Factors in Normal Expression of Life
In case of incoördination in the body there are always existing conditions which require educated adaptation. It is the study of these conditions to which the sickroom hygiene and sanitation must be directed.
We will first consider the environment necessary for the normal expression of life in the body. Unhindered transmission of mental impulses alone will not give us the processes of metabolism. To have normal metabolism in the body oxygen must be carried to the tissue cells and there must be an uninterrupted transmission of mental impulses. Nutrition is derived from the food taken into the body and oxygen from the air is breathed into the lungs. The mental impulses are transformed in the brain by Innate Intelligence and transmitted by efferent nerves; hence the necessity for a proper amount of food, a sufficient supply of pure air and unhindered transmission. But the nutrient elements contained in the food are not in a state to be utilized by the tissue cells when taken into the body; therefore it is necessary that the food be broken up by the process of digestion that it will be rendered usable by the tissue cells.
This process of digestion requires a great expenditure of internal energy or, in other words, a functional activity of the mental impulses. Thus it is seen that the body as a machine must be supplied with the material necessary to keep it in repair and running order, and that this material is taken in and prepared within the body for bodily use.
Not only must provision be made for supplying the body with the proper amount of food, but attention must be given to a proper supply of oxygen for the lungs. This seems a very simple thing to do, and it is simple under natural conditions, but when we consider the unnatural conditions that have been created by man and under which the human race in civilized countries is living, it becomes a problem that requires great engineering skill. The ventilation of great buildings, streets and subways is no small problem and yet if the processes of metabolism are to be maintained in the body ventilation must be given attention.