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besides many other interesting things that you will be very glad to know..

5. When you purchase a toy, you are very anxious to know why it will make a noise by turning a crank, or why the little china dog will bark, or the wooden milkmaid churn. You are sometimes so inquisitive about these things, that you often pull very handsome toys to pieces to see what it is that seems to give them life and motion.

6. I am always pleased to see your desire to obtain knowledge; but children frequently ask a great many. questions about things improper for them to know. I wish you to ask as many questions as you now do; but I wish you to think more about your bodies-why it is that we eat every day, and why it is that we grow; why it is that when we cut our fingers they get well again, as we say; or, in other words, that Physiology is the study of the living animal. A knowledge of these things will make you both happier and better children, and men, and women. Shall I tell you about them?

7. The sparkling of Clara's bright eyes showed that she was filled with anxiety to know.

"Tell us, do tell us," responded these little ones, "we will all be very silent, and try to understand what you say."

8. Well, rejoined I, one day I overheard two little boys, Charles and David, talking together. Charles said to David, "Is it not very strange that I am a larger boy than I was last year? Mother told me that if were a good boy, and went to bed when she wished me

5. Why do children frequently destroy their toys? 6. What kind of curiosity should be encouraged in children? 7. Can anything be learned by the expression of the eyes? 8. How did Charles account to David for his growing larger?

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to go, without crying, that I should be a man if I lived long enough. So I have gone to bed ever since, and have tried to be good, that I might grow as large as my father."

9. "No," said David," we grow if we do not cry when we have to take medicine; for old nurse told me that I could never be a large man in the world' if I cried and did not take the bitter stuff she had prepared for me. She said if I did cry, she would smooth down my face with a hot iron; and I had half a mind to let her do it, to see if that would not make my face larger and longer. So in this way these two boys went on talking, and although they appeared very intelligent, and had attended school several years, they did not know the simple laws of their own bodies.

10. I wish all the children who hear my instructions to know that such things are foolish and untrue. I wish you to know that you have a heart, lungs, and stomach; and also to know for what 'purpose they were given to you, and the service they are to you. I will imagine some of your thoughts and questions, and will try to interest and instruct you.

11. You all go to the table one, two, and three times every day, and what do you do, when you are there?

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'Why Ieat; yes, I eat just as hard and as fast as I can," says William; "and I carry something to school beside to eat if I can get it."

12. William, what do you eat for?

Do children learn

9. How did David account for his growing larger? about their bodies by attending school? 10. Had Charles and David correct ideas about their growth? What thing ought all children to understand? 11. What do children do when at the table? 12. Why do children eat?

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Why," said William, "because I am hungry, to be sure; and I can scarcely wait to come to the table."

That is right, William; but what becomes of your bread, and butter, and cheese, and apples?

William could not answer a word; but Alfred instantly replied, "My mother says, that what we eat makes us grow; but how I cannot tell.”

13. Here are William, and Alfred, and Sarah, and Jane, and a great many more children, who are eating, eating all they can get, and yet they do not even think whether it does them any good or not, or in what way it benefits them.

14. But, children, our food makes blood, and our blood increases our size. Now let us examine this curious subject for a few moments, and see how it is done. You have probably been at a mill where corn, wheat, and other grain, were ground into flour and meal. For this purpose, they have large stones, which, by turning round, cut the kernels of corn, and press them very fine. We have also something prepared to grind our food.

15. We have teeth, sharp and strong, with which to chew our food, and there are also in the mouth little vessels called glands, that contain a fluid like water, which is called saliva. This moistens the food, the same as a cracker becomes soft when put into water. This saliva is called by boys and girls who do not know any better, spittle.

16. If this saliva did not exist, the mouth would soon

12. Could William tell what became of his food? What was Alfred's reply? 13. Do children generally think why they eat? 14. Why do we eat? How and where is grain ground? 15. With what do we chew our food? What do the glands in the mouth contain? How does the saliva act? What is this saliva sometimes called? 16. Is this saliva of any use in the mouth?

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become very dry and parched. In the back part of the mouth, there are three passages: one which leads into the nose or nostril; one into the wind-pipe, through which we breathe; and the third, which is called the gullet or œsophagus, goes down into the stomach. The latter is the one through which we wish the food to pass. But how do we know that it will take the right course? for if it should pass down either of the other ways, the person would not be able to breathe, and would soon become sick, and perhaps die.

17. Listen, and I will tell you how it is prevented from going wrong. There is a little piece of flesh at the root of the tongue which moves upward and downward, called a valve or trap-door, which shuts down over the wind-pipe when we swallow, just like the cover to a book or box, and fits so nicely that the food passes along down the throat, until it reaches the stomach.

18. The following cut represents the stomach, which is shaped like a bag, and usually contains about two or three pints in an adult or full-grown person. It is capa ble of being contracted or extended, as the case may require. The letter C is the tube through which the food passes, called the cardiac orifice. The letter P shows the outward passage, which is called the pylorus or "door-keeper," as it prevents the food from passing out until it is properly digested, and also prevents it from returning after it has been sent out. I shall give you only a few hard names, and these I wish you to remember.

16. What passages are in the back part of the mouth? Through which does the food pass? What would be the consequence if it should take either of the other passages? 17. How is it prevented from taking a wrong course? 18. Describe the stomach. How much does it usually

contain?

19. The stomach is situated on the left side of the body, under the ribs, and has three coats or coverings. The stomach has also a fluid resembling that in the mouth, called the gastric juice, which mixes with the outside portion of the food, making it into a soft substance called chyme. All the water that we drink is

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taken up by the veins of the stomach, and is absorbed in about three minutes. It is for this reason, that, when a person has fasted, or has not taken food for some length of time, he derives nourishment quicker from drinking than from eating, because the water is soon sent all over his body. Many ignorant persons suppose that there is one passage to the stomach for all the water which we drink, and another for all the food which we eat.

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19. Where is the stomach situated? What fluid does the stomach contain? How is chyme made? What becomes of the water which we drink? Why does a person derive nourishment from water quicker than from food? What idea do many persons have in reference to eating and drinking?

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