A Handbook of Health

by Woods Hutchinson

ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES

Ordinarily, Accidents are not Serious. Accidents will happen—even in the best regulated families! While taking all reasonable care to avoid them, it is not best to worry too anxiously about the possibility of accidents; for a nervous, fearful state of mind is almost as likely to give rise to them as is a reckless and indifferent one. Fortunately, most accidents, especially with growing boys and girls, are comparatively trifling in their results, and to a considerable extent must simply be reckoned as part of the price that has to be paid for experience, self-control, and skill. To have keen senses, vigorous and elastic muscles, and a clear head, is better protection against accidents than too much caution; it is also the best kind of insurance that can be taken out against their proving serious. The real problem is not so much to avoid accidents as to be ready to meet them promptly, skillfully, and with good judgment when they occur, as they inevitably will. As the old masters of swordsmanship used to teach, "Attack is the best defense."

Luckily, healthy children are as quick as a cat and as tough as sole-leather—if they weren't, the race would have been wiped out centuries ago. Children in their play, on errands, going to and from school, and in excursions through the woods and the fields, run, of course, a great many risks. But in spite of all these dangers, the number of children killed, or even seriously injured, in these "natural" accidents, is not half of one per cent of those who die from disease or bad air or poor food or overwork.

Another cheering thing about accidents is that ninety-nine out of every hundred of them are not serious; and if you are only wise enough to know what to do—and still more what not to do—in taking care of them, you can recover from them safely and quickly. The bodies of healthy children have an astonishing power of repairing themselves. Their bones are not so brittle as those of "grown-ups"; and even when one of them is broken, if properly splinted and dressed, it will heal up in a little more than half the time required by the adult. And wounds and scratches and bruises, if kept perfectly clean, will heal very rapidly.

Probably the commonest of all accidents are cuts and scratches. So common is it for us to "bark" our knuckles, or our shins, or scratch ourselves on nails and splinters and drive pins into ourselves, or let our pocket knives slip and cut our fingers, that, if the human skin had not the most wonderful power of repairing itself,—not merely closing up the cut or the scratch, but making the place "as good as new,"—we should be seamed and lined all over our hands, arms, faces, and limbs like a city map, or scarred and pitted like a tattooed man, before we were fifteen years old. But of course, as you know, the vast majority of cuts and scratches and tears heal perfectly. They hurt when they happen; and they burn, or smart, for a few hours, or hurt, if bumped, for a few days afterward; but they heal soon and are forgotten.

On the other hand, some cuts and scratches will fester and throb and turn to "matter" (pus) and even give you fever and headache and blood poisoning. What makes the difference? It is never the size, or depth, of the scratch or cut itself, but simply the dirt that gets into it afterward. If a cut, or scratch, no matter how deep or ragged, be made with a clean knife-blade or sliver and kept clean afterward, it will never "matter" (suppurate) or cause blood poisoning. So if you know how to keep dirt out of cuts and scratches, you know how to prevent ninety-nine per cent of all the dangers and damage that may come from this sort of accident.

Not more than one cut or scratch in a thousand is deep enough to go down to an artery, so as to cause dangerous bleeding, or to injure an important nerve trunk. So, though no one would by any means advise you to be reckless about getting cut and scratched, yet it is better and safer to run some risk of cuts and scratches in healthy play when young, and learn how to keep them clean, than to grow up pale and flabby-muscled and cowardly.

How to Prevent Infection in Wounds. It is not just dirt that is dangerous,—although dirt of any sort is a bad thing to get into wounds and should be kept out in every possible way,—but dirt that contains those little vegetable bacteria that we call germs. The dirt most likely to contain these germs—called pus germs, because they cause pus, or "matter" in a wound—is dirt containing decaying animal or vegetable substances (particularly horse manure, which may contain the tetanus, or lock-jaw germ) and the discharges from wounds, or anything that has come near decayed meat or unhealthy gums or noses or teeth. This is why a cut or scratch made by a knife that has been used for cutting meat, or by a dirty finger-nail, or by the claw of a cat, or by the tooth of a rat, is often likely to fester and "run." Animals like rats and dogs and cats often feed upon badly decayed meat; and hence their teeth, or claws, are quite likely to be smeared with the germs that cause decay, and these will make trouble if they get into a wound.

Fortunately, the care of a cut or scratch is very simple and practically the same in all cases. Just make the wound thoroughly clean and keep it so until it is healed. For a slight clean cut or scratch, a good cleanser is pure water. Hold the hand or foot under the faucet or pump, and let the cool water wash it out thoroughly. If you are sure that the thing you cut it with was clean, let the blood dry on the cut and form a scab over it. If the wound is large, or there is any danger of the water of the well, or tap, having sewage in it (see chapter [IX]), it is better to boil the water before using it. Unless the blood is spurting in jerks from a cut artery, or bleeding very freely indeed, it is better to let the wound bleed, as this helps to wash out any dirt or germs that have got into it. When the bleeding has stopped, do not put on sticking plaster, because this keeps out the air and keeps in the sweat of the skin surrounding the wound, which is not healthful for the wound, and may also contain some weak pus germs.

If the wound is small, the old-fashioned clean white rag that has been boiled and washed is as good as anything that can be used for a dressing. Tear off a narrow strip from one to two inches wide and as many feet long, according to the position of the wound, roll it round the finger or limb three or four times, and then take a turn round the wrist or nearest joint, to keep the bandage from slipping off. If the wound be likely to keep on oozing blood, put on first a thickness of surgeon's cotton, or prepared cotton-batting, an ounce of which can be purchased for ten cents at any drugstore. This is an excellent dressing, because it not only sucks up, or absorbs any oozing from the wound, but is a perfect filter-protection against germs of all sorts from the outside. Ninety-nine simple wounds out of a hundred dressed in this way will heal promptly and safely without danger of pus, or "matter."

If the wound happens to have been made with a knife or tool that you are not absolutely sure was perfectly clean, or if the wound gets manure or road-dirt or other filth rubbed into it, then it is best to go at once to a doctor and let him give it a thorough antiseptic dressing, which consists of cleaning it out thoroughly with strong remedies, called antiseptics,—which kill the germs, but do not injure living tissues,—and then putting on a germ-proof dressing as before. This is one of the "stitches in time" which will save not only nine, but ninety-nine.

If you have a wound with dirt in it, and cannot reach a doctor, one of the best and safest antiseptics to use is peroxide of hydrogen. This is non-poisonous, and can be poured right into the wound. It will smart and foam, but will clean out and kill most of the germs that are there. Another safe antiseptic is pure alcohol. It is a good thing to have a bottle of one of these in the medicine-closet, or in your "war-bag" when camping out. A package of surgeon's cotton and two or three rolled bandages of old cotton, linen, or gauze also should be on hand.

Dog-bites, rat-bites, or cat-bites should always be dressed by a doctor, or made thoroughly antiseptic, mainly on account of the germs that swarm round the roots of the teeth of these animals, and also because treatment of this sort will prevent hydrophobia—although this danger is a rare and remote one, not more than a few score of deaths from mad-dog bites occurring in the whole United States in a year.

The wonderful progress made by surgery within the last twenty or thirty years has been almost entirely due to two things: first, the discovery of chloroform and ether, which will put patients to sleep, so that they do not feel the pain of even the severest and longest operation; and, second, but even more important, keeping germs of all kinds out of the wound before, during, and after the operation. That sounds simple, but it really takes an immense amount of trouble and pains in the way of baking the dressings; boiling the instruments, and scrubbing with soap, alcohol, hot water, and two or three kinds of antiseptics, or germ-killers, the hands of the surgeon and of the nurse and the body of the patient. How enormous a difference this keeping of the germs out of the wound has made may be gathered from the fact that, while in earlier days, before Lister showed us how to avoid this danger, surgeons used to lose seventy-five per cent of their amputations of the thigh, from pus infection, or blood poisoning, now they can perform a hundred operations of this sort and not lose a single case. We can open into the skull and remove tumors from the brain; open into the chest and remove bullets from the lungs, and even from the heart itself; operate in fact upon any part, or any organ, of the body with almost perfect safety and wonderful success. Whereas, before, two-thirds of the patients so operated upon would die, probably of blood poisoning.

How to Treat Bruises. Bruises are best treated either by holding the injured part under the faucet, or pump, if convenient, or by plunging it into very hot water and holding it there for ten or twelve minutes. Then if the bruise still continues to throb or ache, wrap it up lightly with a bandage of soft, loose cotton or linen cloth, and pour over it a lotion of water containing about one-fourth alcohol until the bandage is soaked, moistening it again as fast as it dries. This is also a useful treatment for wounds that have been made by a fall, or by something blunt and heavy, so that there is bruising as well as cutting. Most of the household applications for wounds or bruises, such as arnica, camphor, witch-hazel, etc., owe their virtues to the five or ten per cent of alcohol they contain, which, by evaporating, cools the wound and relieves inflammation, kills germs and so acts as an antiseptic, and cleans the wound and the skin around it very thoroughly and effectively.

Bruises of all sorts, however, unless very severe, are much safer than cuts or scratches, because they do not break the skin, and consequently no germs can get into the tissues of the blood. Our skin, as you remember, is one of the most wonderful water-proof, germ-proof, hot-and-cold-proof coatings in the world; and as long as it remains unbroken, none but a few of the most virulent disease-germs can get through it into the body.

Boils and Carbuncles, their Cause and their Cure. Boils and carbuncles are almost the only instances in which pus germs can get into the body without some actual cut, tear, or breaking of the skin. They come always from other boils or ulcers or discharging wounds and are caused by the pus germs in these either being rubbed into the skin until it is almost chafed through, or else being driven down into the mouth of one of the hair follicles, or "pores." Here they proceed to grow and form a little gathering, which soon turns to pus; and this stretches the skin and presses upon the sensitive nerves in it so as to cause much pain. The best way to treat them in the beginning is to give a thorough scrubbing with hot water and soap, and then to drop right over the point, or "head," of the gathering two or three drops of a strong antiseptic, like formalin or peroxide or carbolic acid. If this does not check them, then they had better be opened up freely with a sharp knife that has been held in boiling water, or a needle that has been held in a flame until it is red hot and allowed to cool. Then pour peroxide into the opening, put on a light dressing, and keep soaked with alcohol and water, as for a bruise. This evaporating dressing is far superior to the dirty, sticky, germ-breeding poultice. If this does not clear it up within twenty-four hours, go to a doctor and have him treat it antiseptically.

How to Stop Bleeding. If a cut should go deep enough to reach an artery the size of a knitting needle, or larger, then the blood will spurt out in jets. There is then some danger of so much blood being lost as to weaken one. Our blood, however, has a wonderful power of clotting, or clogging, round the mouth of the cut artery, so that the risk of bleeding to death, except from quite a large artery, like that of the thigh, or the armpit, is not very great.

For a wound in the hand or foot, that spurts in this way, it will usually be sufficient to grasp the arm firmly above the wrist or the elbow, or the ankle, as the case may be, with the thumb over the artery, or even to press directly over the wound, until the bleeding stops and the blood is thus given a chance to clot. If the wound is small and deep, like that made by the stab of a knife, or the slip of a chisel, then firm pressure directly over the wound itself with a thumb, or both thumbs, will usually be sufficient to stop the bleeding.

A TOURNIQUET

A stone laid above the cut under the bandage will help to increase the pressure at this point.

Should, however, the spurting be from an artery like that of the pulse, or from that at the bend of the elbow or the knee, then the best thing to do is to tie quickly a handkerchief or strip of tough cloth loosely around the limb above the wound and, slipping a short stick or bar into the loop, twist upon it, as shown in the picture, until the blood ceases to flow from the wound. It is much better to use a handkerchief or piece of cloth than a cord, because the latter may cut into and damage the tissues, when drawn as tight as is needed to stop the circulation. It is not best to allow a bandage twisted tight enough to stop the circulation—called a tourniquet—to remain tight for more than half an hour at a time, as this may give rise to very dangerous congestion, or serious "blood starvation" of the tissues below it. It should be gently untwisted every half hour until the arm, or limb, below it reddens up again, and then, if the spurting begins, should be tightened as before. There is, however, a good chance that if the cut artery is not too large, the blood will have clotted firmly enough in this time to stop the bleeding; though the tourniquet had better be left on the arm, ready to be tightened at a moment's notice, until the doctor comes.

The Treatment of Burns. Burns require more careful treatment on account of the wide surface of the skin usually destroyed. The layer of the skin that is most alive and most active in the process of repair is the outer layer (the epithelial, or epidermis). A burn, or scald, if at all severe, is likely to destroy almost the entire thickness of this, over its whole extent. This gives both a wide surface for the absorption of pus germs and a long delay in "skinning over," or healing. As the same heat that made the burn has usually destroyed any germs that may be present, it is not necessary to wash or clean a burn, like a wound, unless dirt has been rubbed or sprinkled into it after it has been made. The first thing to be done is to coat it over so as to shut out the air; and this, for a slight burn, can be very well done by dusting it over with baking soda or clean flour or with one of the many dusting, or talc, powders on the market, containing boracic acid, or by laying over the burn a clean cloth soaked in perfectly clean olive oil or vaseline. If the oil or vaseline is not perfectly clean, put it on the top of a stove and heat it thoroughly before using. Dress with soft, clean cotton rag or lint as before, keeping wet with the alcohol lotion (one part of alcohol to eight of water) if there be much pain, or throbbing.

If the burn is deep or the pain at all severe, it is best to call in a doctor, as bad burns are not only agonizingly painful, but also very dangerous on account of the wide, raw surface that they leave open to entrance of pus germs for days and even weeks. Until a doctor can be secured, coat it over with some non-irritating powder or oil, as for lighter burns, or hold it in warm water to exclude the air. Do not try to clean a burn. You only increase the pain of it and probably add to the risk of infection.

If your clothing ever catches fire, wrap yourself up at once in a blanket or rug to smother the flame. Remember that running will supply more air to the flame and cause it to do more damage. If you have nothing at hand in which to wrap yourself, lie down on the floor, or ground, and roll over and over until you have smothered the flame.

What should be Done in the Case of Broken Bones, or Fractures. Broken bones, or fractures, as they are called, are more serious, but fortunately not very common. They should, of course, always be treated by a doctor, to prevent shortening of the limb, or to prevent the bones from growing together at an angle, or in a bad position, so as to interfere with the use of it. Where a doctor cannot readily be had, or the patient has to be taken to him,—as, for instance, where the accident occurs out in the woods,—take two light pieces of board, or two bundles of straight twigs, or two pieces of heavy paper folded fifteen or twenty times—two folded newspapers, for instance—and, wrapping them in cloth or paper, place one on each side of the broken limb, at the same time gently pulling it straight. Then take strips of cloth, or bandage, and bind these splints gently, but firmly and snugly, the length of the limb, so that it cannot be bent in such a way as to make the ends of the bone grate against each other. The patient can then be lifted, or carried, with comparative comfort. Most fractures, or broken bones, in children or young boys or girls, heal very rapidly; and if the limb be properly straightened and splinted by competent hands, it will be practically as good and as strong as before the accident.

Sprains. Sprains are twists or wrenches, of a joint, not severe enough to "put it out," or dislocate it, or to break a bone. A mild sprain is a very trifling affair, but a severe one is exceedingly painful and very slow in healing. The best home treatment for sprains is to hold the injured joint under a stream of cold water for ten or fifteen minutes and then to bandage it firmly and thoroughly, but gently, with a long "figure-of-eight" bandage, wound many times, and to keep this moist with an alcohol lotion. Then keep the limb at rest. If the cold water does not relieve the pain, plunge the joint into water as hot as you can comfortably bear it and keep it there for ten or fifteen minutes, adding fresh hot water to keep up the temperature; then bandage as before.

If the pain should not go down under either of these treatments within six or eight, certainly within ten or twelve, hours, it is far wisest to call a doctor, because severe sprains very often mean the tearing of some important tendon or ligament, and the partial fracture of one of the bones of the joint. Unless these conditions are promptly corrected, you may be laid up for weeks, and even months, and left with a permanently damaged—that is, stiffened—joint. You will often hear it said that a sprain is harder to heal than a fracture; but that kind of sprain usually includes a fracture of some small portion of a bone, which has escaped notice and proper treatment. If the sprain is mild, so that it does not pain you when at rest, then the bandage should be removed every day, and the joint gently rubbed and massaged, and the bandage replaced again. Should there be any one in reach who understands massage, a thorough massaging right after the accident is quite helpful; but no amateur had better attempt it, as unskilled rubbing and stretching are likely to do more harm than good.

What to Do in Case of Poisoning. Poisoning is, fortunately, a rare accident; and the best thing to be done first is practically the same, no matter what poison—whether arsenic, corrosive sublimate, or carbolic acid—has been swallowed. This is to dilute the poison by filling the stomach with warm water and then to bring about vomiting as quickly as possible. This can usually be done by adding a tablespoonful of mustard to each glass of warm water drunk. If this cannot be had, or does not act within a few minutes, then thrusting the finger as far down the throat as it will go, and moving it about so as to tickle the throat, will usually start gagging; or a long feather may be dipped in oil and used in the same way. It is also a good thing to add milk or white of egg or soap to the water, or to mix a little oil or plaster scraped off the wall with it, as these tend to combine with the poison and prevent its being absorbed. If the poison happens to be an acid, like vitriol, then add a tablespoonful or more of baking soda to the hot water; if an alkali, like lye or ammonia, give half a glass of weak vinegar. The main thing, however, is to set up vomiting as quickly as possible.

POISON IVY

It may be distinguished from woodbine by its leaves in groups of three (not five), glossy and smooth-edged (not dull and saw-toothed); its berries greenish-white (not blue).

Another rather frequent and most disagreeable accident, which may happen to you when out in the woods, is poisoning by poison ivy. This is due to the leaves or twigs of a plant, which many of you probably know by sight, touching your hands or face. If you do not happen to know what poison ivy looks like, you had better get some one who knows to point out the shrub to you the next time you go into the woods, and then you should try to keep as far away from it as possible. It is sometimes called poison oak, but both these names are incorrect, as the shrub is really a kind of sumac. It takes its different names because it has the curious habit of either climbing like a vine, when it is called "ivy," or growing erect like a bush, or shrub, when it is called "oak."

All sorts of absurd stories are told about the leaves of the shrub being so poisonous that it is not safe to go within ten feet of it, when the dew is on it, or to walk past it when the wind is blowing from it toward you. But these are pretty nearly pure superstitions, because it has been found that the substance in the leaves or bark of the shrub which poisons the skin is an oil, which is non-volatile, that is to say, will not give off any vapors to the air and, of course, cannot be dissolved in dew or other watery moisture. You must actually touch the leaves in order to be poisoned; but, unfortunately, this is only too easy to do without knowing it when you are scrambling through the woods or hunting for flowers or picking berries.

The remedy for poison ivy is a very simple one, and within the reach of anybody, and is as effective as it is simple. This is a thorough scrubbing of the part poisoned, just as soon as it begins to itch, with a nail-brush and soap and hot water. This makes the skin glow for a little while, but it washes out all the burning and irritating oil and, if used promptly, will usually stop the trouble then and there. It is a good idea if you know that you have touched poison ivy, or even if you have been scrambling about actively in woods or patches of brush where you know that the ivy is common, to give your hands a good washing and scrubbing with sand or mud, if there is no soap at hand, in the first stream or pool that you come to. This will usually wash off the oil before it has had time to get through the natural protective coating of the skin.

Snake-bite is one of the rarest of all accidents and not one-fiftieth as dangerous as usually believed. Not more than one person in twenty bitten by a large rattlesnake will die, and only about two in a hundred bitten by small rattlers or by copperheads. The average poisonous snake of North America cannot kill anything larger than a rabbit, and any medium-sized dog can kill a rattlesnake with perfect safety. Our horror-stricken dread of snakes is chiefly superstition. Of those who die after being bitten by North American snakes, at least half die of acute alcoholic poisoning from the whiskey poured down their throats in pints; and another fourth, from gangrene due to too tight bandaging of the limb to prevent the poison from getting into the circulation, or from pus infections of the wound from cutting it with a dirty knife. Alcohol is as great a delusion and fraud in snake-bite as in everything else; instead of being an antidote, it increases the poisoning by its depressing effect on the heart. If you should be bitten, throw a bandage round the limb, above the bite, and tighten as for a cut artery. Then make with a clean knife two free cuts, about half or three-quarters of an inch deep, through the puncture, one lengthwise and the other crosswise of the limb, and let it bleed freely. Then throw one or, if there be room, two or three other bandages round the limb, three or four inches apart, and tighten gently so as to close the surface veins by the pressure, without shutting off the flow in the arteries. After thirty or forty minutes loosen the first bandage to the same tightness and leave it so unless the heart weakens or faintness is felt, in which case tighten again. If this be done, there isn't one chance in a hundred of any serious result.

How to Avoid Drowning. In case of falling into the water, the chief thing to do is to try to keep calm and to keep your hands below your chin. If you do this and keep paddling, you will swim naturally, just as a puppy or a kitten would, even if you have never learned to swim. It is, however, pretty hard to remember this when you go splash! into the water. Everyone should learn to swim before he is twelve years old; and then in at least nine times out of ten, he will be safe if he fall overboard. Remember that, if you keep your mouth shut and your hands going below your chin, you can keep floating after a fashion, for some time; and in that time the chances are that help will reach you. If you can reach a log or apiece of board or the side of a boat, just cling quietly to that with one hand, and keep paddling with the other. Even if you can get hold of only quite a small limb or pole or piece of a box, by holding one hand on that and paddling with the other and kicking your feet, you will be able to keep floating a long time unless the water be ice cold. If you can manage to keep both your feet splashing on top of the water and both hands going, you can swim several hundred yards.

THE NEW METHOD OF ARTIFICIAL BREATHING

Devised by a celebrated physiologist, Professor Schaefer of Edinburgh, and now being adopted by life-saving stations and crews everywhere.

You may sometime be called upon to save another person from drowning. In such a case, as in every emergency, a cool head is the chief thing. Make up your mind just what you are going to do before you do anything,—then do it quickly! If no one is near enough to hear your shouts for help, and no boat is at hand, if possible throw, or push, to the one in the water a plank or board or something that will float, and he will instinctively grasp it. If you are thrown into the water with a person that can't swim, grasp his collar or hair, and hold him at arm's length, to prevent his dragging you under, until help arrives, or until you can tow him to safety.

Boys and girls, after they have learned to swim, may well practice rescuing each other, so as to be prepared for such accidents.

Artificial Breathing. The best way to revive a person who has been under water and is apparently drowned, is to turn him right over upon his chest on the ground, or other level surface, turning the face to one side so that the nose and mouth will be clear of the ground. Then, kneeling astride of the legs, as shown in the picture, place both hands on the small of the back and throw your weight forward, so as to press out the air in the lungs. Count three, then swing backward, lifting the hands, and allow the lungs to fill themselves with air for three seconds, then again plunge forward and force the air out of the lungs and again lift your weight and allow the air to flow in for three seconds. Keep up this swinging backward and forward about ten or twelve times a minute. This is the newest and by far the most effective way—in fact the only real way—of keeping up artificial breathing. It is very, very seldom that any one can be revived after he has been under water for more than five minutes,—indeed, after three minutes,—but this method will save all who can possibly be saved.

So perfect a substitute for breathing is it that if any one of you will lie down in this position upon his face, and allow some one else to press up and down on the small of his back after this fashion, ten or twelve times a minute, he will find that, without making any effort of his own to breathe, this pumping will draw enough air into his lungs to keep him quite comfortable for half an hour.

Don't waste any time trying to pour the water out of the lungs. As a matter of fact there is very little there, in drowned people. Don't waste any time in undressing, or warming or rubbing the hands or feet to start the circulation. Get this pendulum pump going and the air blowing in and out of the lungs, and if there is any chance of saving life this will do it; then you can warm and dry and rub the patient at your leisure after he has begun to breathe.

---

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

CHAPTERS [I] AND [II]

1. Look up in a dictionary the words physiology and hygiene. What does each mean? If you can, find the derivation of each. 2. Why should everyone learn about the human body? 3. How is the "man-motor" like an "auto"? Compare the fuel of each. 4. From what source do all the fuels get their force or energy? 5. How do plants get their fuel, or food? 6. What is meant in saying that man takes his food at second, or third, hand? 7. Why do we need a mouth? 8. Does a plant have a mouth? Where? 9. Draw a diagram showing how the food is carried into and throughout the body. 10. Describe the parts of the food tube through which it goes. 11. Tell how the body-motor uses bread as a fuel. How is its form changed before it can be used? 12. What are the salivary glands for? What work is done by their juice? 13. What other juices help to melt the bread? 14. Which foods need the most chewing? 15. How is the food carried down the food tube? 16. What is the appendix? Explain how it sometimes causes trouble. 17. How can you tell the difference between colic and appendicitis? 18. On which side is the appendix located? 19. In what parts of the food tube are (a) starch, (b) meats, (c) fat digested? 20. What causes constipation? How may it be avoided? 21. Is drinking water at meals hurtful? If so, how?

CHAPTER [III]

1. If we call the body an engine, what is the fuel? what is the smoke? what are the ashes? 2. Why and how far can we rely upon our natural desires and appetites for food? 3. How should we choose our foods? 4. Name two serious faults that foods may have. 5. Why do we need a variety of foods? 6. What is meant by the term "fuel value of food"? 7. How can we roughly tell to which class a food belongs or what its fuel value is? 8. Why should animal and vegetable foods be used together?

CHAPTER [IV]

1. Name and describe our most common meats. 2. When is pork a valuable food? 3. Why do we digest it slowly? 4. Why should we eat fish only once or twice a week? 5. What food-stuffs are found in milk? 6. Name some vegetables which contain protein food. 7. In planning a week's diet, how often would you use these vegetables, and why? 8. What is our greatest danger in eating meat? 9. Why is it dangerous to eat highly seasoned stews or hashes? 10. Should cheese be eaten in large amounts at a time? Why? 11. Describe the care taken at a good dairy. 12. Why is this necessary? 13. Why is dirty milk less nourishing than clean milk?

CHAPTER [V]

1. Explain the name "starch-sugars." To which class of fuel-food might we say that they belong? 2. Why are they cheaper than meat? 3. Why must these foods be ground and cooked? 4. Which is the better food, white or brown bread? Why? 5. Could we live on starch-foods alone? What is the reason of this? 6. In what foods do we find nitrogen? In what, carbon? 7. What is a "complete food"? Name some. 8. Why must the starchy foods be changed in the body into sugar, or glucose? 9. Name three ways by which bread is made "light." 10. What is yeast? 11. How is bread made? 12. Why should it be thoroughly baked? 13. What causes bread to become sour? 14. Name other important starchy foods. 15. Is sugar a valuable food? Why? 16. In what plants do we find it?

CHAPTER [VI]

1. Why are fats slow of digestion? 2. If they are so valuable as "coal foods," why do we not eat more of them at a meal? 3. Give some reasons for carrying fats as food supply on long voyages and expeditions. 4. In what forms are they best carried? 5. What makes up the emergency field-ration of the German army, and why? 6. What is the most valuable single fat, and why? 7. Name other fats in common use and describe their effects on digestion. 8. State the food values of bacon. 9. Why should nuts be eaten in moderate quantity only? 10. How do nuts compare in cost (a) with other proteins? (b) with other fats? 11. What is the peanut? 12. Why is it hard to digest? 13. What digestive juices "melt" fats? 14. What is oleomargarine and how does it compare with butter?

CHAPTER [VII]

1. What is the necessity of fruits and vegetables in our dietary? Why especially in summer? 2. Give some idea of the food value of fruits as compared with bread and meat. 3. Name the most wholesome and useful fruits. 4. What is the food value of bananas? Why is it very important that they be eaten in moderation only? 5. What does (a) boiling and (b) drying do to fruits? 6. Why seal the jars of preserved fruits? 7. Why can you not eat as much jam, at one time, as raw fruit? 8. What disease is caused by scarcity of fresh vegetables or fruits? 9. Name some of the common vegetables and give their fuel values. 10. Why do we need with our meals the lighter green vegetables, although they have little nutritive value? 11. What vegetables contain starch, what sugar, and what digestible protein? 12. In what form is most of the nitrogen of vegetables?

CHAPTER [VIII]

1. What changes occur in food when it is cooked? Describe some of the changes. 2. What are the advantages of cooking meats and vegetables? 3. Why is it necessary that food should taste good? 4. What has cooking to do with the cost of food? 5. Why is time well spent in cooking food? 6. Describe the different methods of cooking food and tell advantages of each. 7. In what ways can you help make the table attractive and preserve health? 8. In what ways may food be made less digestible and wholesome by cooking? 9. In what way can fried food be made digestible? 10. What is the supposed economy of boiling? 11. Write out a good menu for each meal of the day.

CHAPTER [IX]

1. Why is water necessary in the body? 2. How does the body take in water other than by drinking it? 3. Why is this water sure to be pure? 4. Why is drinking water likely to be impure? 5. Where and when is water perfectly pure? 6. What are our chief sources of water-supply? 7. What is a well? a spring? a reservoir? 8. Which source of water-supply is safest? 9. What are the dangers of well water? 10. How can they be avoided? 11. What are the dangers of river water? 12. What is a filter and how does it work? 13. What makes water rise in a spring or an artesian well? 14. How may water suspected of being unhealthful be made safe to drink? 15. How is sewage disposed of? 16. How can it be kept out of the drinking water? 17. Why does it pay cities to spend large sums to secure pure water? 18. How can a reservoir be protected? 19. What are the risks of house filters? 20. How do bacteria help us in keeping our water-supply pure? 21. Does your city or town have a central source of water-supply? Where is it? 22. Visit the waterworks of your city or town and describe to the class how the water is obtained, how prepared for use, and how distributed to buildings.

CHAPTER [X]

1. How can you prove that beverages are not real foods? 2. What is tea? What is coffee? What are chocolate and cocoa? 3. Why are tea and coffee, if stewed, bad for the digestion? 4. Why is it better for you to let these drinks alone? 5. How is alcohol made? 6. How is wine made? beer? cider? whiskey? 7. When does fermentation stop, and for what reason? 8. What is the difference between whiskey and brandy? Why are these the most harmful of these drinks? 9. Explain the effect of alcohol on the digestion. 10. Does it increase the warmth of the body? 11. Does it increase our working power? 12. How is it that at first people thought that alcohol was helpful, when really it was not? 13. What is the effect of alcohol on the nervous system? 14. Can the man who drinks alcohol tell how, or to what extent, it is injuring him? 15. Is alcohol a food or a medicine? 16. How does alcohol usually affect the mind and character? 17. Why is smoking a foolish habit? 18. Why is it harmful for boys? 19. What is nicotine? 20. What proof have we that smoking stunts growth? 21. How is it likely to hinder a boy's career?

CHAPTER [XI]

1. Where does the real "eating" take place in the body? 2. How is the food carried to these parts? 3. What does the name "artery" mean? 4. What are veins? 5. If you examine blood under a microscope, what will you find in it? 6. What are the uses of these two kinds of little bodies (corpuscles)? 7. Explain the process of inflammation. 8. Draw a diagram or rough picture showing the route of the blood through the heart and body. Mark the vena cava and the portal vein. 9. What are the capillaries, and what does the name mean? 10. Why do the veins have valves? 11. Explain how the different parts of the heart act, while they are pumping and receiving the blood. 12. How many strokes of the heart-pump are there per minute in a man? a woman? a child? 13. Which part of the heart has the thickest muscle and why? 14. Where are the strongest valves? 15. What blood vessels carry the blood to and from the lungs? 16. What blood vessel carries the blood from the heart over the body? 17. When you press your hand to the left side of your chest, what movement do you feel? 18. Where is the best place to feel the pulse? Why? 19. Which are generally nearer the surface, arteries or veins? Are they near each other? 20. Why does the heart beat faster when you run?

CHAPTER [XII]

1. Why is it bad for you to study or exercise while you are eating, or right after eating? 2. How does overwork, or over-training, affect the heart? 3. What kind of play or exercise strengthens it? 4. How does good food help it? 5. What is the best way to avoid heart diseases, rheumatism, consumption, and pneumonia? 6. How does outdoor air help heart-action? 7. How do alcohol and tobacco injure the blood system and heart? 8. Why is alcohol particularly bad for underfed and overworked people? 9. At what two points is the blood system most likely to give way? 10. What may cause this breakage, or leakage? 11. What "catching" diseases often cause organic disease of the heart? 12. Why should heavy muscular work or strain be avoided after an attack of one of these diseases? 13. How may valvular heart trouble be remedied? 14. In what way are the nerve and blood systems connected? 15. What signal have we that we are beginning to over-exercise the heart? 16. What do we mean by "tobacco heart"? 17. Tell how to take care of the heart.

CHAPTER [XIII]

1. How long can an animal live without eating? 2. How long can an animal live without breathing? 3. Why is your body like a sponge? 4. What are cells? 5. How do they get their food? 6. How many kinds of waste come from the body cells? 7. How is each kind carried away from the body? 8. What does the blood carry from the lungs to the body cells? 9. Why does it not carry air? 10. What process keeps your body warm? 11. What happens if the body cannot get oxygen? 12. How are the human lungs formed? 13. What is the windpipe? What are the bronchi? 14. Draw a picture of the lung-tree showing how the tubes branch. 15. What is at the end of each tiny branch? 16. How do the windpipe and the esophagus differ in form? 17. Why is the windpipe stiff? 18. In what four ways is the air you breathe out different from that which you took in? 19. Why does lime-water become milky when you breathe into it? 20. When you run, why do you breathe more quickly? Why does your heart beat faster? 21. How can you improve your "wind"? 22. In fever, why do you breathe more rapidly? 23. How do the ribs and muscles help in breathing?

CHAPTER [XIV]

1. Why is "caged air" dangerous? 2. How is outdoor air kept clean and pure? 3. What is air made of? 4. In what ways do people poison the air? 5. How do plants help to clean the air? 6. What is the best way to ventilate a room? Why? 7. Why do you have recess? 8. How does impure air make children look and feel? 9. Why is an open fire not the best means of heating and ventilating? 10. See if the room you are now in is properly ventilated. Why, or why not? 11. What are disease germs? 12. Why is dusty air unwholesome? 13. What is the safest way to clean a room? 14. Name three groups of disease germs that float in the air. 15. Name three ways in which you can protect yourself against these germs. 16. What is a cold? 17. What is the best way to cure a cold? 18. How can you prevent colds? 19. What causes consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs)? 20. Does the tubercle bacillus attack other parts of the body? 21. Why should a consumptive hold a cloth before his face when coughing? 22. Why should his sputum be burned? 23. Why should he go to a camp or sanatorium? Give two reasons. 24. About how much money could this country afford to spend in fighting consumption? Why? 25. Why need we no longer dread it as people did twenty-five years ago? 26. What methods are used in curing the disease? 27. What methods are used for preventing it? 28. Give two reasons why spitting should be prohibited. 29. What will fresh-air and sunlight do to the disease germs in the dust? 30. What do we know about the germs of pneumonia? 31. Do those who use alcohol stand a good chance in fighting pneumonia? 32. How may pneumonia be prevented?

CHAPTER [XV]

1. Why is the skin so important? 2. Name some of the things that it does. 3. How many layers has it? Describe each. 4. What glands are found in the skin? 5. What is sweat, or perspiration, and from what does it come? 6. Why should clothing be porous? 7. Why should clothing be frequently washed? 8. Describe a hair gland and its muscles. 9. Describe the process of "nail-making." 10. Is there any process like this among the lower animals? 11. Why do we need nails? 12. What causes the white crescent on the nail? 13. Explain how the skin is a heat regulator. 14. What is the "normal temperature" of the body? 15. How does perspiring affect the heat of the body? 16. What are the "nerve buds" or "bulbs"? 17. Name four things that they do.

CHAPTER [XVI]

1. What are the uses of the skin to the rest of the body? 2. In what two ways does the skin clean itself? 3. What should we specially avoid in washing or scrubbing the skin? 4. What are the characteristics of a good soap? 5. What are the dangers of a poor soap? 6. What are the advantages of cold water in bathing? 7. How often should hot baths be taken and why? 8. On what parts of the body should soap be most freely used? 9. What is the best way of keeping the hair and scalp healthy? 10. Why is this important? 11. Why should hair tonics be let alone? 12. What causes dandruff? 13. How should the nails be trimmed and cleaned? 14. What should be done to the nail-fold? 15. Why is dirt under the nails sodangerous? 16. What qualities should a good garment possess as to shape, fit, and texture? 17. What are the advantages and disadvantages of wool? 18. What are the advantages and disadvantages of cotton? 19. Why are furs unwholesome? 20. What is the best possible material for an undergarment? 21. What are some of the causes of diseases of the skin? 22. What is the cause of sunburn and freckles? 23. What makes a good complexion? 24. What is a corn? What causes it?

CHAPTER [XVII]

1. Name four processes that take place in the living body. 2. What two kinds of waste do these processes cause? 3. What is the name of the "body smoke"? 4. How is the body smoke carried away? 5. What do the terms "soluble" and "insoluble" waste mean? 6. How does the insoluble waste leave the body? 7. By what path does the soluble waste leave the body? 8. How many times in an hour is all the blood in the body pumped through the liver, kidneys, and skin? 9, Why is this done? 10. Why is the blood from the food tube sent to the liver directly, instead of by way of the heart? 11. Why is the liver such a large organ? 12. What does the liver do to the blood? 13. What is the bile duct? 14. What is the bile? 15. What is the gall bladder? 16. What do the terms "bilious" and "jaundiced" mean? 17. What effect does alcohol have upon the liver?

CHAPTER [XVIII]

1. What is muscle? How much of your body weight is made up of the muscles? 2. What two kinds of muscles are there? 3. How do muscles change in shape? 4. What do we mean by voluntary and involuntary muscles, and how do they differ in form and location? 5. Describe the way in which the body muscles are arranged. What kind of actions do they perform? 6. What exercise is good for the muscles over the abdomen? for the muscles of the back? 7. What muscles are we using when we "bat" or "serve" in ball and tennis? 8. How do the muscles of the limbs act for you? 9. Where are the biceps and triceps muscles? Explain their use. 10. What are tendons? What is their use (function)? 11. How is your arm fastened to your body? 12. Describe the arrangement of the muscles in the lower limb. Why are they larger than the arm-muscles? 13. How does exercising the muscles give you an appetite? What else does it do? 14. Why do you naturally love to play? 15. Why is muscular exercise in the open air important in education?

CHAPTER [XIX]

1. What are the bones? 2. Make a rough sketch of the human skeleton. 3. In what sense are the bones the tools of the muscles? 4. How are the bones of the skull arranged? 5. Give two functions (uses) of the spinal column (back bone). 6. What bones and tendons do you use when you stand on tip-toe? 7. How are the limbs fastened to the body and back bone? 8. Why is the collar-bone more likely to be broken than some of the other bones? 9. How are the joints formed? 10. What is cartilage? 11. How does it help in making the two kinds of joints we find in the body? 12. Is there any arrangement for oiling the joints? If so, what is it? 13. When you soak a bone in weak acid, what happens? What does this prove? 14. What causes disease or deformity of the bones?

CHAPTER [XX]

1. Why do we need a system of nerves? 2. What do we mean by motor nerves? by sensory nerves? 3. How is the central system like a telephone office? 4. What does the word ganglion mean to you? 5. What are the ganglions (ganglia) for? 6. Is the brain a ganglion? 7. Give a rough idea of the structure of the brain, and name its parts or divisions. 8. What does each one of these divisions do? 9. What is the result of injury to any one of these parts? Give an instance. 10. Where do we find the gray matter in the nervous system? 11. What is the white matter and what does it do? 12. When the thumb is paralyzed, what do we know about the brain? 13. Where in the body do we really smell, hear, and see? 14. What do we know about the speech centre? 15. Draw a picture of the spinal cord and its branches. 16. Of what use are the ganglia (gray matter) in the spinal cord? Give an example. 17. Why is it that some children can't help wriggling when tickled? 18. Why is the medulla such an important part of the nervous system? 19. When you touch a hot lamp chimney, what happens in your nervous system? 20. Suppose you had seen some tempting fruit, what would have happened in your nervous system and in your digestive system? 21. What does the brain do with the messages from the eyes, ears, and nose? 22. How does the message-and-answer system protect the body? 23. How does it help us to gain knowledge? 24. Why is it that when two people look at the same thing at the same time they may have very different ideas of what it is?

CHAPTER [XXI]

1. Describe the arches of the feet and tell what they are for. 2. Describe the kind of shoe you ought to wear. 3. Do you grow while asleep? 4. How much sleep do you need? 5. Are there many diseases of the muscles and bones? 6. How does nature repair a broken bone? 7. What causes most of the diseases of bones? 8. What is a slouching gait due to? 9. What is the cause of headache? 10. How should headache be regarded and treated? 11. What are the dangers of taking patent or unknown medicines? 12. What do most patent medicines contain? 13. Are the nerves resistant to disease, or specially subject to its attack? 14. What causes many of the diseases of the nerves? 15. Name some poisons that injure the nerves. 16. How may diphtheria affect the nerves? 17. What does alcohol do to the nervous system? 18. Does our modern method of life tend to cause or to cure nervous diseases and insanity? Why?

CHAPTER [XXII]

1. How much of the body will muscular exercise develop? 2. Why should exercise and play be in the open air? 3. What is fatigue and what does it mean? 4. Name some games that are good exercise for the body and tell why they are so. 5. Why do marching and singing and drawing alternating with your other lessons, help you to grow? 6. Is playing a waste of time? Why? 7. How much exercise a day does a grown man or woman need? 8. How should this exercise be taken? 9. What senses and powers does base-ball develop? 10. In what respects is your progress in school work like your progress in learning to play games well? 11. What are good games for girls? 12. Why have we less sickness in summer than in winter? 13. Why is gardening a valuable occupation? 14. When should we do our hardest studying? 15. What is the best and most successful way to study? 16. How can you make school work as enjoyable as play? 17. What are your duties to-day? Plan the best way to do them so that you can also take exercise and rest and time for meals. Write this plan in the form of a day's programme.

CHAPTER [XXIII]

1. What is the "Lookout Department" of the body, and how is the work of this department distributed among the members? 2. Describe the inside structure of the nose. 3. In what sense is the nose like a radiator? 4. What are the cilia for? 5. How does the nose dispose of dust and lint? 6. What causes catarrh and colds? 7. Where is the sense of smell located? 8. When you have a cold, why do you often lose your sense of smell? of taste? 9. How do you tell the difference in flavor between an apple and an onion? 10. What does the tongue do? 11. What are the only tastes perceived in the mouth? 12. What does a coated tongue mean? 13. Is the sense of taste a safe guide in choosing foods? Why? 14. What are adenoids? What trouble do they cause? How can they be cured? 15. How does the eye help to choose food? 16. Name and describe the parts of the face around the eye. 17. Of what use is each? 18. How does the tear gland act? 19. What is the retina? the pupil? the iris? What is each for? 20. What do we mean by bringing the rays of light to a focus? How can you illustrate this by a burning glass? 21. When do eyes need glasses? 22. How can the eye change the form of its lens for near and for far sight? What is this action called? 23. Why do children born deaf become dumb? 24. Where do we find the key-board of hearing? Why do we call it the cochlea? 25. Draw a picture showing the position of the drum, "hammer," "anvil," "stirrup," and cochlea. 26. What has happened in your inner ear when something in your ear goes "pop"? 27. Why does a cold sometimes make you deaf? 28. Why do we have wax in the outer ear? What is the German proverb about cleaning the ear? 29. What is our "sixth sense"? Where do we find its organ located? What is it like?

CHAPTER [XXIV]

1. How is the voice a waste product? 2. What are the conditions required to make a good voice? 3. Are great singers usually strong? Why? 4. How was the windpipe made into the voice box? 5. Describe the vocal bands or cords. 6. How do they act in making voice sounds? when we breathe? 7. How do catarrh and adenoids affect the voice? 8. How is the voice box like a violin? 9. What part of the violin has most to do with the quality of the sound? How does this apply to the human voice? 10. What do the throat, the mouth, and the nose have to do with voice training? 11. What is one of the commonest causes of a poor voice? 12. How can you prove this? 13. What are spoken words? 14. How is a good, clear, distinct voice of value? 15. How can you build up a strong, clear, useful voice?

CHAPTER [XXV]

1. Give four reasons why the teeth are important. 2. To take proper care of the teeth, what other parts of the mouth need attention? 3. Draw a picture of a tooth and label the crown, the enamel, the root, the pulp. 4. Name the different teeth, making diagrams of the upper and lower jaws and tell how each kind of tooth is used. 5. Compare your own teeth with those of a dog, a sheep, and a squirrel and explain the difference in use. 6. In what order did your teeth appear in your mouth? 7. What are the milk-teeth? 8. How many teeth have you? Have any been pulled? 9. Will you have any more later? 10. Name three things to be remembered in exercising the teeth. 11. What is the best method to keep the teeth and gums clean? 12. Why are "gritty" tooth-powders bad for the teeth? 13. Are antiseptics good for them? 14. Why are dirty teeth a very common cause of disease in the body? 15. (Exercise) Write a letter to your teacher telling how you have been taking care of your teeth in the past, and how you purpose to do it in the future.

CHAPTER [XXVI]

1. How may "catching" diseases be prevented? 2. What are disease germs, and how are they named? 3. How do disease germs grow? 4. Why should patients with the "diseases of childhood" be placed in quarantine. 5. What causes a cold? How should you take care of one? Why keep away from other people? 6. When and how did we find that diphtheria was due to germs? 7. Explain how "antitoxin" prevents it. 8. How much has the death rate in diphtheria been lowered? 9. Name the diseases for which we now have vaccines and antitoxins. How do we grow them? 10. Tell the story about Dr. Jenner and the milkmaids. 11. What good has his discovery done? 12. Explain why vaccination will cure as well as prevent smallpox. 13. What is quinine, and where does it get its name? 14. Who discovered the germ of malaria? Is it a plant or an animal? 15. What do we know about the connection between mosquitoes and malaria? 16. What is a quick way of killing the mosquito? 17. How does draining fields prevent malaria? Why is malaria not so common now as in pioneer days? 18. Why do we need disinfectants? Name some, and describe how they are used. 19. What is the best one in most cases? Why? In what ways may it be used? 20. How do the bacteria of the soil "feed" the green plants? 21. Explain why a crop of clover will enrich the soil. What other plants also do the same thing? 22. Name some other harmless bacteria. 23. Why ought one to wash the hands before eating? 24. Is it possible to kill all house flies? Why ought we to try to? How can it be done? 25. What do we find in dust? 26. What good does it do to sprinkle streets? 27. What is the best way to clean house?

CHAPTER [XXVII]

1. What is the best insurance against accidents? 2. Why do most cuts and scratches heal quickly, while some others do not? 3. What kind of dirt is dangerous to wounds? 4. If your knife should slip and cut you, how ought you to take care of the cut? 5. If you know the knife is dirty, what is the proper treatment? 6. Is "sticking-plaster" good for a wound? Why not? 7. Why does absorbent cotton make a good dressing? 8. Give two reasons why doctors can perform surgical operations now much more safely than some years ago. 9. Why must surgeons and nurses keep themselves and their patients perfectly clean? 10. What difference has this cleanliness made in the saving of life? 11. What is the treatment for bruises? Why are they not so dangerous as cuts? 12. What are boils and carbuncles? 13. How do we clean and heal them? 14. Where blood comes in spurts from a cut, what does this mean? 15. How does the blood itself protect us against infection in wounds? 16. If the wound is very deep, how can you check the bleeding? 17. Why should the tight bandage be slightly loosened in half an hour after it has been applied? 18. Why is it that we do not need to clean a burn? 19. Why is it wise to keep the air from a burn? How may it be done? 20. Why must the dressings be perfectly clean? 21. Why do we need a doctor in the case of a broken bone? 22. If you can't get a doctor, what is to be done? 23. What is a sprain? Tell how to bathe and bandage it. 24. In the case of swallowing poison, why should one drink warm water? 25. What else should be done? 26. What should be given when lye has been swallowed? 27. What is the important thing to remember in any such case? 28. If you fall into deep water, what four things should you remember? 29. Explain carefully just how to revive a person who has been under water. 30. What is the main purpose of this method?

---

GLOSSARY

OF IMPORTANT TERMS USED IN THE BOOK

I. Relating to the Body as a Whole

Ab'do men (or ăb dō'mĕn). The cavity of the trunk immediately below the diaphragm.

Car'ti lage. Tough, elastic tissue, generally more or less fibrous; called also gristle (grĭs'l).

Cell. The simplest form of living matter, with power to grow, develop, reproduce itself, and, with others of its kind, build up a living fabric.

Di'a phragm (dī'ȧ frăm). The muscular membrane that separates the thorax from the abdomen.

Duct. A tube through which fluid from a gland is conveyed.

Fa tigue' (fȧ tēg'). A condition in which the body cells are worn out faster than they are built up, so that waste matter accumulates in the body and poisons it.

Germ. The simplest form of life, from which a living organism develops.

Gland. A part, or organ, that has the power of making a secretion, peculiar to itself. A gland may be a simple pocket, or follicle, as is an oil gland of the skin, or it may be an aggregate of such glands, as is the liver.

Or'gan. Any part, or member, that has some specific function, or duty, by which some one of the body's activities is carried on; for example, the eye is the organ of vision, the liver is one of the organs of digestion.

Tho'rax. The cavity of the trunk immediately above the diaphragm.

Tis'sue (tĭsh'ū). A fabric, or texture, composed of cells and cell-products of one kind; as, for example, nervous tissue, muscular tissue, fatty tissue.

Se cre'tion. A substance made from the blood, the special character of which depends upon the kind of gland that makes, or secretes, it.