When the food in the stomach is mixed and prepared, it is ready to be sent through the body; some is carried to the bones, some to the muscles, some to the nerves and brain, some to the skin, and some even to the finger nails, the hair, and the eyes. Each part needs to be fed in order to grow.
WHY DO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT GROWING NEED FOOD?
Children need each day to make larger and larger bones, larger muscles, and a larger skin to cover the larger body.
Every day, each part is also wearing out a little, and needing to be mended by some new food. People who have grown up, need their food for this work of mending.
CARE OF THE STOMACH.
One way to take care of the stomach is to give it only its own work to do. The teeth must first do their work faithfully.
The stomach must have rest, too. I have seen some children who want to make their poor stomachs work all the time. They are always eating apples, or candy, or something, so that their stomachs have no chance to rest. If the stomach does not rest, it will wear out the same as a machine would.
The stomach can not work well, unless it is quite warm. If a person pours ice-water into his stomach as he eats, just as the food is beginning to change into the gray fluid of which you have learned, the work stops until the stomach gets warm again.
ALCOHOL AND THE STOMACH.
You remember about the man who had the little door to his stomach. Sometimes, the doctor put in wine, cider, brandy, or some drink that contained alcohol, to see what it would do. It was carried away very quickly; but during the little time it stayed, it did nothing but harm.