Читать книгу The House We Live In; or, The Making of the Body онлайн

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Amy: We would become ill.

Mother: We surely would. Sometimes we call it “taking cold.” If we cool off too quickly when warm, or get our clothes wet and do not put on dry ones, or in a warm spring day put on thin clothes, all these things stop the waste-pipes, and we “catch cold,” have a sore throat, and we may have a fever, which shows that the waste is being burned up inside; and the house becomes burning hot.

Percy: Then the pores must be kept open all the time if we would be well.

Mother: Yes; but there is another way than those I have told you by which they get choked up. The waste-pipes leave the dirt they carry out of the body on the skin, for that is as far as they can carry it. The master of the house must see that the skin is kept clean, so the pipes will not be choked.

Elmer: Then he ought to wash it often.

“A thorough scrubbing.”

Mother: I think so, and not only some parts, but the whole house needs a good scrubbing with soap and warm water as often as twice a week, and if he will then take a bath of some kind each day, that will keep the skin clean and healthy. Even rubbing the whole body once a day with a damp towel and then with a dry one, will keep the waste-pipes open, so they can do good work, if there is a thorough scrubbing twice a week, as I have said. We should also be careful to wear clean clothing next to the skin, for there is about a quart of waste matter carried through the pores every day. Can you think of any other ways in which the skin is useful besides being a covering and carrying away the waste?