Body modification

“ NOURISHMENT
The human body is constantly undergoing change. Atoms of bone, tissue, flesh, muscle, fat and fluids are constantly being worn out and removed from the system, and new atoms are constantly being manufactured in the wonderful laboratory of the body, and then sent to take the place of the worn-out and discarded material. ”

“ When an organ is exercised properly, there is an increased blood supply to it, and, consequently, stimulated nutrition and growth in various parts, such as in the muscular, nervous or other tissues.
When an organ is disused there is diminished blood supply, and, consequently, diminished growth and functional capacity. In man it is known that certain activities, such as coal-heaving, shoemaking, etc., produce recognizable effects upon the muscular system, the skeleton, and other parts of the body. ”

“ These ceaseless processes are greatly modified by the activity of the bodily functions. Every movement of a muscle, for instance, involves change in its component cells. And since the loss of every atom of the body is in direct relation to its activity, a second process is necessary to repair this constant waste; else the body would rapidly diminish in size and strength, and life itself would soon end. This process of repair is accomplished, as we shall learn in Chapters VI. and VII., by the organs of nutrition, which convert the food into blood. ”

“ All the ground plan of our bodies, the muscle cylinder within the skin, next the bony scaffolding, innermost the peritoneal sack around the viscera, all such relations would remain a mystery did we study only the human body. But in the light of comparative anatomy and embryology we recognize them as necessary parts of our heritage. Medicine must stand upon a thorough knowledge of the structure and processes of the human body, and before it can treat disorders it must understand states of health and their origin. ”

“ Moreover, there is an interdependence between the different bodily organs and tissues, so that the body must be built up as a whole. If one part lacks the whole suffers, and if one part is overfed the others will be underfed. ”

“ During the whole of this time all the vital functions are active in preparing for the growth and higher development of the body, whilst at the same time the bones are soft, the cartilages and ligatures yielding and easily bent, and any perversion of the growth which may now take place is likely to leave its impression on the frame for life. ”

“ That highly differentiated and complex somatic tissues removed from the body and given a more fit medium, and kept from all products of decomposition, etc., can keep on functioning and growing for years, better than they had done in the body in which they originated, neither has nor is ever likely to have any real practical utility for prolonging or intensifying human life. The fact may have a certain moral for cleanliness and even for nutrition but we can never wash out the tissues of the body or keep each of its cells in an optimum environment. ”

“ For a long time the organism will bear these perversions of its functions without apparent injury, but if the experiment be repeated too often and too long, if it be continued after the term of life when the body is fully developed, when the elasticity of the membranes and of the blood-vessels is lessened, and when the tone of the muscular fibre is reduced, then organic series of structural changes, so characteristic of the persistent effects of spirit, become prominent and permanent. ”

“ Regarding our bodily structure as a kind of living machine, we have studied its various parts, and found that each is designed to perform some special work essential to the well-being of the whole. As yet we have learned of no means by which these organs are enabled to adjust their activities to the needs of other tissues and other organs. We are now prepared to study a higher, a more wonderful and complex agency,—the nervous system, the master tissue, which controls, regulates, and directs every other tissue of the human body. ”

“ It should be borne in mind that the skin, like all other organs of the body, grows from the inside outward, so that any ailment concerning the skin, which is not of a traumatic nature, must be based upon wrong or insufficient nourishment, and cannot be cured in any other way than by internal regenerative means. ”

“ In many respects purely mechanical in its function, fastening the muscles to the bones, the bones to each other, giving toughness to the great skin-sheet, and swinging in hammock-like mesh the precious brain-cell or potent liver-lobule, it still possesses and exercises for the benefit of the body considerable powers of discretion and aggressive vital action. Through its activity chiefly is carried out that miracle of human physiology, the process of repair. ”

“ While we are on the topic, a few words about the use of food in growth will come in well, since the growth process is closely related to the process of tissue repair. The chief difference between them is that the process of growth comes to an end in all but a few of our body tissues as soon as we become adults. The tissues which go on growing are the layers of the skin just under the surface, the reproductive tissues, and the blood-corpuscle-forming tissues. ”

“ In the preceding chapters, we have seen how various and complex are many of the motions necessary to maintain the life of an animal whose organization is superior to all others. We have noted the wonderful mechanism of the muscular system, in producing the varied movements of the body, the different processes by which the food is converted into chyle and mixed with the blood, and the circulation of this fluid to every organ and tissue of the system, that each may select from it the very principles which it requires for its growth. ”

“ You must know its physiological laboratories and workings with the brain as the battery, the lungs as the source or machine that renovates the blood from all impurities, and the heart as the living engine or quarter-master, whose duty is to supply the commissaries with blood and other fluids to all divisions and sub-divisions of the human body, which is busily engaged producing material suited to the production of bone and muscle, and all other substances necessary to keep the machinery of life in full force and action. ”

“ The bones and their ligaments, the muscles and their tendons—all the finer and all the more flexible parts of the body, are as continually renewed, and as properly a secretion, as the saliva that flows from the mouth, or the moisture that bedews the surface. The health of all the parts and their soundness of structure, depends upon this perpetual absorption and perpetual renovation; and exercise, by promoting at once absorption and secretion, promotes life without hurrying it, renovates all the parts, and preserves them apt and fit for every office. ”

“ It is well to know the different forms of cell accumulations, which are called organs, but if we desire to keep them in good order, we must watch closely what is common to them all; for it is only from this point of view, that we are able to determine the necessary, and possibly, the lacking elements for purposes of healing.
Thus, as one of the greatest achievements of modern science, we come to the one most vital thing, so sorely needed and yet so badly neglected throughout the centuries: The chemical analysis of the human body and its different organs. ”

“ Every time we think, move, play, or work, some part becomes worn, and must be mended. Blood, the care-taker, passes swiftly around every part, first up, then down; and every trip she makes, the bones take something to mend them; the flesh takes its part; the skin must have a share; the hair and finger-nails take something to make them grow; and so, while we study, work, or play, the mending goes on, and we hardly stop to think that it is done at all. ”

“ Those who copy every­thing else that we do let us alone in this, and make their corsets now with as little regard to the anatomical structure of the body and the requirements of the vital organs, as if science had made no progress nor art any advancement. ”

“ If we could only balance between the organs which supply nutriment and the organs which use it up, we would keep in perfect health.
We want to learn how to secure a maximum of results with a minimum of force. That is, we want the body to be quickly responsive, to be flexible, to be so that we can use it for the things we want to do without wasting strength, and yet without being weighed down by a superabundance of muscular tissue. ”

“ Because all the bones, muscles, blood-vessels, nerves, glands, cartilages, &c., of which the body is composed, are constantly undergoing a change of substance. It is a condition of their life, health, and strength, that they shall be "renewed," and the blood is the great source of the materials by which the living temple is kept in repair. ”

“ Not every muscle only, but every nerve and nerve-centre, every blood-vessel, every viscus, and nearly every bone, may be increased or decreased by its influence. Excepting parts which have passive functions, such as dermal appendages and the bones which form the skull, the implication is that nearly every organ in the body may be modified in successive generations by the augmented or diminished activity required of it; and, save in the few cases where the change caused is one which conduces to survival in a preeminent degree, will be thus modified independently of natural selection. ”

“ An individual, in the course of its life, has some part of the epidermis, or skin, thickened by mechanical stresses, or some group of muscles strengthened by use, or the activity of certain brain-cells quickened by exercise: how are the special modifications of these cells, here, there, or elsewhere in the body, communicated to the germ, so that its products are similarly modified in the offspring? ”

“ Now, to aid this, the whole organic structure must be taken into consideration—the limbs, senses, lungs, stomach, and above all, the condition of the spine; for each and all of those organs must be in a perfectly healthy state, and must perform their functions properly, or the brain will not be in a condition to receive and retain the impressions transmitted to it.
Nature is always beneficent, and is ever striving to correct and amend the evils inflicted upon the body by the vicious habits which are almost universally indulged in. ”

“ That is why we have longer arms and more muscular and bone development of our shoulders and arms than you Earth men.
"Health exercises, health rays, diets, and body massages, have kept us young looking, healthy, and vigorous and have kept our body weight very near to normal even in the aged. ”

“ But the materials intended to enter into the composition of the body must be developed into living blood, in order to be fitted to become part and parcel of the organs by which power is evolved, and through the use of which we see, hear, feel, think, and move. ”

“ This change of plan is carried out through the specialization of some organ, sense, or habit, to such a degree as to make practically a new type of the organism. In the human species, for example, the atrophied organs distributed through the body are evidence that the physical make-up of the species was well-nigh definitely fixed before the advantage of free hands led to an erect posture, thereby throwing certain sets of muscles out of use ”

“ The body is composed of materials which are constantly wearing out under the processes carried on in the functioning of the body, and this tissue must be replaced with new material. This is supplied in the form of food that is taken into the system and acted upon by the secretions in such a way as to break up and properly combine the chemicals so that Innate Intelligence may bring about an assimilation in the tissue cells. ”

“ This individuality, or whatever you will call it, impresses itself upon developing [303] somatic cells, moulding them into appropriate organs, and upon germ-cells in process of formation, moulding them so that they may continue its sway. The muscle, modified by use or disuse, is a better expression of the individuality of its possessor, and the same individuality moulds similarly and simultaneously the germ-cells. Both are different expressions or manifestations of the same individuality. Only slowly does the individuality mould the muscles and nerves of the adult body to its use. ”

“ All wounds are repaired by them, all fractures are united, and all diseased tissues brought back to their normal and healthy condition, unless there is not vitality enough to overcome disease, or they have been injured or killed by poisonous material. The body is kept in repair by this living matter, and all the functions of the body are but the result of its action. We may examine, watch and study bioplasm under the microscope; we see it take up pabulum and convert that which is adapted to itself into its own substance, while all other substances are rejected. ”

“ Our muscles, tissues, hair, nails, nerves, brain substance, and even our bones are constantly being made [Pg 46] over and rebuilt. Our bodies to-day do not contain a single particle of the material which composed them a few years back. A few weeks suffices to replace our entire skin, and a few months to replace other parts of the body. If a sufficiently large microscope could be placed over our bodies, we would see each part of it as active as a hive of bees, each cell being in action and motion, and the entire domestic work of the human hive being performed according to law and order. ”