PHYSIOLOGY FOR CHILDREN.

CHAPTER I.

DIGESTION.

1. CHILDREN, I wish to converse with you for a little while, if you will be very attentive, and listen to me. You know what I mean, I suppose, by conversing? for you all talk and chatter from morning till night, frequently to the great trouble and annoyance of your friends and parents. Conversing is to talk.

2. You are the talkers then; generally you do all the conversing; but, at the present time, I wish to do most of the talking myself.

3. Did you ever hear, children, of Physiology and Phrenology?

"No," responded little Clara, "I never did."

Clara, do you like to be sick? Do you like to have your head and body filled with pain, and to be obliged to lie on your bed all day long?

"Oh, no," she answered quickly.

4. Well, children, when I say I will tell you what Physiology is, I mean that I shall explain to you why it is that we are sometimes sick-why it is that we can walk. I shall tell you about the bones, the teeth, the skin; what it is that makes our bodies increase in size;

What is the subject of Chapter first? 1. How do children frequently annoy their parents? 2. Who generally does the chief of the talking? 3. Is it pleasant to be sick? 4. What do we learn by means of Physiology?

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.

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“Tell us, do tell us," responded these little ones, 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?

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?

9. How did David account for his growing larger? Do children learn 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?

"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?