Child's Health Primer For Primary Classes / With Special Reference to the Effects of Alcoholic Drinks, Stimulants, and Narcotics upon The Human System

by Jane Andrews

We will try to learn a little about its wonderful way of working.

In your head is your brain. It is the part of you which thinks.

As you would be very badly off if you could not think, the brain is your most precious part, and you have a strong box made of bone to keep it in.

Diagram of the nervous system.

We will call the brain the central telegraph office. Little white cords, called nerves, connect the brain with the rest of the body.

A large cord called the spinal cord, lies safely in a bony case made by the spine, and many nerves branch off from this.

If you put your finger on a hot stove, in an instant a message goes on the nerve telegraph to the brain. It tells that wise thinking part that your finger will burn, if it stays on the stove.

In another instant, the brain sends back a message to the muscles that move that finger, saying: "Contract quickly, bend the joint, and take that poor finger away so that it will not be burned."