We have said that tuba, the juice from the cocoanut tree, is good and refreshing to drink when just drawn from the tree; but in a few hours after it is drawn changes begin to take place in it. The greatest of these changes we call fermentation; it is caused by tiny vegetable growths, called ferments. These are too small to be seen unless magnified, but they float about in the air. They get into the tuba, and, because there is something there which they like and thrive upon, they grow and increase in numbers very fast. They separate the sugar of the tuba into the parts that make up sugar, and take from it the part which they like. What is left forms two other things. One is a poisonous gas, called carbonic acid gas.
At one stage in the fermenting process, there is a great deal of this carbonic acid gas in the tuba, and that is what gives it its dreadful taste when it first begins to work or ferment. The other thing found in the tuba is alcohol. If this were not distilled, the tuba would simply go on working until all the sugar was gone; then it would be as sour as vinegar and disagreeable to drink. But distillers heat it until it boils; the alcohol rises and passes off into a vessel especially prepared to receive it, and becomes the drink called bino. This drink is really an active poison to most people. If a man drinks much of it he becomes crazy, his actions are dangerous to society, and at last he has to be kept in confinement. Often he does terrible mischief under the influence of bino.
It is very fortunate for this country that Filipinos know how dangerous it is to drink this stuff. Still, there are some weak and foolish people who think that they can stand it, and who drink it until they form a habit which holds them in bondage.
None of the alcohol made in this country is refined; therefore it is full of impurities and very poisonous. Those who know the climate agree that the less alcohol of any sort one uses here, the better. Those soldiers and others who let it quite alone are the ones who best withstand the bad effects of the tropics and keep well and strong. Alcohol weakens the brain sooner than it does any other part of the body. A person cannot think clearly when he has had too much; he cannot walk straight, and often a man does things under its influence which he never would do if he had not been drinking it.
There are five different ways in which a person can tell something of what is going on around him. He can see, he can hear, smell, or touch some things, and some he can also taste. We call these five faculties of man the special senses. Each of these special senses has its own home in the body, its own organ to do its work. For instance, the eyes see, the ears hear, the organs of taste are in the mouth, those of the smell in the nose, while the sense of touch is everywhere in the body where there are any nerves.
In this country the organs of the special senses need great care. There are a great many blind people here, who have become blind because they have not understood how to take care of the eyes. The lids and the eyelashes are meant to protect the eyes and keep out dust, to prevent insects, etc., from getting into them.
Nature has taken wonderful pains to protect our eyes, but we must do all we can to help her. She has prepared a fluid which washes the balls, but the outside of the eyes as well should be carefully washed once or twice a day, and wiped dry. We should be very particular to wipe them on a clean cloth. We should never use a towel that is used by any one who has any trouble with the eyes or who has any skin disease. The eyes should never be rubbed with the fingers. When any foreign matters, as specks of dust, or cinders, get into them, we should go at once to some skillful physician to have them removed. We should shade the eyes from the direct rays of the sun. If we walk out in the middle of the day, we should carry an umbrella or wear a broad hat. We should not strain the eyes, or use them when they are tired or when the light is bad.
Alcohol is very bad for the eyes; it makes them weak. The eyes of a hard drinker become red and watery. Such a person may often become blind. Tobacco, too, causes dimness of sight, and has been known to produce blindness.
Strange as it may seem, the ears are even more delicate than the eyes, and more readily injured; and when hurt, there is less that science can do for them. The outer ear only catches sound and turns it inward. The parts of the ear that really hear are deep in the head, where they can be well protected. The little canal leading into the ear secretes wax, which hinders insects from crawling in. Sometimes they do get in, despite the wax. In some parts of this country, there are leeches that get into the ear. When they do this they cause great pain and often produce deafness. We should never try to pick or lift anything of this sort out of the ear. The best way, when anything alive gets into the ear, is to pour in a little quantity of oil. This nearly always causes the creature which has gotten in to back out, in order to escape the oil. If, instead of coming out, it is drowned, it must be removed by some skillful physician.
