A Handbook of Health

Woods Hutchinson

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• Publié par: nechig
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Handbook of Health, by Woods Hutchinson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: A Handbook of Health Author: Woods Hutchinson Release Date: January 5, 2007 [eBook #20294] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HANDBOOK OF HEALTH*** 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 {iii} —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. {iv} CONTENTS {v} PAGE I. R UNNING THE H UMAN AUTOMOBILE II. WHY WE H AVE A STOMACH What Keeps Us Alive The Digestive System The Journey down the Food Tube III. THE FOOD-FUEL OF THE BODY-ENGINE What Kind of Food should We Eat? The Three Great Classes of Food-Fuel IV. THE C OAL FOODS Proteins, or "Meats" V. THE C OAL FOODS (Continued) Starches Sugars VI. THE C OAL FOODS (Continued) Animal Fats Nuts VII. KINDLING AND PAPER FOODS—FRUITS AND VEGETABLES VIII. C OOKING IX. OUR D RINK Filling the Boiler of the Body-Engine Where our Drinking Water Comes from Causes and Dangers of Polluted Water Methods of Obtaining Pure Water Home Methods of Purifying Water X. BEVERAGES, ALCOHOL, AND TOBACCO Alcohol Tobacco XI. THE H EART-PUMP AND ITS PIPE-LINE SYSTEM The Blood Vessels The Heart XII. THE C ARE OF THE H EART-PUMP AND ITS PIPE LINES XIII. H OW AND WHY WE BREATHE XIV. H OW TO KEEP THE LUNG -BELLOWS IN GOOD C ONDITION The Need of Pure Air Colds, Consumption, and Pneumonia How to Conquer Consumption Pneumonia XV. THE SKIN Our Wonderful Coat The Glands in the Skin The Nails The Blood-Mesh of the Skin The Nerves in the Skin XVI. H OW TO KEEP THE SKIN H EALTHY Clothing Baths and Bathing 1 4 4 7 9 21 21 25 27 27 40 40 48 51 51 55 56 62 69 69 72 75 81 87 89 93 103 108 108 115 120 130 139 139 152 156 165 167 167 170 172 174 177 179 179 184 {vi} XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. Care of the Nails Diseases and Disturbances of the Skin THE PLUMBING AND SEWERING OF THE BODY THE MUSCLES THE STIFFENING R ODS OF THE BODY-MACHINE OUR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE AND ITS C ABLES 188 189 196 202 210 216 228 228 230 232 233 235 241 252 253 257 259 266 269 271 277 286 314 331 343 XXI. THE H YGIENE OF BONES, N ERVES, AND MUSCLES How to Get and Keep a Good Figure Our Feet Sleep and Rest Disorders of Muscles and Bones Troubles of the Nervous System XXII. EXERCISE AND GROWTH XXIII. THE LOOKOUT D EPARTMENT The Nose The Tongue The Eye The Ear Our Spirit-Levels XXIV. THE SPEECH ORGANS XXV. THE TEETH, THE IVORY KEEPERS OF THE GATE XXVI. INFECTIONS, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM XXVII. ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES GLOSSARY AND INDEX {vii} ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE {viii} TO ATTEMPT TO RUN AN AUTOMOBILE WITHOUT KNOWING HOW WOULD BE R EGARDED AS FOOLHARDY WHERE SUN-POWER IS MADE INTO FOOD FOR U S THE FOOD R OUTE IN THE D IGESTIVE SYSTEM THE SALIVARY GLANDS A SECTION OF THE LINING SURFACE OF THE STOMACH A LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF STOMACH, OR PEPTIC, GLANDS A C HEAP H OME-MADE ICE BOX A BABY-MILK STATION C LEAN, D RY SUNNING YARDS AT A MODEL D AIRY C LEANLINESS BEFORE MILKING 2 6 8 10 14 15 23 30 33 34 THE MILKING H OUR AT A MODEL D AIRY MILKING BY VACUUM PROCESS WASHING THE BOTTLES AT A MODEL D AIRY BACTERIA IN C LEAN AND IN D IRTY MILK D ANGER FROM D IPPED MILK MILK INSPECTION AT THE R ETAIL STORE A THOROUGH BAKING , AND A VALUABLE C RUST AN IDEAL BAKERY WITH LIGHT, AIR, AND C LEANLINESS A BASEMENT BAKERY—A MENACE TO THE PUBLIC H EALTH C ANDY, LIKE OTHER FOODS, SHOULD BE C LEAN A SMALL STORE, C LEANLY AND H ONEST THE JOY OF HIS OWN GARDEN PATCH THE KITCHEN SHOULD BE CARED FOR AS O OF THE M NE OST IMPORTANT R OOMS IN THE H OUSE A KNOWLEDGE OF COOKING IS A VALUABLE PART OF A GOOD EDUCATION BOYS, AS WELL AS GIRLS, SHOULD KNOW HOW TO C OOK THE C HAINED C UP THE SPOUTING FOUNTAIN N ATURE'S FILTER-BED AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD FARM D RAINAGE THE D ANGER SPOT ON THE FARM TYPHOID EPIDEMIC IN THE MOHAWK-H UDSON VALLEY ARTESIAN WELL BORINGS A C ITY WATER SUPPLY BROUGHT FROM THE FAR H ILLS A R ESERVOIR AND C OSTLY D AM SCRAPING THE SEDIMENT FROM THE BOTTOM OF A R ESERVOIR THE D OMESTIC FILTER IN U SE A MILK STATION IN A C ITY PARK PROPORTION OF ALCOHOL IN LIGHT WINE, IN BEER, IN WHISKEY A BOARD OF H EALTH EXAMINATION FOR WORKING PAPERS A TEST OF C LEAR H EAD AND STEADY N ERVES 35 36 37 38 38 39 44 45 46 50 54 61 63 66 67 71 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 87 88 92 95 105 106 {ix} BLOOD C ORPUSCLES SURFACE VEINS AND DEEP-LYING ARTERIES OF INNER SIDE OF R IGHT ARM AND H AND D IAGRAM OF ARTERY, C APILLARIES, AND VEIN THE EXTERIOR OF THE H EART D IAGRAM OF VALVES IN THE VEINS AND H EART THE BLOOD-R OUTE TROUGHT THE H EART THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN EXAMINING H EART AND LUNGS R OWING IS A SPLENDID EXERCISE FOR H EART AND LUNGS THE GREAT ESSENTIAL TO LIFE—AIR D IAGRAM OF THE AIR TUBES AND LUNGS "IMPROVING THEIR WIND" THE "D ARK R OOM" D ANGER OF THE TENEMENTS VENTILATING THE PUPILS, AS WELL AS THE C LASSROOM A WELL-AIRED C LASSROOM A H EALTHFUL ARRANGEMENT OF WINDOWS AND SHADES A H EALTHFUL BEDROOM D ISEASE GERMS A VACUUM C LEANER EXERCISE IN THE C OLD IS A GOOD PREVENTIVE OF C OLDS A YEAR OF C ONSUMPTION ON MANHATTAN ISLAND C ONSUMPTION IN C HICAGO A R EPORT-FORM FROM A H EALTH D EPARTMENT LABORATORY A SIGN THAT OUGHT NOT TO BE N ECESSARY A C OMPARATIVE D EATH-R ATE FROM C ONTAGIOUS D ISEASES A TUBERCULOSIS TENT C OLONY IN WINTER AN OUTDOOR C LASSROOM FOR TUBERCULOUS C HILDREN THE LAYERS OF THE SKIN THE GLANDS IN THE SKIN R ESULTS OF TIGHT C LOTHING A C OMFORTABLE D RESS FOR O UTDOOR S TUDY IN C OLD WEATHER AS A TONIC,