The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Handbook of Health
Title: A Handbook of Health
Author: Woods Hutchinson
Release date: January 5, 2007 [eBook #20294]
Language: English
Credits: E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Riikka Talonpoika, Pilar Somoza Fernández,
E-text prepared by
Juliet Sutherland, Riikka Talonpoika, Pilar Somoza Fernández,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net/c/)
THE WOODS HUTCHINSON HEALTH SERIES
A HANDBOOK OF
HEALTH
BY
WOODS HUTCHINSON, A. M., M. D.
Sometime Professor of Anatomy, University of Iowa; Professor of
Comparative
Pathology and Methods of Science Teaching, University of
Buffalo; Lecturer,
London Medical Graduates' College and University of
London;
and State Health Officer of Oregon. Author of "Preventable
Diseases," "Conquest of Consumption,"
"Instinct and Health," etc.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY WOODS HUTCHINSON
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TENTH IMPRESSION
PREFACE
Looking upon the human body from the physical point of view as the most perfect, most ingeniously economical, and most beautiful of living machines, the author has attempted to write a little handbook of practical instruction for the running of it.
And seeing that, like other machines, it derives the whole of its energy from its fuel, the subject of foods—their properties, uses, and methods of preparation—has been gone into with unusual care. An adequate supply of clean-burning food-fuel for the human engine is so absolutely fundamental both for health and for efficiency—we are so literally what we have eaten—that to be well fed is in very fact two-thirds of the battle of life from a physiological point of view. The whole discussion is in accord with the aim, kept in view throughout the book, of making its suggestion and advice positive instead of negative, pointing out that, in the language of the old swordsman, "attack is the best defense." If we actively do those things that make for health and efficiency, and which, for the most part, are attractive and agreeable to our natural instincts and unspoiled tastes,—such as exercising in the open air, eating three square meals a day of real food, getting nine or ten hours of undisturbed sleep, taking plenty of fresh air and cold water both inside and out,—this will of itself carry us safely past all the forbidden side paths without the need of so much as a glance at the "Don't" and "Must not" with which it has been the custom to border and fence in the path of right living.
On the other hand, while fully alive to the undesirability, and indeed wickedness, of putting ideas of dread and suffering into children's minds unnecessarily, yet so much of the misery in the world is due to ignorance, and could have been avoided if knowledge of the simplest character had been given at the proper time, that it has been thought best to set forth the facts as to the causation and nature of the commonest diseases, and the methods by which they may be avoided. This is peculiarly necessary from the fact that most of the gravest enemies of mankind have come into existence within a comparatively recent period of the history of life,—only since the beginning of civilization, in fact,—so that we have as yet developed no natural instincts for their avoidance.
Nor do we admit that we are adding anything to the stock of fears in the minds of children—the nurse-maid and the bad boys in the next alley have been ahead of us in this respect. The child-mind is too often already filled with fears and superstitions of every sort, passed down from antiquity. Modern sanitarians have been accused of merely substituting one fear for another in the mind of the child—bacilli instead of bogies. But, even if this be true, there are profound and practical differences between the two terrors. One is real, and the other imaginary. A child cannot avoid meeting a bacillus; he will never actually make the acquaintance of a bogie. Children, like savages and ignorant adults, believe and invent and retail among themselves the most extraordinary and grotesque theories about the structure and functions of their bodies, the nature and causation of their illnesses and aches and pains. A plain and straightforward statement of the actual facts about these things not only will not shock or repel them, or make them old before their time, but, on the contrary, will interest them greatly, relieve their minds of many unfounded dreads, and save them from the commonest and most hurtful mistakes of humanity—those that are committed through ignorance.
The Author.
CONTENTS
PAGE
- 1Running the Human Automobile
- 4Why We Have a Stomach
4What Keeps Us Alive7The Digestive System9The Journey down the Food Tube
- 21The Food-Fuel of the Body-Engine
21What Kind of Food should We Eat?25The Three Great Classes of Food-Fuel
- 27The Coal Foods
27Proteins, or "Meats"
- 40The Coal Foods (Continued)
40Starches48Sugars
- 51The Coal Foods (Continued)
51Animal Fats55Nuts
- 56Kindling and Paper Foods—Fruits and Vegetables
- 62Cooking
- 69Our Drink
69Filling the Boiler of the Body-Engine72Where our Drinking Water Comes from75Causes and Dangers of Polluted Water81Methods of Obtaining Pure Water87Home Methods of Purifying Water
- 89Beverages, Alcohol, and Tobacco
93Alcohol103Tobacco
- 108The Heart-Pump and its Pipe-Line System
108The Blood Vessels115The Heart
- 120The Care of the Heart-Pump and its Pipe Lines
- 130How and why We Breathe
- 139How to Keep the Lung-Bellows in Good Condition
139The Need of Pure Air152Colds, Consumption, and Pneumonia156How to Conquer Consumption165Pneumonia
- 167The Skin
167Our Wonderful Coat170The Glands in the Skin172The Nails174The Blood-Mesh of the Skin177The Nerves in the Skin
- 179How to Keep the Skin Healthy
179Clothing184Baths and Bathing188Care of the Nails189Diseases and Disturbances of the Skin
- 196The Plumbing and Sewering of the Body
- 202The Muscles
- 210The Stiffening Rods of the Body-Machine
- 216Our Telephone Exchange and its Cables
- 228The Hygiene of Bones, Nerves, and Muscles
228How to Get and Keep a Good Figure230Our Feet232Sleep and Rest233Disorders of Muscles and Bones235Troubles of the Nervous System
- 241Exercise and Growth
- 252The Lookout Department
253The Nose257The Tongue259The Eye266The Ear269Our Spirit-Levels
- 271The Speech Organs
- 277The Teeth, the Ivory Keepers of the Gate
- 286Infections, and how to Avoid Them
- 314Accidents and Emergencies
331Questions and Exercises343Glossary and Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
2 To Attempt to Run an Automobile without Knowing how would be Regarded as Foolhardy
6 Where Sun-Power is Made into Food for Us
8 The Food Route in the Digestive System
10 The Salivary Glands
14 A Section of the Lining Surface of the Stomach
15 A Longitudinal Section of Stomach, or Peptic, Glands
23 A Cheap Home-Made Ice Box
30 A Baby-Milk Station
33 Clean, Dry Sunning Yards at a Model Dairy
34 Cleanliness before Milking
35 The Milking Hour at a Model Dairy
36 Milking by Vacuum Process
37 Washing the Bottles at a Model Dairy
38 Bacteria in Clean and in Dirty Milk
38 Danger from Dipped Milk
39 Milk Inspection at the Retail Store
44 A Thorough Baking, and a Valuable Crust
45 An Ideal Bakery with Light, Air, and Cleanliness
46 A Basement Bakery—A Menace to the Public Health
50 Candy, Like Other Foods, Should be Clean
54 A Small Store, Cleanly and Honest
61 The Joy of his Own Garden Patch
63 The Kitchen should be Cared for as One of the Most Important Rooms in the House
66 A Knowledge of Cooking is a Valuable Part of a Good Education
67 Boys, as well as Girls, should Know how to Cook
71 The Chained Cup
72 The Spouting Fountain
74 Nature's Filter-Bed
76 An Example of Good Farm Drainage
78 The Danger Spot on the Farm
80 Typhoid Epidemic in the Mohawk-Hudson Valley
82 Artesian Well Borings
84 A City Water Supply Brought from the Far Hills
86 A Reservoir and Costly Dam
87 Scraping the Sediment from the Bottom of a Reservoir
88 The Domestic Filter in Use
92 A Milk Station in a City Park
95 Proportion of Alcohol in Light Wine, in Beer, in Whiskey
105 A Board of Health Examination for Working Papers
106 A Test of Clear Head and Steady Nerves
109 Blood Corpuscles
112 Surface Veins and Deep-Lying Arteries of Inner Side of Right Arm and Hand
114 Diagram of Artery, Capillaries, and Vein
116 The Exterior of the Heart
117 Diagram of Valves in the Veins and Heart
118 The Blood-Route trought the Heart
121 The School Physician Examining Heart and Lungs
127 Rowing is a Splendid Exercise for Heart and Lungs
131 The Great Essential to Life—Air
134 Diagram of the Air Tubes and Lungs
137 "Improving their Wind"
145 The "Dark Room" Danger of the Tenements
146 Ventilating the Pupils, as well as the Classroom
147 A Well-Aired Classroom
148 A Healthful Arrangement of Windows and Shades
151 A Healthful Bedroom
152 Disease Germs
153 A Vacuum Cleaner
155 Exercise in the Cold is a Good Preventive of Colds
156 A Year of Consumption on Manhattan Island
157 Consumption in Chicago
159 A Report-Form from a Health Department Laboratory
160 A Sign that Ought not to be Necessary
161 A Comparative Death-Rate from Contagious Diseases
163 A Tuberculosis Tent Colony in Winter
165 An Outdoor Classroom for Tuberculous Children
169 The Layers of the Skin
171 The Glands in the Skin
181 Results of Tight Clothing
183 A Comfortable Dress for Outdoor Study in Cold Weather
185 As a Tonic, Swimming is the Best Form of Bathing
200 The Urinary System
205 The Muscle-Sheet
206 Use of Muscles in Bowling
207 Use of Muscles in Football
207 Patella and Muscle
211 The Human Skeleton
212 The Spinal Column
213 A Ball-and-Socket Joint
213 A Hinge Joint
214 Lengthwise Section of Bone
214 Cross Section of Bone
218 The Nervous System
229 The Position of the Body is an Index to its Health
230 Imprint of (1) Arched Foot and (2) Flat Foot
231 The Result of Wearing a Fashionable Shoe
234 Callus Formed around a Fracture
242 A Trained Body
245 Tug of War
246 The Giant Stride
248 School Gardening
249 A Wasted Chance for Public Health
250 An Obstacle Race
251 The High Jump
256 Adenoids
257 Mouth-Breathers
260 The Apparatus of Vision
263 A School Eye-Test
265 Disinfecting a Baby's Eyes at Birth
267 The Apparatus of Hearing
272 The Vocal Cords
278 Teeth—A Question of Care
279 A Tooth
282 The Replacing of the Milk Teeth
284 A Tooth-Brush Drill
290 The Winning Fight
291 Death-Rate from Measles
294 Death-Rate from Diphtheria and Croup
298 Bill of Health
301 Germs of Malaria
302 Culex
302 Anopheles
304 Oiling a Breeding Ground of Mosquitoes
310 An Educational Fly Poster
311 A Breeding Place of Flies and Filth
321 A Tourniquet
325 Poison Ivy
328 The New Method of Artificial Breathing
PLATES IN COLOR
facing 110 Diagram of the Circulatory System
facing 198 Diagram showing General Plan and Position of Body-Machinery
A HANDBOOK OF HEALTH
CHAPTER I
RUNNING THE HUMAN AUTOMOBILE
The Body-Automobile. If you were to start to-morrow morning on a long-distance ride in an automobile, the first thing that you would do would be to find out just how that automobile was built; how often it must have fresh gasoline; how its different speed gears were worked; what its tires were made of; how to mend them; and how to cure engine troubles. To attempt to run an automobile, for even a ten-mile ride, with less information than this, would be regarded as foolhardy.
Yet most of us are willing to set out upon the journey of life in the most complicated, most ingenious, and most delicate machine ever made—our body—with no more knowledge of its structure than can be gained from gazing in the looking-glass; or of its needs, than a preference for filling up its fuel tank three times a day. More knowledge than this is often regarded as both unnecessary and unpleasant. Yet there are few things more important, more vital to our health, our happiness, and our success in life, than to know how to steer and how to road-repair our body-automobile. This we can learn only from physiology and hygiene.
The General Plan of the Human Automobile is Simple. Complicated as our body-automobile looks to be, there are certain things about the plan and general build of it which are plain enough. It has a head end, where fuel supplies are taken in and where its lamps and other look-out apparatus are carried; a body in which the fuel is stored and turned into work or speed, and into which air is drawn to help combustion and to cool the engine pipes. It has a pair of fore-wheels (the arms) and a pair of hind-wheels (the legs), though these have been reduced to only one spoke each, and swing only about a quarter of the way around and back again when running, instead of round and round. It has a steering gear (the brain), just back of the headlights, and a system of nerve electric wires connecting all parts of it. It gets warm when it runs, and stops if it is not fed.