when they are drunk, and after they have been drunk a great many times they often behave badly all the time. A great many of the men who are shut up in prisons would not have been sent there if they had never learned to drink.
13. A Legacy.—Do you know what a legacy is? If your father should die and leave to you a fine house or farm, or money in the bank, or books, or horses, or any other kind of property to have for your own, it would be a legacy. When a person gets anything in this way from a parent we say that he inherits it.
14. We inherit a great many things besides houses and lands and other kinds of property. For instance, perhaps you remember hearing some one say that you have eyes and hair the same color as your mother's, and that your nose and chin are like your father's. So you have inherited the color of your hair and eyes from your mother and the shape of your chin and nose from your father.
15. The Alcohol Legacy.—The inside of a boy's head is just as much like his parents' as the outside of it. In other words, we inherit our brains just as we do our faces. So, if a man spoils his brain with alcohol and gets an alcohol appetite, his children will be likely to have unhealthy brains and an appetite for alcohol also, and may become drunkards. Is not that a dreadful kind of legacy to inherit?
16. A child that has no mind is called an idiot. Such a child cannot talk, or read, or sing, and does not know enough to take proper care of itself. This is one of the bad legacies which drunken parents sometimes leave to their children.
17. Effects of Tobacco on the Brain and Nerves.—The effects of tobacco upon the brain and nerves are much the same as those of alcohol. Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic. It benumbs and paralyzes the nerves, and it is by this means that it obtains such an influence over those who use it.
18. The hand of a man or boy who uses tobacco often becomes so unsteady that he can scarcely write. Do you know what makes it so unsteady? It is because the cells which send nerves to the muscles of the hand are diseased. When a person has a trembling hand you say he is nervous. If you feel his pulse you will find that it does not beat steadily and regularly as it ought to do. The heart is nervous and trembles just the same as the muscles do. This shows that the tobacco has poisoned the cells in the brain which regulate the heart.
19. Wise physicians will tell you that one reason why tobacco is bad for boys is that it hurts their brains so that they cannot learn well, and do not become as useful and successful men as they might be.
20. Students in the naval and military schools of this country are not allowed to use tobacco on account of its bad effects upon the mind. In France the use of tobacco is forbidden to all students in the public schools.
21. Tobacco Leads to Vice.—Boys who use tobacco are more liable to get into company with boys who have other bad habits, and so are apt to become bad in many other ways. The use of tobacco often makes men want strong drink, and thus leads to drunkenness. If you wish to grow up with a steady hand, a strong heart, and a good character you will never touch tobacco.
22. Effects of Tea and Coffee on the Nerves.—People who use strong tea and coffee are often inclined to be nervous. This shows that strong tea and coffee, like alcohol and tobacco, are very injurious to the nerves.
23. Opium, Chloral, etc.—There are several drugs which are given by physicians to relieve pain or to produce sleep. They are sometimes helpful, but their use is very dangerous. Opium and chloral belong to this class of medicines. The danger is that, after a person has used the medicine a little while, he will continue to use it. If a person takes a poisonous drug every time he has a little pain, he will soon form the habit of using it, and may never break it off. There are many thousands of people who use opium all the time, and they are very much injured by it in mind and body. The mind becomes dull and stupid and the body weak and feeble. No medicine of this sort should ever be taken unless prescribed by a physician.
SUMMARY
1. In order to be well and useful we must keep the brain and nerves healthy.
2. To keep the brain healthy we need plenty of pure air to breathe; proper exercise of the brain by study; sufficient exercise of the muscles in play and work; plenty of good food to make pure blood; a proper amount of rest and sleep.
3. There are several things we ought not to do. We should not read or study too much. We should not allow ourselves to become excited or angry. We should avoid learning bad habits.
4. Alcohol paralyzes the brain and nerves.
5. Alcohol deceives a person who takes it by making him feel strong when he is weak; warm when he is cold; rich when he is poor; well when he is sick.
6. Alcohol makes men wicked. Most men who commit crimes are men who use liquor.
7. The effects of tobacco upon the brain and nerves are much the same as those of alcohol. Tobacco is very injurious to the mind.
8. Tobacco-using often leads boys to drunkenness and other vices.
9. The use of opium and chloral produces even worse effects than the use of alcohol or tobacco.
CHAPTER XXV
HOW WE HEAR, SEE, SMELL, TASTE, AND FEEL
1. The Senses.—We have five senses—hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. These are called special senses because they are very different from each other. They also differ from the general sense of feeling by means of which we feel pain when any part is hurt.
2. Organs of the Special Senses.—Each of the special senses has a special set of nerves and also special cells in the brain which have charge of them. We say that we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, feel with our fingers, etc.; but, really, we see, hear, taste, and smell in the brain just as we feel in the brain. The eyes, ears, nose, and other organs of the special senses are the instruments by means of which the brain sees, hears, smells, etc.
3. Sound and the Vibrations which it Causes.—All sounds are made by jars or vibrations of objects. Sounds cause objects to vibrate or tremble. A loud sound sometimes jars a whole house, while other sounds are so gentle and soft that we cannot feel them in the same way that we feel loud sounds. But Nature has made for us an ingenious organ by means of which we can feel these very fine vibrations as well as loud ones. We call this organ the ear.
4. The Ear.—The part of the ear which we can see is shaped somewhat like a trumpet. The small opening near the middle of the ear leads into a canal or tube which extends into the head about an inch. At the inner end there is a curious little chamber. This is called the drum of the ear, because between it and the canal of the ear there is stretched a thin membrane like the head of a drum. The ear-drum is also called the middle ear.
THE EAR.
5. Bones of the Ear.—Within the drum of the ear there are three curious little bones which are joined together so as to make a complete chain, reaching from the drum-head to the other side of the drum. The last bone fits into a little hole which leads into another curious chamber. This chamber, which is called the inner ear, is filled with fluid, and in this fluid the nerve of hearing is spread out. A part of the inner ear looks very much like a snail shell.
6. How we Hear.—Scratch with a pin upon one end of a long wooden pole. Have some one listen with the ear placed close against the other end of the pole. He will tell you that he hears the scratching of the pin very plainly. This is because the scratching jars the ear and especially the drum-head, which vibrates just as the head of a drum does when it is beaten with a drum-stick. When the drum-head vibrates it moves the bones of the ear, and these carry the vibration to the nerves of hearing in the inner chamber. We hear all sounds in the same way, only most sounds come to the ear through the air.
THE INSIDE OF THE EAR.
The snail-shell of the inner part of the ear hears musical sounds. The rest of the inner ear hears ordinary sounds or noises.
7. How to Keep the Ears Healthy.—The ears are very delicate organs and must be carefully treated. The following things about the care of the ears should never be forgotten:
(1.) Never use a pin, toothpick, or any other sharp instrument to clean out the ear. There is great danger that the drum-head will be torn, and thus the hearing will be injured. Neither is it ever necessary to use an ear-spoon to remove the wax. Working at the ear causes more wax to form.
(2.) Do not allow cold water to enter the ear or a cold wind to blow directly into it.
(3.) If anything accidentally gets into the ear, do not work at it, but hold the head over to one side while water is made to run in from a syringe. If an insect has gone into the ear, pour in a little oil. This will kill the insect or make it come out.
(4.) Never shout into another person's ear. The ear may be greatly injured in this way.
(5.) Boxing or pulling the ears is likely to produce deafness, and ought never to be done.
8. The Eye.—The eye is one of the most wonderful organs in the whole body. It enables us to know what is going on at some distance from us, and to enjoy many beautiful things which our sense of hearing and other senses can tell us nothing about. It also enables us to read. Let us learn how this wonderful organ is made.
9. The Eyeball.—Looking at the eye, we see first a round part which rolls in different directions. This is the eyeball. We see only the front side of the eyeball as it fits into a hollow in the skull. Being thus in a safe place, it is not likely to get hurt.
THE EYE.
The eyeball is mostly filled with a clear substance very much like jelly. It is so clear that the light can shine through it just as easily as it can shine through water.
10. The Pupil.—If you look sharply at the eyeball you will see a small black hole just in the centre. This is a little window which lets the light into the inside of the eyeball. We call this the pupil. Just around the pupil is a colored ring which gives the eye its color. We say a person has blue or brown or gray eyes according as this ring is blue or brown or gray. This colored ring is a kind of curtain for the window of the eye.
11. If you observe the pupil closely, you will see that it is sometimes larger and sometimes smaller. If you look at the light the pupil is small; if you turn away from the light the pupil grows larger at once. This is because the curtain closes when in a bright light and opens in the darkness. It does this of itself without our thinking about it. In this way the eye is protected from too strong a light, which would do it great harm.
12. If you look a little sidewise at the eyeball, you will see that the curtain has something in front of it which is clear as glass. It is about the shape of a watch crystal, only very much smaller. This is to the eye what the glass is to the windows of a house. It closes the opening in the front of the eyeball and yet lets the light shine in.
13. The White of the Eye.—The white of the eye is a tough, firm membrane which encloses the eyeball and keeps it in a round shape.
14. The Lens.—Do you know what a lens is? Perhaps you do not know it by this name, but you are familiar with the spectacles which people sometimes wear to help their eyes. The glasses in the spectacle frames are called lenses. Well, there is something in the eye almost exactly like one of these lenses, only smaller. It is also called a lens. If some one will get the eye of an ox for you, you can cut it open and find this part. The lens is placed in the eyeball just behind the pupil. (See picture.)
THE INSIDE OF THE EYE.
15. The Nerves of Sight.—But a person might have an eyeball with all the parts we have learned about and yet not be able to see. Can you tell what more is needed? There must be a nerve. This nerve comes from some little nerve cells in the brain and enters the eyeball at the back of the eye; there it is spread out on the inside of the black lining of the white of the eye.
16. The Eyelids.—Now we know all that it is necessary for us to learn about the eyeball, so let us notice some other parts about the eye. First there are the eyelids. They are little folds of skin fringed with hairs, which we can shut up so as to cover the eyeball and keep out the light when we want to sleep or when we are in danger of getting dust or smoke into the eye. The hairs placed along the edge of the lids help to keep the dust out when the eyes are open.
17. The Eyebrows.—The row of hairs placed above the eye is called the eyebrow. Like the eyelids, the eyebrows catch some substances which might fall into the eye, and they also serve to turn off the perspiration and keep it out of the eyes.
18. The Tear Gland.—Do you know where the tears come from? There is a little gland snugly placed away in the socket of the eye just above the eyeball, which makes tears in the same way that the salivary glands make saliva. It is called the tear gland. The gland usually makes just enough tears to keep the eye moist. There are times when it makes more than enough, as when something gets into the eye, or when we suffer pain or feel unhappy. Then the tears are carried off by means of a little tube which runs down into the nose from the inner corner of the eye. When the tears are formed so fast that they cannot all get away through this tube, they pass over the edge of the lower eyelid and flow down the cheek.
19. Muscles of the Eyes.—By means of little muscles which are fastened to the eyeball, we are able to turn the eye in almost every direction.
20. How we See.—Now we want to know how we see with the eye. This is not very easy to understand, but we can learn something about it. Let us make a little experiment. Here is a glass lens. If we hold it before a window and place a piece of smooth white paper behind it, we can see a picture of the houses and trees and fences, and other things out-of-doors. The picture made by the lens looks exactly like the view out-of-doors, except that it is upside down. This is one of the curious things that a lens does. The lens of the eye acts just like a glass lens. It makes a picture of everything we see, upon the ends of the nerves of sight which are spread out at the back of the eyeball. The nerves of sight tell their nerves in the brain about the picture, just as the nerves of feeling tell their cells when they are touched with a pin; and this is how we see.
21. Did you ever look through a spyglass or an opera-glass? If so, you know you must make the tube longer or shorter according as you look at things near by or far away. The eye also has to be changed a little when we look from near to distant objects. Look out of the window at a tree a long way off. Now place a lead pencil between the eyes and the tree. You can scarcely see the pencil while you look sharply at the tree, and if you look at the pencil you cannot see the tree distinctly.
22. There is a little muscle in the eye which makes the change needed to enable us to see objects close by as well as those which are farther away. When people grow old the little muscles cannot do this so well, and hence old people have to put on glasses to see objects near by, as in reading. Children should not try to wear old persons' glasses, as this is likely to injure their eyes.
23. How to Keep the Eyes Healthy.—(1.) Never continue the use of the eyes at fine work, such as reading or fancy-work, after they have become very tired.
(2.) Do not try to read or to use the eyes with a poor light—in the twilight, for instance, before the gas or lamps are lighted.
(3.) In reading or studying, do not sit with the light from either a lamp or a window shining directly upon the face. Have the light come from behind and shine over the left shoulder if possible.
(4.) Never expose the eyes to a sudden, bright light by looking at the sun or at a lamp on first awaking in the morning, or by passing quickly from a dark room into a lighted one.
(5.) Do not read when lying down, or when riding on a street car or railway train.
(6.) If any object gets into the eye have it removed as soon as possible.
(7.) A great many persons hurt their eyes by using various kinds of eye-washes. Never use anything of this kind unless told to do so by a good physician.
24. How we Smell.—If we wish to smell anything very strongly, we sniff or suddenly draw the air up through the nose. We do this to bring more air to the nerves of smell, which are placed at the upper part of the inside of the nose.
INSIDE OF THE NOSE.
25. Smelling is a sort of feeling. The nerves of smell are so sensitive that they can discover things in the air which we cannot taste or see. An Indian uses his sense of smell to tell him whether things are good to eat or not. He knows that things which have a pleasant smell are likely to be good for him and not likely to make him sick.
We do not make so much use of the sense of smell as do the savages and many lower animals, and hence we are not able to smell so acutely. Many persons lose the sense of smell altogether, from neglecting colds in the head.
26. How we Taste.—The tongue and the palate have very delicate nerves by means of which we taste. We cannot taste with the whole of the tongue. The very tip of the tongue has only nerves of touch or feeling.
27. The use of the sense of taste is to give us pleasure and to tell us whether different substances are healthful or injurious. Things which are poisonous and likely to make us sick almost always have an unpleasant taste as well as an unpleasant odor. Things which have a pleasant taste are usually harmless.
28. Bad Tastes.—People sometimes learn to like things which have a very unpleasant taste. Pepper, mustard, pepper-sauce, and other hot sauces, alcohol, and tobacco are harmful substances of this sort. When used freely they injure the sense of taste so that it cannot detect and enjoy fine and delicate flavors. These substances, as we have elsewhere learned, also do the stomach harm and injure the nerves and other parts of the body.
29. The Sense of Touch.—If you put your hand upon an object you can tell whether it is hard or soft, smooth or rough, and can learn whether it is round or square, or of some other shape. You are able to do this by means of the nerves of touch, which are found in the skin in all parts of the body. If you wished to know how an object feels, would you touch it with the elbow, or the knee, or the cheek? You will say, No. You would feel of it with the hand, and would touch it with the ends of the fingers. You can feel objects better with the ends of the fingers because there are more nerves of touch in the part of the skin covering the ends of the fingers than in most other parts of the body.
30. The sense of touch is more delicate in the tip of the tongue than in any other part. This is because it is necessary to use the sense of touch in the tongue to assist the sense of taste in finding out whether things are good to eat or not. The sense of touch is also very useful to us in many other ways. We hardly know how useful it really is until we are deprived of some of our other senses, as sight or hearing. In a blind man the sense of touch often becomes surprisingly acute.
31. Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco on the Special Senses.—All the special senses—hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling—depend upon the brain and nerves. Whatever does harm to the brain and nerves must injure the special senses also. We have learned how alcohol and tobacco, and all other narcotics and stimulants, injure and sometimes destroy the brain cells and their nerve branches, and so we can understand that a person who uses these poisonous substances will, by so doing, injure the delicate organs with which he hears, sees, smells, etc.
32. Persons who use tobacco and strong drink sometimes become blind, because these poisons injure the nerves of sight. The ears are frequently injured by the use of tobacco. Smoking cigarettes and snuff-taking destroy the sense of smell. The poison of the tobacco paralyzes the nerves of taste so that they cannot detect flavors. Tea-tasters and other persons who need to have a delicate sense of taste do not use either alcohol or tobacco.
SUMMARY
1. We have five special senses—hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling.
2. The ear is the organ of hearing, and has three parts, called the external ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The inner ear contains the nerve of hearing.
3. The middle ear is separated from the external ear by the drum-head. The drum-head is connected with the inner ear by a chain of bones.
4. Sounds cause the drum-head to vibrate. The ear-bones convey the vibration from the drum-head to the nerve of hearing.
5. To keep the ear healthy we must avoid meddling with it or putting things into it.