PART X.
FORMULA FOR THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS AND DIGESTION.
1. When my food is chewed, it is rolled by my tongue into the oesophagus, or food-pipe, which is back of my windpipe, and leads from my mouth down along the side of my spine, to the left and upper end of my stomach.
2. My stomach is an oblong, soft, and fleshy bag, extending from my left to my right side, below my lungs and heart.
3. It is composed of three coats or membranes, and resembles tripe.
4. The outer coat is smooth, thick, and tough. It supports and strengthens the stomach.
5. The middle coat is fibrous. Its fibres have the power of contracting, sometimes pressing upon the food, and sometimes pushing it along toward the opening which leads out of the stomach.
6. The inner coat is soft, thick, spongy, and wrinkled. It prepares a slimy substance and a fluid. The slimy substance prevents the stomach from being irritated by the food. The fluid dissolves the food.
7. Food passes through several changes after it enters the mouth.
8. It is changed into pulp in the mouth, by the action of the teeth and the saliva. This is called mastication. It is changed in the stomach, by the action of the stomach and the gastric juice, into another kind of pulp called chyme. The chyme is changed by the bile and another kind of juice, called pancreatic
juice; these separate the nourishing from the waste substance. The nourishing, milk-like substance is called chyle. The waste substance passes from the body. The chyle is poured into a vein behind the collar bone, and passes through the heart to the lungs, where it is changed into blood.
9. If I would have a healthy stomach,
I must be careful what kind of food I eat,
I must be careful how much I eat,
I must be careful how I eat,
I must be careful when I eat.
10. I must eat wholesome food, good bread, ripe fruits, rather than rich pies or jellies.
11. I must eat enough food, but not too much.
12. I must eat slowly,
I must masticate my food thoroughly,
I must masticate and swallow ray food without drinking
13. I must take my food regularly but not too often,
I must rest before and after eating, if possible,
I must not eat just before bedtime.
14. I must breathe pure air,
I must sit, stand, and walk erect,
I must not drink alcoholic liquors,
I must not snuff, smoke, or chew tobacco.
QUESTIONS FOR THE FORMULA.
1. Describe the process of eating.[[2]] See page [21].
2. Where does the food go after it is chewed?
3. Describe the stomach.
4. Of what is the stomach composed?
5. Describe the outer coat of the stomach, and tell its use.
6. Describe the middle coat of the stomach, and tell its use.
7. Describe the inner coat of the stomach, and tell its use.
8. What happens to the food after it enters the mouth?
9. Tell about these changes.
10. What is necessary if you would have a healthy stomach?
11. What kind of food must you eat?
12. How much food must you eat?
13. How must you eat?
14. When must you eat?
15. What other rules must you obey?
[2] See Formula 7 on the Organs of Sense.
"EAT TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO EAT."
There is pleasure in eating, because God has given us the sense of taste, that we may enjoy our food. But not everything which pleases this sense is good for the body, so we should learn what things are wholesome and choose them for our food and drink, refusing everything which is unwholesome. Those who obey these rules "eat to live" and never become drunkards or gluttons.
QUESTIONS ON THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS AND DIGESTION.
What happens to the food after it is chewed?—"It is rolled by my tongue into the oesophagus or food-pipe."
Where is the oesophagus or food-pipe?—"It passes from the mouth down the left side of the spine."
What is the stomach?—"A fleshy bag which receives and changes the food we eat."
Where is the stomach?—"In the front part of the chest, below the heart and lungs."
Of what is the stomach composed?—"Of three coats or membranes."
What do you mean by composed?—"Made of."
What do you mean by membrane?—"A thin skin."
What are the coats of the stomach called?—"The outer coat, the middle coat, the inner coat."
Describe the outer coat of the stomach.—"The outer coat is smooth, thick, and tough."
Of what use is the outer coat of the stomach?—"It strengthens and supports the stomach."
What do you mean by supports?—"Holds."
Describe the middle coat of the stomach.—"The middle coat is composed of fleshy fibres, which have the power of making themselves long or short."
What do you mean by fibrous?—"Composed of threads."
What do you mean by fibres?—"Threads."
Of what are the fibres of the stomach composed?—"Of flesh."
Of what use are the fibres of the stomach?—"They press upon the food, and push it toward the opening which leads out of the stomach."
Describe the inner coat of the stomach.—"The inner coat is soft, thick, spongy, and wrinkled."
Of what use is the inner coat of the stomach?—"It prepares a slimy substance and a fluid."
Of what use is the slimy substance?—"It prevents the stomach from being irritated by the food."
Of what use is the fluid?—"It dissolves the food."
What do you mean by slimy?—"Soft, moist, and sticky."
What do you mean by irritate?—"To produce unhealthy action."
What do you mean by dissolves?—"Melts."
Where is the food changed after it is taken into the mouth?—"First it is changed in the mouth; second, it is changed in the stomach; third, it is changed after leaving the stomach; fourth, it is changed in the lungs."
By what is it changed in the mouth?—"By the action of the teeth and the saliva."
By what is it changed in the stomach?—"By the action of the stomach and a kind of fluid called gastric juice."
By what is it changed after leaving the stomach?—"By the action of the bile and the pancreatic juice."
By what is it changed in the lungs?—"Nobody knows."
Into what is it changed in the mouth?—"Into pulp."
Into what is it changed after leaving the stomach?—"Into chyle and waste substance."
Into what is it changed in the lungs?—"Into blood."
What is the change in the mouth called?—"Mastication, or chewing."
What is the change in the stomach called?—"Chymification, or chyme-making."
What is the change after leaving the stomach called?—"Chylification, or chyle-making."
What is necessary, if you would have a healthy stomach?—"I must be careful what kind of food I eat; how much I eat; and when I eat."
What kind of food must you eat?—"Wholesome food, etc." See Formula.
How much must you eat?—"Enough, but not too much."
How must you eat?—"Slowly."
How should your food be masticated?—"Thoroughly."
When must you eat?—"Regularly, but not too often."
When should you avoid eating?—"Just before bedtime."
What kind of air should you breathe?—"Pure air."
How should you sit, stand, and walk?—"Erect."
Why should you not eat too much food?—"Because, if I eat too much food, my stomach will have too much work to do in changing it into chyme."
Why should you eat slowly?—"That I may have time to masticate the food thoroughly."
Why should you masticate your food thoroughly?—"That it may be well prepared to enter the stomach."
Why should the food be well prepared to enter the stomach?—"Because, if it is not well prepared in the mouth, the stomach will have too much work to change it into chyme."
Why should you eat regularly, but not too often?—"Because the stomach needs rest, which it cannot have, if I eat too often."
Why should you avoid eating just before bedtime?—"Because, while I am asleep, the stomach cannot do the work of
changing the food as it ought to be changed; because the stomach should rest with the other parts of the body."
Why should you breathe pure air?—"Because pure air helps to make pure blood, which the stomach needs to make it strong and healthy."
Why should you sit, stand, and walk erect?—"That the stomach may not be crowded out of its place, or pressed upon by other parts of the body."
In what way does tobacco hurt the stomach?—"It poisons the saliva and prevents it from preparing the food to enter the stomach."
What harm does tobacco do inside the stomach?—"It weakens the stomach and makes it unfit to change the food into chyme."
How will wise children treat tobacco?—"Let it alone. They will not chew, snuff, or smoke the vile weed."
Is alcohol food or poison?—"It is poison."
How do we know it is not food?—"Because it cannot be changed into blood."
How has this been proved?—"Alcohol has been found in the brain, and other parts of drunkards, with the same smell and the same power to burn easily which it had when it was taken into the mouth."
How do you know it is a poison?—"Because it does harm to every part of the body, beginning in the stomach."
What harm does alcohol do in the stomach?—"It hinders the stomach from doing its work; it burns the coats of the stomach; it destroys the gastric juice; it hardens the food, so that it cannot be dissolved by the gastric juice."
What does the stomach do with alcohol?—"Drives it out as soon as possible."
Where does the stomach send it?—"Into the liver."
Where does the liver send it?—"To the heart; and the heart sends it to the lungs."
What do the lungs do with the alcohol?—"They drive it out as soon as they can."
Where do the lungs send some of it?—"Through the nose and mouth, into the air."
What harm does the alcohol do in the breath?—"It poisons the air; it tells that some kind of alcoholic liquor has been taken into the stomach."
From what you have learned about alcohol, what do you think is the only safe rule to obey concerning cider, beer, wine, and all alcoholic liquors?—"I must not drink them, if I wish to have a strong and healthy stomach."
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.—(From Walker's Physiology.)
1. The large brain. 2. The small brain. 3. The spinal cord. 4, 5. Nerves.