George Bernard Shaw - "Pygmalion"

Robert W. Chambers - "The Hidden Children"

Emile Souvestre - "An Attic Philosopher, v3"

P. G. Wodehouse - "Indiscretions of Archie"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home





SECRETING ORGANS.

Those vessels of the body which draw off certain portions of the blood
and change it into a new form, to be employed for service or to be
thrown out of the body, are called _secreting organs_. The skin in this
sense is a secreting organ, as its perspiration-tubes secrete or
separate the bad portions of the blood, and send them off.

Of the internal secreting organs, the _liver_ is the largest. Its chief
office is to secrete from the blood all matter not properly supplied
with oxygen. For this purpose, a set of veins carries the blood of all
the lower intestines to the liver, where the imperfectly oxidized matter
is drawn off in the form of _bile_, and accumulated in a reservoir
called the _gall-bladder_. Thence it passes to the place where the
smaller intestines receive the food from the stomach, and there it mixes
with this food. Then it passes through the long intestines, and is
thrown out of the body through the rectum. This shows how it is, that
want of pure and cool air and exercise causes excess of bile, from lack
of oxygen. The liver also has arterial blood sent to nourish it, and
corresponding veins to return this blood to the heart. So there are two
sets of blood-vessels for the liver--one to secrete the bile, and the
other to nourish the organ itself.

The kidneys secrete from the arteries that pass, through them all
excess of water in the blood, and certain injurious substances. These
are carried through small tubes to the bladder, and thence thrown out
of the body.

The _pancreas_, a whitish gland, situated in the abdomen below
the stomach, secretes from the arteries that pass through it the
pancreatic juice, which unites with the bile from the liver, in
preparing the food for nourishing the body.

There are certain little glands near the eyes that secrete the tears,
and others near the mouth that secrete the saliva, or spittle.

These organs all have arteries sent to them to nourish them, and also
veins to carry away the impure blood. At the same time, they secrete
from the arterial blood the peculiar fluid which it is their office
to supply.

All the food that passes through the lower intestines which is not
drawn off by the lacteals or by some of these secreting organs, passes
from the body through a passage called the rectum.

Learned men have made very curious experiments; to ascertain how much
the several organs throw out of the body, It is found that the skin
throws off five out of eight pounds of the food and drink, or probably
about three or four pounds a day. The lungs throw off one quarter as
much as the skin, or about a pound a day. The remainder is carried off
by the kidneys and lower intestines.

There is such a sympathy and connection between all the organs of the
body, that when one of them is unable to work, the others perform the
office of the feeble one. Thus, if the skin has its perspiration-tubes
closed up by a chill, then all the poisonous matter that would have
been thrown out through them must be emptied out either by the lungs,
kidneys, or bowels.

When all these organs are strong and healthy, they can bear this
increased labor without injury. But if the lungs are weak, the blood
sent from the skin by the chill engorges the weak blood-vessels, and
produces an inflammation of the lungs. Or it increases the discharge
of a slimy mucous substance, that exudes from the skin of the lungs.
This fills up the air-vessels, and would very soon end life, were it
not for the spasms of the lungs, called _coughing_, which throw off this
substance.

If, on the other hand, the bowels are weak, a chill of the skin sends
the blood into all the blood-vessels of the intestines, and produces
inflammation there, or else an excessive secretion of the mucous
substance, which is called a _diarrhea._ Or if the kidneys are
weak, there is an increased secretion and discharge from them, to an
unhealthy and injurious extent.

This connection between the skin and internal organs is shown, not
only by the internal effects of a chill on the skin; but by the
sympathetic effect on the skin when these internal organs suffer. For
example, there are some kinds of food that will irritate and influence
the stomach or the bowels; and this, by sympathy, will produce an
immediate eruption on the skin. Some persons, on eating strawberries,
will immediately be affected with a nettle-rash. Others can not eat
certain shell-fish without being affected in this way. Many humors on
the face are caused by a diseased state of the internal organs with
which the skin sympathizes.

This short account of the construction of the skin, and of its intimate
connection with the internal organs, shows the philosophy of those
modes of medical treatment that are addressed to this portion of the
body.

It is on this powerful agency that the steam-doctors rely, when, by
moisture and heat, they stimulate all the innumerable perspiration-tubes
and lymphatics to force out from the body a flood of unnaturally excited
secretions; while it is "kill or cure," just as the chance may meet
or oppose the demands of the case. It is the skin also that is the
chief basis of medical treatment in the Water Cure, whose slow processes
are as much safer as they are slower.

At the same time it is the ill-treatment or neglect of the skin which,
probably, is the cause of disease and decay to an incredible extent.
The various particulars in which this may be seen will now be pointed
out. In the management and care of this wonderful and complex part of
the body, many mistakes have been made.

The most common one is the misuse of the bath, especially since cold
water cures have come into use. This mode of medical treatment
originated with an ignorant peasant, amid a population where outdoor
labor had strengthened nerves and muscles and imparted rugged powers
to every part of the body. It was then introduced into England and
America without due consideration or knowledge of the diseases habits,
or real condition of patients, especially of women. The consequence
was a mode of treatment too severe and exhausting; and many practices
were spread abroad not warranted by true medical science.

But in spite of these mistakes and abuses, the treatment of the skin
for disease by the use of cold water has become an accepted doctrine
of the most learned medical practitioners. It is now held by all such
that fevers can be detected in their distinctive features by the
thermometer, and that all fevers can be reduced by cold baths and
packing in the wet sheet, in the mode employed in all water-cures.
Directions for using this method will be given in another place.

It has been supposed that large bath-tubs for immersing the whole
person are indispensable to the proper cleaning of the skin. This is
not so. A wet towel, applied every morning to the skin, followed by
friction in pure air, is all that is absolutely needed; although a
full bath is a great luxury. Access of air to every part of the skin
when its perspiratory tubes are cleared and its blood-vessels are
filled by friction is the best ordinary bath.

In early life, children should be washed all over, every night or
morning, to remove impurities from the skin. But in this process,
careful regard should be paid to the peculiar constitution of a child.
Very nervous children sometimes revolt from cold water, and like a
tepid bath. Others prefer a cold bath; and nature should be the guide.
It must be remembered that the skin is the great organ of sensation,
and in close connection with brain, spine, and nerve-centres: so that
what a strong nervous system can bear with advantage is too powerful
and exhausting for another. As age advances, or as disease debilitates
the body, great care should be taken not to overtax the nervous system
by sudden shocks, or to diminish its powers by withdrawing animal heat
to excess. Persons lacking robustness should bathe or use friction in
a warm room; and if very delicate, should expose only a portion of the
body at once to cold air.

Johnson, a celebrated writer on agricultural chemistry, tells of an
experiment by friction on the skin of pigs, whose skins are like that
of the human race. He treated six of these animals with a curry-comb
seven weeks, and left three other pigs untouched. The result was a
gain of thirty-three pounds more of weight, with the use of five bushels
less of food for those curried, than for the neglected ones. This
result was owing to the fact that all the functions of the body were
more perfectly performed when, by friction, the skin was kept free
from filth and the blood in it exposed to the air. The same will be
true of the human skin. A calculation has been made on this fact, by
which it is estimated that a man, by proper care of his skin, would
save over thirty-one dollars in food yearly, which is the interest on
over five hundred dollars. If men will give as much care to their own
skin, as they give to currying a horse, they will gain both health and
wealth.




XII.

CLOTHING.

There is no duty of those persons having control of a family where
principle and practice are more at variance than in regulating the
dress of young girls, especially at the most important and critical
period of life. It is a difficult duty for parents and teachers to
contend with the power of fashion, which at this time of a young girl's
life is frequently the ruling thought, and when to be out of the
fashion, to be odd and not dress as all her companions do, is a
mortification and grief that no argument or instructions can relieve.
The mother is often so overborne that, in spite of her better wishes,
the daughter adopts modes of dress alike ruinous to health and to
beauty.

The greatest protection against such an emergency is to train a child
to understand the construction of her own body and to impress upon
her, in early days, her obligations to the invisible Friend and Guardian
of her life, the "Former of her body and the Father of her spirit,"
who has committed to her care so precious and beautiful a casket. And
the more she can be made to realize the skill and beauty of construction
shown in her earthly frame, the more will she feel the obligation to
protect it from injury and abuse.

It is a singular fact that the war of fashion has attacked most fatally
what seems to be the strongest foundation, and defense of the body,
the bones. For this reason, the construction and functions of this
part of the body will now receive attention.

The bones are composed of two substances, one animal, and the other
mineral. The animal part is a very fine network, called _cellular
membrane._ In this are deposited the harder mineral substances,
which are composed principally of carbonate and phosphate of lime. In
very early life, the bones consist chiefly of the animal part, and are
then soft and pliant. As the child advances in age, the bones grow
harder, by the gradual deposition of the phosphate of lime, which is
supplied by the food, and carried to the bones by the blood. In old
age, the hardest material preponderates; malting the bones more brittle
than in earlier life.

The bones are covered with a thin skin or membrane, filled with small
blood-vessels which convey nourishment to them,

Where the hones unite with others to form joints, they are covered
with _cartilage,_ which is a smooth, white, elastic substance. This
enables the joints to move smoothly, while its elasticity prevents
injuries from sudden jars.

The joints are bound together by strong, elastic bands called
_ligaments,_ which hold them firmly and prevent dislocation.

Between the ends of the bones that unite to form joints are small sacks
or bags, that contain a soft lubricating fluid. This answers the same
purpose fur the joints as oil in making machinery work smoothly, while
the supply is constant and always in exact proportion to the demand.

If you will examine the leg of some fowl, you can see the cartilage
that covers the ends of the bones at the joints, and the strong white
ligaments that bind the joints together.

The health, of the bones depends on the proper nourishment and exercise
of the body as much as that of any other part. When a child is feeble
and unhealthy, or when it grows up without exercise, the bones do not
become firm and hard as they are when the body is healthfully developed
by exercise. The size as well as the strength of the bones, to a certain
extent, also depend upon exercise and good health.

[Illustration: Fig. 61]

The chief supporter of the body is the spine, which consists of
twenty-four small bones, interlocked or hooked into each other, while
between them are elastic cushions of cartilage which aid in preserving
the upright, natural position. Fig. 61 shows three of the spinal bones,
hooked into each other, the dark spaces showing the disks or flat
circular plates of cartilage between them.

The spine is held in its proper position, partly by the ribs, partly
by muscles, partly by aid of the elastic disks, and partly by the close
packing of the intestines in front of it.

The upper part of the spine is often thrown out of its proper position
by constant stooping of the head over books or work. This affects the
elastic disks so that they grow thick at the back side and thinner at
the front side by such constant pressure. The result is the awkward
projection of the head forward which is often seen in schools and
colleges.

Another distortion of the spine is produced by tight dress around the
waist. The liver occupies the right side of the body and is a solid
mass, while on the other side is the larger part of the stomach, which
is often empty. The consequence of tight dress around the waist is a
constant pressure of the spine toward the unsupported part where the
stomach lies. Thus the elastic dials again are compressed; till they
become thinner on one side than the other, and harden into that
condition. This produces what is called the _lateral curvature of the
spine,_ making one shoulder higher than the other.

The compression of the lower part of the waist is especially dangerous
at the time young girls first enter society and are tempted to dress
according to the fashion. Many a school-girl, whose waist was originally
of a proper and healthful size, has gradually pressed the soft bones
of youth until the lower ribs that should rise and fall with every
breath, become entirely unused. Then the abdominal breathing, performed
by the lower part of the lungs, ceases; the whole system becomes reduced
in strength; the abdominal muscles that hold up the interior organs
become weak, and the upper ones gradually sink upon the lower. This
pressure of the upper interior organs upon the lower ones, by tight
dress, is increased by the weight of clothing resting on the hips and
abdomen. Corsets, as usually worn, have no support from the shoulders,
and consequently all the weight of dress resting upon or above them
presses upon the hips and abdomen, and this in such a way as to throw
out of use and thus weaken the most important supporting muscles of
the abdomen, and impede abdominal breathing.

The diaphragm is a kind of muscular floor, extending across the centre
of the body, on which the heart and lungs rest. Beneath it are the
liver, stomach, and the abdominal viscera, or intestines, which are
supported by the abdominal muscles, running upward, downward, and
crosswise. When these muscles are thrown out of use, they lose their
power, the whole system of organs mainly resting on them for support
can not continue in their naturally snug, compact, and rounded form,
but become separated, elongated, and unsupported. The stomach begins
to draw from above instead of resting on the viscera beneath. This in
some cases causes dull and wandering pains, a sense of pulling at the
centre of the chest, and a drawing downward at the pit of the stomach.
Then as the support beneath is really _gone,_ there is what is often
called "a feeling of _goneness."_ This is sometimes relieved by food,
which, so long as it remains in a solid form, helps to hold up the
falling superstructure. This displacement of the stomach, liver, and
spleen interrupts their healthful functions, and dyspepsia and biliary
difficulties not unfrequently are the result.

As the stomach and its appendages fall downward, the _diaphragm_,
which holds up the heart and lungs, must descend also. In this state
of things, the inflation of the lungs is less and less aided by the
abdominal muscles, and is confined chiefly to their upper portion.
Breathing sometimes thus becomes quicker and shorter on account of the
elongated or debilitated condition of the assisting organs. Consumption
not unfrequently results from this cause.

The _heart_ also feels the evil. "Palpitations," "flutterings,"
"sinking feelings," all show that, in the language of Scripture, "the
heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place."

But the _lower intestines_ are the greatest sufferers from this
dreadful abuse of nature. Having the weight of all the unsupported
organs above pressing them into unnatural and distorted positions, the
passage of the food is interrupted, and inflammations, indurations,
and constipation, are the frequent result. Dreadful ulcers and cancers
may be traced in some instances to this cause.

Although these internal displacements are most common among women,
some foolish members of the other sex are adopting customs of dress,
in girding the central portion of the body, that tend to similar
results.

But this distortion brings upon woman peculiar distresses. The pressure
of the whole superincumbent mass on the pelvic or lower organs induces
sufferings proportioned in acuteness to the extreme delicacy and
sensitiveness of the parts thus crushed. And the intimate connection
of these organs with the brain and whole nervous system renders injuries
thus inflicted the causes of the most extreme anguish, both of body
and mind. This evil is becoming so common, not only among married
women, but among young girls, as to be a just cause for universal
alarm.

How very common these sufferings are, few but the medical profession
can realize, because they are troubles that must be concealed. Many
a woman is moving about in uncomplaining agony who, with any other
trouble involving equal suffering, would be on her bed surrounded by
sympathizing friends.

The terrible sufferings that are sometimes thus induced can never be
conceived of, or at all appreciated from, any use of language. Nothing
that the public can be made to believe on this subject will ever equal
the reality. Not only mature persons and mothers, but fair young girls
sometimes, are shut up for months and years as helpless and suffering
invalids from this cause. This may be found all over the land. And
there frequently is a horrible extremity of suffering in certain forms
of this evil, which no woman of feeble constitution can ever be certain
may not be her doom. Not that in all cases this extremity is involved,
but none can say who will escape it.

In regard to this, if one must choose for a friend or a child, on the
one hand, the horrible torments inflicted by savage Indians or cruel
inquisitors on their victims, or, on the other, the protracted agonies
that result from such deformities and displacements, sometimes the
former would be a merciful exchange.

And yet this is the fate that is coming to meet the young as well as
the mature in every direction. And tender parents are unconsciously
leading their lovely and hapless daughters to this awful doom.

There is no excitement of the imagination in what is here indicated.
If the facts and details could be presented, they would send a groan
of terror all over the land. For it is not one class, or one section,
that is endangered. In every part of our country the evil is
progressing.

And, as if these dreadful ills were not enough, there have been added
methods of medical treatment at once useless, torturing to the mind,
and involving great liability to immoralities.

[Illustration: Fig. 62.]

In hope of abating these evils, drawings are given (Fig. 62 and Fig.
63) of the front and back of a jacket that will preserve the advantages
of the corset without its evils. This jacket may at first be fitted
to the figure with corsets underneath it, just like the waist of a
dress. Then, delicate whalebones can be used to stiffen the jacket,
so that it will take the proper shape, when the corset may be dispensed
with. The buttons below are to hold all articles of dress below the
waist by button-holes. By this method, the bust is supported as well
as by corsets, while the shoulders support from above, as they should
do, the weight of the dress below. No stiff bone should be allowed to
press in front, and the jacket should be so loose that a full breath
can be inspired with ease, while in a sitting position.

[Illustration: Fig. 63.]

The proper way to dress a young girl is to have a cotton or flannel
close-fitting jacket next the body, to which the drawers should be
buttoned. Over this, place the chemise; and over that, such a jacket
as the one here drawn, to which should be buttoned the hoops and other
skirts. Thus every article of dress will be supported by the shoulders.
The sleeves of the jacket can be omitted, and in that ease a strong
lining, and also a tape binding, must surround the arm-hole, which
should be loose.

It is hoped that increase of intelligence and moral power among mothers,
and a combination among them to regulate fashions, may banish the
pernicious practices that have prevailed. If a school-girl dress
without corsets and without tight belts could be established as a
fashion, it would be one step gained in the right direction. Then if
mothers could secure daily domestic exercise in chambers, eating-rooms
and parlors in loose dresses, a still farther advance would be secured.

A friend of the writer informs her that her daughter had her wedding
outfit made up by a fashionable milliner in Paris, and every dress was
beautifully fitted to the form, and yet was not compressing to any
part. This was done too without the use of corsets, the stiffening
being delicate and yielding whalebones.

Not only parents but all having the care of young girls, especially
those at boarding-schools, have a fearful responsibility resting upon
them in regard to this important duty.

In regard to the dressing of young children, much discretion is needed
to adapt dress to circumstances and peculiar constitutions. The leading
fact must be borne in mind that the skin is made strong and healthful
by exposure to light and pure air, while cold air, if not excessive,
has a tonic influence. If the skin of infants is rubbed with the hand
till red with blood, and then exposed naked to sun and air in a
well-ventilated room, it will be favorable to health.

There is a constitutional difference in the skin of different children
in regard to retaining the animal heat manufactured within, so that
some need more clothing than others for comfort. Nature is a safe guide
to a careful nurse and mother, and will indicate by the looks and
actions of a child when more clothing is needful. As a general rule,
it is safe for a healthful child to wear as little clothing as suffices
to keep it from complaining of cold. Fifty years ago, it was not common
for children to wear as much under-clothing as they now do. The writer
well remembers how even girls, though not of strong constitutions,
used to play for hours in the snow-drifts without the protection of
drawers, kept warm by exercise and occasional runs to an open fire.
And multitudes of children grew to vigorous maturity through similar
exposures to cold air-baths, and without the frequent, colds and
sicknesses so common among children of the present day, who are more
carefully housed and warmly dressed. But care was taken that the feet
should be kept dry and warmly clad, because, circulation being feebler
in the extremities, this precaution was important.

It must also be considered that age brings with it decrease in vigor
of circulation, and the consequent generation of heat, so that more
warmth of air and clothing is needed at an advanced period of life
than is suitable for the young.

These are the general principles which must be applied with modification
to each individual case. A child of delicate constitution must have
more careful protection from cold air than is desirable for one more
vigorous, while the leading general principle is retained that cold
air is a healthful tonic for the skin whenever it does not produce an
uncomfortable chilliness.




XIII.

GOOD COOKING.


There are but a few things on which health, and happiness depend more
than on the manner in which food is cooked. You may make houses
enchantingly beautiful, hang them with pictures, have them clean and
airy and convenient; but if the stomach is fed with sour bread and
burnt meats, it will raise such rebellions that the eyes will see no
beauty anywhere. The abundance of splendid material we have in America
is in great contrast with the style of cooking most prevalent in our
country. How often, in journeys, do we sit down to tables loaded with
material, originally of the very best kind, winch has been so spoiled
in the treatment that there is really nothing to eat! Green biscuits
with acrid spots of alkali; sour yeast-bread; meat slowly simmered in
fat till it seemed like grease itself, and slowly congealing in cold
grease; and above all, that unpardonable enormity, strong butter! How
one longs to show people what might have been done with the raw material
out of which all these monstrosities were concocted!