Latrine

“ Now the liver, stomach, and all the intestines below the diaphragm, have no support from above, and so the question is, what sustains these organs, weighing from six to twelve pounds, so that they do not sink down on to the delicate pelvic organs below? The answer is, they are held up chiefly by abdominal breathing, as above explained. For at every rise of the diaphragm a vacuum is made above the abdominal viscera, lifting them upward, and this is done at every breath, and we breathe about twenty times each minute. ”

“ The inside of the stomach and intestines are full of the mouths of innumerable small vessels, which continually suck up from the aliment, as it passes downwards, the finer parts, in form of a white liquid, called chyle; and from the whiteness of their colour the vessels have the name of lacteals, from the Latin word lac, milk. After passing through the substance of the stomach and intestines, and running along the membrane called the mesentery, to which the intestines are attached, the lacteals unite in a large reservoir called the thoracic duct ”

“ For the breath in expiration hath no need of pores, but that the liquids and those things which pass with them might go through, it is made like a strainer and full of pores. Besides, sir, as to the example of gruel which you proposed, the lungs can discharge themselves of the thicker parts together with the thin, as well as the stomach. For our stomach is not, as some fancy, smooth and slippery, but full of asperities, in which it is probable that the thin and small particles are lodged, and so not taken quite down. ”

“ Food in the stomach and air in the lungs, although surrounded by the body, are still outside of what is called the body proper. To gain entrance into the body proper, a substance must pass through the body wall. This consists of the skin on the outside and of the mucous linings of the air passages and other tubes and cavities which are connected with the external surface.
To get from the digestive organs into the blood, the nutrients must pass through the mucous membrane lining these organs and also the walls of blood or lymph vessels. ”

“ I must first tell you, however, that the diaphragm keeps up intimate relations with his neighbor below—the stomach. Every time he rises in the breast the stomach rises behind him; and not only the stomach, but also its companions, the intestines. All the officials employed in the business of digestion travel regularly with him; coming down as well as going up in company. Put your hand upon your abdomen and breathe strongly and you will feel the rebound of all the movements of the diaphragm. ”

“ Similarly a desire to pass the urine frequently does not indicate any disturbance of kidney function, but is explained by the pressure of the enlarged womb against the bladder; it is a very annoying, yet a natural, result of pregnancy.
THE SKIN.—The functions of the skin are at the very foundation of health. It protects the delicate structures which it covers, assists in the regulation of the temperature of the body, and excretes waste products. The excretory function of the skin is always active, but we are unconscious of this activity except on warm days and at times when we perspire freely. ”

“ Anatomy teaches us, that the skin is a continuation of the membrane which lines the stomach; and your own observation will inform you, that the delicate linings of the mouth, throat, nose, and eyes, are nothing more. Now some people acquire preposterous noses, others blotches on the face and different parts of the body, others inflammation of the eyes—all arising from irritation of the stomach. People laugh at me for talking so much about the stomach. ”

“ The walls of the whole of the small intestine are engaged in the absorption of the soluble results of digestion. In the duodenum, especially, small processes, the villi project into the cavity, and being, like the small hairs of velvet pile, and as thickly set, give its inner coat a velvety appearance. In a villus we find (Figure IX., Sheet 3) a series of small blood-vessels and with it another vessel called a lacteal. The lacteals run together into larger and larger branches until they form a main trunk, the thoracic duct, which opens into the blood circulation at a point near the heart ”

“ For, if it were so, perhaps the more gentle animals would either have no gall at all, or less than the wild beasts; the more timid ones would have more heart, the more lustful would have more liver, the more playful more spleen. As, therefore, we perceive that we hear with our ears, that we see with our eyes, that we smell with our nostrils; so assuredly we should perceive that we are angry with the gall, that we desire with the liver, that we rejoice with the spleen. ”

“ For when the stomach has sent forth from itself the food softened, it is gradually thrust forth through those windings of the intestines, so that whatever of the moisture by which the body is nourished is in them, is divided to all the members. ”

“ A young girl should be subject to the advice and protection of her mother or guardian, till sufficiently able to care for herself. Poverty, with chastity, is an enviable condition.
INTERNAL ORGANS OF WOMAN. The internal organs consists of the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, spleen, kidneys, bladder, intestines, or guts; the uterus, or womb, and ovaries, or eggs.
The heart is in the centre of the breast, pointing toward the left nipple; the lungs are on each side; the stomach lies below the true ribs, in the left side ”

“ The stomach and intestines, with other important structures, such as the liver, kidneys and generative organs, are contained in a lower cavity, separated by a muscular midriff, the diaphragm, from the upper part or thorax, containing the blood-purifying and pumping organs, the lungs and the heart. ”

“ If it is laid on its stomach, as is far too often the case, breathing is rendered difficult, the breast-bone is compressed, and the chest lessened in its dimensions, while the action of the diaphragm is hampered by pressure on the abdomen. ”

“ Fats are absorbed practically entirely by the lacteals. They enter the cells covering the villi, travel thence to the lymph spaces, and so into the lacteal or main lymph channel, whence they are carried to the thoracic duct and the general circulation. From the blood they are absorbed as fat and stored up as adipose or fatty tissue, which is found throughout the body in connective tissue about the organs. Organic salts and water are for the most part absorbed by the portal system, which they reach through the capillaries of the villi and through which they go to the liver. ”

“ These organs are,—the lungs, which throw off a portion of useless matter when the blood is purified; the kidneys, which secrete liquids that pass into the bladder, and are thrown out from the body by that organ; and the intestines, which carry off the useless and more solid parts of the food, after the lacteals have drawn off the chyle. In addition to these organs, the skin has a similar duty to perform; and as it has [Pg 92] so much larger a supply of blood, it is the chief organ in relieving the body of the useless and noxious parts of the materials which are taken for food. ”

“ Weaning is rendered easier by selecting a nursing-bottle which has the nipple in the shape of the breast. Care should be taken that the hole in the nipple is not too large, supplying more milk than the stomach can take care of as it comes, and so causing stomachic disorder. ”

“ The abdomen contains the stomach, a large membranous bag capable of holding about three pints, which is situated on the left side of the body and crosses it towards the right; the liver, which weighs from fifty to sixty ounces, and lies on the right side of the body, with its upper surface touching the diaphragm, while its lower surface touches the intestines and right kidney ”

“ If a boy or girl diminishes in flesh, is troubled with want of rest or of appetite, without being afflicted with any particular disease, either acute or local, the Midwife puts her finger under the bone which projects over the pit of the stomach, and immediately feels that “the spool of the breast is down”—in other words, she informs the parents that the bone is bent inwards, and presses upon the heart! ”

“ For obviously the inlet to the stomach does not merely conduct food and drink into this organ, but in the condition of nausea it performs the neck of the bladder which is beside the liver, albeit single, both fills and empties the bladder. ”

“ Lecithin, which is found conspicuously in the brain and nerves, is a complex fat containing phosphorus and nitrogen.10 Anæmia and waste follow directly from interference with the digestion and absorption of fats and starch in the intestine, but the most delicate, the most easily-disorganized solid of the body, the nerve-tissue, is the first to feel and to manifest its want of natural supply. ”

“ Figure 46 shows portions of typical glands [178] from the mucosa of the middle region of the stomach, the posterior border of the large stomach cavity; A is a longitudinal section through two ducts where they open to the surface; B is a similar section through the body of a gland below the region of the duct; C is a transsection through the bottom or fundus of a gland; all are drawn with a camera under the same magnification. ”

“ The circumstances affecting the system in general, are,—Distension of the fibres of the uterus, which, from an extensive sympathy of parts with this organ, must necessarily increase the irritability of the nervous system:—From an accumulation of putrid matter in the intestines, an absorption of putrescent juices:—The collection of bile in the receptacles of the liver, which, by stagnating, will be exposed to the absorption of it's thinner and most diluting parts, and which will be the means of inducing constipation:—Debility through the want of a nutritious, cooling fluid in the blood. ”

“ Then they say, that the organs which are the ministers of each sense, that is, of hearing, and seeing, and smelling, are situated in the head, and that the channels of all these lead not to the breast, but to the brain: otherwise we must be more slow in the exercise of our senses, until the power of sensation by a long course should descend through the neck even to the breast. ”

“ If their urine (as is likely) be retained, owing to their delirium, we must foment the lower part of the belly and bladder with warm oil and water, and then, by applying the fingers of the hand to the part, we must try to incite them to make water. We must also anoint the rest of the body with warm oil; and the patients are to be kept in a recumbent posture, for a state of quietude is to be maintained as much as possible; and, if they be rich, they are to be restrained by their servants; but, if not, they are to be bound with ligatures. ”

“ Veins thus resemble the uterus or the bladder as regards the arrangement of their fibres, even though they are deficient in thickness; similarly arteries resemble the stomach. Alone of all organs the intestines consist of two coats of which both have their fibres transverse. ”

“ We speak of the sweat gland secreting sweat out of the blood brought by the capillaries which are wrapped round the gland.
47. Now we can understand why the inside of the mouth is red and moist. The mouth has a skin just like the skin of the hand. There is an outside epidermis, made up of cells and free from capillaries, and beneath that a dermis or true skin crowded with capillaries. Only the epidermis of the mouth is ever so much thinner than that of the hand. The red capillaries easily shine through it, and their moisture can make its way through. ”

“ As to the parts that are single, the heart is advantageously situated nigh the middle. The liver, stomach, and spleen, are disposed in the upper region of the abdomen, about the same height: the bladder is placed in the middle of the body ”

“ The cavity of the stomach is only the size of the amount of food present; in other words, the food exactly fills the cavity. The motor nerve fibres to the stomach run in the vagi, which also contain fibres inhibitory to the cardiac sphincter. ”

“ In the small intestine, there is a multitude of tiny projections (villi) from the folds of the mucous membrane, more than seven thousand to the square inch, giving it a soft, velvety look. These little rootlets, reaching out into the milky fluid, drink into their minute blood vessels the nutritious part of every sort of food. (2.) The lacteals [Footnote: From lac, milk, because of the milky look given to their contents by the chyle.] (p. 126) , a set of vessels starting in the villi side by side with the veins, absorb the principal part of the fat. ”

“ The babe drawing the milk from the nipple of either the breast or the bottle, of course, does so by a sucking motion, which moves the tongue and cheeks, and produces a flow of fluid from the glands, which liberates the food-prana and has also a chemical digestive effect upon the milk itself, notwithstanding the fact that true saliva is not secreted in the young babe, and does not appear until the teeth show themselves. ”

“ These glands should be, and usually are, constantly active and they daily pour upon the surface of the body an oily substance that lubricates the skin and something over a pint of water containing waste matter, that is inimical to health if retained in the body. ”