American Womans Home | Page 2

of some knowledge of the body and its needs--Fearful responsibility of entering upon domestic duties in ignorance--The fundamental vital principle--Cell-life--Wonders of the microscope --Cell-multiplication--Constant interplay of decay and growth necessary to life--The red and white cells of the blood--Secreting and converting power--The nervous system--The brain and the nerves--Structural arrangement and functions--The ganglionic system--The nervous fluid--Necessity of properly apportioned exercise to nerves of sensation and of motion--Evils of excessive or insufficient exercise--Equal development of the whole.
VIII.
_DOMESTIC EXERCISE._
Connection of muscles and nerves--Microscopic cellular muscular fibre--Its mode of action--Dependence on the nerves of voluntary and involuntary motion--How exercise of muscles quickens circulation of the blood which maintains all the processes of life--Dependence of equilibrium upon proper muscular activity--Importance of securing exercise that will interest the mind.
IX.
_HEALTHFUL FOOD._
Apportionment of elements in food: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, iron, silicon, etc.--Large proportion of water in the human body--Dr. Holmes on the interchange of death and life--Constituent parts of a kernel of wheat--Comparison of different kinds of food--General directions for diet--Hunger the proper guide and guard of appetite--Evils of over-eating--Structure and operations of the stomach--Times and quantity for eating--Stimulating and nourishing food--Americans eat too much meat--Wholesome effects of Lenten fasting--Matter and manner of eating--Causes of debilitation from misuse of food.
X.
_HEALTHFUL DRINKS._
Stimulating drinks not necessary--Their immediate evil effects upon the human body and tendency to grow into habitual desires--The arguments for and against stimulus--Microscopic revelations of the effects of alcohol on the cellular tissue of the brain--Opinions of high scientific authorities against its use--No need of resorting to stimulants either for refreshment, nourishment, or pleasure--Tea and coffee an extensive cause of much nervous debility and suffering--Tend to wasteful use in the kitchen--Are seldom agreeable at first to children--Are dangerous to sensitive, nervous organizations, and should be at least regulated--Hot drinks unwholesome, debilitating, and destructive to teeth, throat, and stomach--Warm drinks agreeable and not unhealthful--Cold drinks not to be too freely used during meals--Drinking while eating always injurious to digestion.
XI.
_CLEANLINESS._
Health and comfort depend on cleanliness--Scientific treatment of the skin, the most complicated organ of the body--Structure and arrangement of the skin, its layers, cells, nerves, capillaries, absorbents, oil-tubes, perspiration-tubes, etc.--The mucous membrane--Phlegm--The secreting organs--The liver, kidney, pancreas, salivary and lachrymal glands--Sympathetic connection of all the bodily organs--Intimate connection of the skin with all the other organs--Proper mode of treating the skin--Experiment showing happy effects of good treatment.
XII.
_CLOTHING._
Fashion attacks the very foundation of the body, the bones--Bones composed of animal and mineral elements--General construction and arrangement--Health of bones dependent on nourishment and exercise of body--Spine--Distortions produced by tight dressing--Pressure of interior organs upon each other and upon the bones--Displacement of stomach, diaphragm, heart, intestines, and pelvic or lower organs--Women liable to peculiar distresses--A well-fitted jacket to replace stiff corsets, supporting the bust above and the under skirts below--Dressing of young children--Safe for a healthy child to wear as little clothing as will make it thoroughly comfortable--Nature the guide--The very young and the very old need the most clothing.
XIII.
_GOOD COOKING._
Bad cooking prevalent in America-Abundance of excellent material-- General management of food here very wasteful and extravagant--Five great departments of Cookery--_Bread_-What it should be, how to spoil and how to make it--Different modes of aeration--Baking--Evils of hot bread.--_Butter_-Contrast between the butter of America and of European countries-How to make good butter.--_Meat_-Generally used too newly killed--Lack of nicety in butcher's work--Economy of French butchery, curving, and trimming--Modes of cooking meats--The frying-pan--True way of using it--The French art of making delicious soups and stews--_Vegetables_--Their number and variety in America--The potato--How to cook it, a simple yet difficult operation--Roasted, boiled, fried.--_Tea_--Warm table drinks generally--Coffee--Tea-- Chocolate.--_Confectionery_--Ornamental cookery--Pastry, ices, jellies.
XIV.
_EARLY RISING._ A virtue peculiarly American and democratic--In aristocratic countries, labor considered degrading--The hours of sunlight generally devoted to labor by the working classes and to sleep by the indolent and wealthy--Sunlight necessary to health and growth whether of vegetables or animals--Particularly needful for the sick--Substitution of artificial light and heat, by night, a great waste of money--Eight hours' sleep enough--Excessive sleep debilitating--Early rising necessary to a well-regulated family, to the amount of work to be done, to the community, to schools, and to all classes in American society.
XV.
_DOMESTIC MANNERS._
Good manners the expression of benevolence in personal intercourse--Serious defects in manners of the Americans-Causes of abrupt manners to be found in American life--Want of clear discrimination between men--Necessity for distinctions of superiority: and subordination--Importance that young mothers should seriously endeavor to remedy this defect, while educating their children--Democratic principal of equal rights to be applied, not to our own interests but to those of others--The same courtesy to be extended to all classes--Necessary distinctions arising from mutual relations to be observed--The strong to defer to the weak--Precedence yielded by men to women in America--Good manners must be cultivated in early life--Mutual relations of husband and wife--Parents and children--The rearing of children to courtesy--De Tocqueville on American manners.
XVI.
_GOOD TEMPER