The History of a Mouthful of Bread | Page 2

one veil only to recognise another beyond.
It will be satisfactory to any one who may be inclined to wonder how a lady can feel sure of having correctly translated the various scientific and anatomical statements contained in the volume, to know that the whole has been submitted to the careful revision of a medical friend, to whom I have reason to be very grateful for valuable explanations and corrections whenever they were necessary. In the same way the chapter on "Atmospheric Pressure," where, owing to the difference between French and English weights and measures, several alterations of illustrations, etc., had to be made, has received similar kind offices from the hands of a competent mathematician.
* * * * *
MARGARET GATTY.
Ecclesfield, June, 1864.

NOTE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
In May '66, the seventeenth edition of this work was on sale in Paris. The date of Mrs. Gatty's preface, it will be observed, is June '64, and at that time, the eighth French edition only had been reached. That it should be a popular book and command large sale wherever it is known, will not surprise any one who reads it: the only remarkable circumstance about it is, that it should not have been republished here long ere this. Even this may probably be accounted for, on the supposition that the title under which the translation was published in England, was so unmeaning--conveying not the slightest idea of the contents of the book--that none of our publishers even ventured to hand it over to their "readers" to examine.
The author's title, _The History of a Mouthful of Bread_, while falling far short of giving a clear notion of the entire scope of the work, is shockingly diluted and meaningless, when translated _The History of a Bit of Bread!_
To the translation of Mrs. Gatty, which is in the main an excellent one, for she has generally seized upon the idea of the author and rendered it with singular felicity, it may be very properly objected that she has taken some liberties with the text when there was any conflict of opinion between herself and her author, and has given her own ideas instead of his, which is, probably, what she refers to when she calls herself "to some extent editor."
The reader of this edition will, in all these cases, find the thought of the author and not that of his translator; for the reason that a careful examination of the original has convinced the publisher that in every instance the author was to be preferred to the translator, to say nothing of the right an author may have to be faithfully translated.
Besides making these restorations, the copy from which this edition was printed has been carefully compared with the last edition of the author and a vast number of corrections made, and in its present shape it is respectfully submitted and dedicated to every one (whose name is legion, of course) who numbers among his young friends a "_my dear child_" to present it to.

CONTENTS.
I.--INTRODUCTION
FIRST PART MAN.
II.--THE HAND III.--THE TONGUE IV.--THE TEETH V.--THE TEETH (_continued_) VI.--THE TEETH (_continued_) VII.--THE THROAT VIII.--THE STOMACH IX.--THE STOMACH (_continued_) X.--THE INTESTINAL CANAL XI.--THE LIVER XII.--THE CHYLE XIII.--THE HEART XIV.--THE ARTERIES XV.--THE NOURISHMENT OF THE ORGANS XVI.--THE ORGANS XVII.--ARTERIAL AND VENOUS BLOOD XVIII.--ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE XIX.--THE ACTION OF THE LUNGS XX.--CARBON AND OXYGEN XXI.--COMBUSTION XXII.--ANIMAL HEAT XXIII.--ACTION OF THE BLOOD UPON THE ORGANS XXIV.--THE WORK OF THE ORGANS XXV.--CARBONIC ACID XXVI.--ALIMENTS OF COMBUSTION XXVII.--ALIMENTS OF NUTRITION (_continued_)--NITROGEN OR AZOTE XXVIII.--COMPOSITION OF THE BLOOD
SECOND PART.
ANIMALS.
XXIX.--CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS XXX.--MAMMALIA (_Mammals_) XXXI.--MAMMALIA. (_Mammals_)--continued XXXII.--MAMMALIA--continued XXXIII.--MAMMALIA--continued XXXIV.--AVES. (_Birds_) XXXV.--REPTILIA. (_Reptiles_) XXXVI.--PISCES. (_Fishes_) XXXVII.--INSECTA. (_Insects_) XXXVIII.--CRUSTACEA--MOLLUSKA. (_Crustaceans and Mollusks_) XXXIX.--VERMES--ZOOPHYTA. (_Worms and Zoophytes_) XL.--THE NOURISHMENT OF PLANTS CONCLUSION

I.
INTRODUCTION.
I am going to tell you, my dear child, something of the life and nature of men and animals, believing the information may be of use to you in after-life, besides being an amusement to you now.
Of course, I shall have to explain to you a great many particulars which are generally considered very difficult to understand, and which are not always taught even to grown-up people. But if we work together, and between us succeed in getting them clearly into your head, it will be a great triumph to me, and you will find out that the science of learned men is more entertaining for little girls, as well as more comprehensible, than it is sometimes supposed to be. Moreover, you will be in advance of your years, as it were, and one day may be astonished to find that you had mastered in childhood, almost as a mere amusement, some of the first principles of anatomy, chemistry, and several other of the physical sciences, as well as having attained to some knowledge of natural history generally.
I begin at once, then, with the _History of a Mouthful of Bread_,