AUTHOR’S NOTE TO THE PUPIL

This book has been prepared to help you in learning about “the house you live in,” and to teach you to take care of it, and keep it from being destroyed by two of its greatest enemies,—­Alcohol and Nicotine.

As you study its pages, be sure to find out the meaning of every word in them which you do not understand; for, if you let your tongue say what your mind knows nothing about, you are talking parrot-fashion.

And do not forget that you must pay for all the knowledge you obtain, whether you are rich or poor.  Nobody else can pay for you.  You, your own self, must pay attention with your own mind, through your own eyes and ears, or do without knowledge.

Be wise:  gain all the knowledge you can concerning everything worth knowing, and use it for the good of yourself and other people.

“Knowledge is power.”

[Illustration:  A, the heart; B, the lungs; light cross lines, arteries; heavy lines, veins.]

PART I.

Formula for introductory lessons.

1.  My body is built of bones covered with flesh and skin; the blood flows through it, all the time, from my heart.  I breathe through my nose and mouth, and take the air into my lungs.

2.  The parts of my body are the head, the trunk, the limbs.

3.  My head. 
  The crown of my head. 
  The back of my head. 
  The sides of my head. 
  My face. 
  My forehead. 
  My two temples. 
  My two eyes. 
  My nose. 
  My two cheeks. 
  My mouth. 
  My chin. 
  My two ears. 
  My neck. 
  My two shoulders. 
  My two arms. 
  My two hands. 
  My trunk. 
  My back. 
  My two sides. 
  My chest. 
  My two legs. 
  My two knees. 
  My two feet. 
  I am sitting erect.

* * * * *

Questions for the formula.

1.  Tell about your body.

2.  Name the parts of the body.

3.  Name the parts of the head, trunk, and limbs.

* * * * *

The nose and the mouth.

Be sure to keep your mouth closed when you are not talking or singing, especially when you are walking, running, or asleep.  The two nostrils are outside doors, always open to admit the air, and inside of the upper part of the nose there are two other openings, through which it passes into the throat.  Air which goes this way is warmed, cleansed, and moistened, but that which is breathed directly through the mouth is not so well prepared for its work in the lungs.

Do not use your mouth as a box or a pin-cushion; the pin, or whatever yon have put into it, may slip into your throat and cause your death.