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fc'Ofjrigbt' 1013. by the tttai Company. Great Britain Bights Ueserved. What Digestion, Assimilation and Metabolism Really Mean By EUGENE CHRISTIAN, F.S.D. I F you were to see a fireman throwing small pieces of dynamite, soggy wood, tin cans, mud and some coal into his furnace you would know he was a poor fireman. You would also know that he could not get up much steam, and that he would soon clog things up go that he would put his power plant out of business. This is just what many so-called Intelligent people do when they mix whiskey, coffee, starches, acids, sweets and a lot of mushy, greasy things in their stomach I have recently received thousands of letters which convince me that the vast majority of people do not really know what digestion, assimilation and metabo lism are, therefore, I am going to explain these things in as simple language as possible to show the reader that everything he eats should be carefully selected and for a specific purpose. What we call appetite is not a good guide, for people have appetites for whiskey, tobacco, various kinds of Your Stomach Needs drugs, sweets and coffee, all of which goes to show that the appetite cannot be trusted. (Everything one puts into'their stomach that can be converted into energy, bone, brain or tissue, dogs the digestive organe and the 2,000 miles of small tubing through' which the blood circulates, so that he probably gets out of his body only about 50 per cent of its efficiency. Digestion is merely the process of preparing food to lie taken into the tissues. The various steps of diges tion are as follows: Food is sub-divided or grouud fine by mastication. Nature pours into the mouth a fluid called saliva, which is chemically called an alkali. The principle purpose of an alkali is to dissolve and prepare starches, sweets and many other things for digestion, therefore, mastica tion should be very thorough. The more food is masti cated the finer it will be pulverized or sub-divided, and the more thorough the saliva will act upon its various atoms. A careful study of this first process of digestion will also show that one should not eat foo many soft, mushy foods, but that each meal should be composed of a lib- era! portion of coarse foods that require considerable mastication, for in the process of mastication the salivary glands are filled and pour their contents into the mouth, and thus the requisite amount of saliva is furnished to aid in preparing food tor final digestion. The second process of digestion takes place in the stomach. The stomach is the first stopping pface or depot, as it were, for our f ood. In the stomach walls there arc thousands of little cells or receptacles which secrete a fluid called gastric juice. This is the second digestive Ihe RIGHT FOOD, Just as a Furnace Needs the RIGHT FUEL ALKALI alkacTT (), o ACID four Steps in Digestion: A) Mouth, Alkali; (B) Stomach, Acid; (C) Doudenum, Alkali, and (D) Pan- creas, Acid. fluid, and is a strong acid, called in the leading medical works, hydrochloric acid. When one is not hungry these little gastric cells are empty, but when hunger appears they fill up with gastric juice, and when we take food into the stomach they empty their contents and mix it with the food so as to dissolve all such things as could not be dissolved by the saliva. In the third step in digestion the food from the stom ach passes into the doudenum, where it comes in con tact with the third fluid of digestion, which is called bile. Bile is secreted by the liver and is slightly alkaline, like the saliva. In the fourth step in digestion the pancreas, which is a gland that lays just behind and slightly below the stomach, secretes a fluid called pancreatic juice, which, like the gastric juice, is slightly acid. This juice is emptied into the duodenum just above where it con nects with the small intestines. If any food matter has not been dissolved by the action of hydrochloric acid it will be acted upon by the pancreatic juice. From this it will be seen that the four digestive fluids above described alternate—first an alkali and then an acid. This is so arranged that any atom of food not dissolved by one will be caught by the other and reduced to solution. Assimilation is the act of absorbing the nutrition after it has been prepared by the various digestive steps above referred to. The process of assimilation is the absorption or passing of the dissolved food ma terial into the circulation through the thousands of little canals which lead out from the intestines. Food material was once considered thoroughly as similated when it had been passed into the blood, but later research has rather changed the definition of assimilation to mean the complete action of the blood, not only in receiving the nutrition from the intestinal tract, but in carrying and depositing this material into the various cells throughout the body. Assimilation in its broadest sense means the picking up of all the nutritive material that has been sub divided into its several elements by the digestive juices and making it into one mass and depositing it in the blood. Metabolism means all the changes that foods pass through from the time they enter the body until they are changed into energy or tissue or cast out as waste or ashes. Technically speaking, It means the construc tive processes, and the destructive processes, which in other words mean the process of building up tissue by assimilation of food, and the processes of tearing down tissue by work or activity; thus the formation of mus cular tissue from the proteid matter we eat would be a process of construction, while the conversion of car bohydrates (starch and sugar) into carbon dioxide would be an example of destruction. The process of construction absorbs energy or heat from the digested food, while destruction produces heat as a result of oxidation, as do ordinary fuels. This explains why mus cular work warms the body. If any intelligent person would set aside one week out of every two months and eat plain, simple, pure foods, study and keep a record of the results, they would soon learn how to select, combine and propor tion their food according to their age and the work they do. The results would be so good that it would stimu late their interest so much that eating would not only become a very great pleasure but it would become one of the most interesting studies in life, for there is nothing so fascinating as to study and experiment with a thing with which we can get results and get them quickly. Just When and How You. Should Feed Your Dog T OO many people who are really fond of dogs pay no attention to how they feed them, thinking that so long as they are fed sometimes they will be all right. “Feed him anything,” is the common say ing, but, to keep a dog healthy and worth having care should be taken both in what he is fed and when. It seems to be a general custom in the household where a dog| is kept to give him what is left of the morning cereal. It would seem that this soft grain food, generally with milk over it, could not harm a dog. but It generally will. The reason is that a dog bolts his food. He will “boll” great pieces of nmat without injury to himself, hut his stomach is not fitted to handle soft foodB so well. He wilt swallow great lumps of cereal, and, this being a starchy food, will not easily digest when !( is in lumps in the stomach and the result is frequently indigestion and inflamma tion of the dog’s stomach. The city dog has little chance for exercise, and for that reason should not be overfed. The country dog that is running through fields and pastures all day can more, easily digest a quantity ol food Puppies and youug growing dogs require frequent feeding, but 1 when the dog is full grown one meal every twenty- four hours is sufficient. If the dog is weak or has been ill, a saucer of warm sweet milk in the morning is all right The dog's big meal should be in the evening, to be followed by the sleep that ail animals prefer after eating. Never let a dish of food stand A dog is just as likely to become diseased through germs as man and his food should be clean. A mixed diet is best Many dogs have been killed because, in the country, they would eat the hens’ eggs from the nests They are not to be blamed, as they demand a mixed diet and frequently this is their only means of securing it Meat should form the basis of the grown dog's meals, but it should be cooked and never given with out some other food—dog biscuit crusts of bread, eggs and milk. Boiled rump beet is extremely good tor dogs, andjt should not he too dry a little of the water it is boiled in is good Save the bones; do not feed them to your dog at his regular evening meal time, but let him have a good bone during the day, as he ) enjoys ft and it aids his digestion, keeps his teeth t clean and breaks up the long day of fasting between , morning and his night meal time. Graham bread is a ’ splendid food to give with meat. Above ali, always have a clean dish of water where your dog may drink at any time of day or night. He needs plenty of water, and it should be as fresh ana { clean for him as you would want it for yourself. ( Always keep the water dish clean; scald it out every ) few days and keep fresh water in it every day. According to dealers in dogs and to veterinaries, f nine-tenths of the pet dogs living in the cities are over ) ted and under-exercised. Many of them never have } a bone to gnaw, but are given all sorts of foods from > the ta’olp that man eats, and these are too rich for ) them. Fresh water always at hand, one big meal every ( twenty-four hours and exercise, together with the j friendship of man that dogs so dearly love, and your j dog will live long and healthily and happily. How Nature Grows “Germ-Proof” Packages N ATURE has always been doing what man has only recently attempted— that is, delivering many of its eatables in sterile or germ-proof packages. The best instance of this is the banana, a fruit that is only begining to be recognized in this coun try at its true value. Many experiments have been made with the skin of the banana by bacteriologists, and they have found the skin practically impreg nable to germs. Furthermore, the inner pulp of the skin is germ-free or sterile. Bananas have even been placed in liquids containing cultures of known organisms, and yet none of these were able to penetrate into the fruit itself. Every one knows how the edible portion of the banana is packed away in a close-fit ting covering which very seldom cracks open, even when dead ripe. This skin not only pro tects the fruit from the atmosphere and va rious insects and from bruising to a consider able degree, but it keeps out all germs. Dr. E. M. Bailey has made various - bac teriological examinations of bananas at dif ferent stages of their ripening, and he de clares that the inner pulp of ripe bananas is practically sterile. The probability of infec tion from bananas Is indeed slight. Cafe should be taken to have the peel of the ba nana clean, as anything on the outside might be transferred to the hands and thence to the fruit, and so to the mouth, but with this care taken there is no danger. It is probably one of the cleanest of fruits. Some nuts are bored by worms, but nuts that have no worm-holes are also practically sterile and no germs get in them. Since na ture takes such precautions tn many of her offerings, there seems no reasons why man should not also take every precaution in pro tecting other foot), taking pains to put It not only in handy packages, but in packages through which germs may not enter. Why the EARTH Is Going to DRY UP S CIENTISTS have-'long declared that the earth will dry up and become as barren and dismal as the moon. But there is no occasion to forry about this, since it will not occur for more millions of years, proba bly, than we can count. In regard -to the present dried-up condition of the moon, it used to be believed that the moon at one time had a plentiful supply of water, but that the great heat developed on either side as the moon was turned to the sun on alternate sides fourteen days at a stretch gradually evaporated the water. This vapor of evaporation did not fall back to the moon’s surface, it was claimed, because the moon's gravity was not sufficient to hold it, and so the vapor constantly thrown off by centrifugal motion gradually left the moon barren and dry. But the new theory, now held by the great scientists, is also held to be applicable to the earth and that what really happened to the moon will happen to this planet in the course of time—an almost unthinkable amount of time. This theory is that a crystal of any sort, a Jump af rock salt or quartz or limestone or granite, contains a great proportion of water. If these things are heated in a retort the jvater is recovered and the crystal becomes a powder. Now if this powder is placed near water it will absorb, while cooling, quite a lot of it. The interior of the moon being at one time extremely hot, so hot that it was a molten mass, a cooling process was started then, and in cooling the natural demand was for water in order for them to form their crystals The water seeped down through the crust of ihe moon and finally it was in that manner all used up. This is the manner in which this theory is applied to the earth. Our great oceans bring a powerful pressure to bear upon the earth's crust, and because ol subterranean volcanoes in various parts of the Pacific Ocean we know water is gradually seeping into the heated interior of the earth. The earth continues to lose its heat by radiation and this brings about a shrinkage and cracking of the old crust, as demonstrated now and then by great earthquakes and vol canic ' eruptions. This, in turns, makes a communication between the water of the earth’s crust and the cooling mass inside, these things being affinities. And so it is claimed all the earth s water must gradually seep into the interior and go into the forma tion of crystals. Even then it is claimed there will not be sufficient water to cool and crystallize all the molten mass inside. I YOU MIGHT TRY- ) \ J To Remove a Broken Screw. T O remove a screw with one side of the head broken off, place the screw driver against one side of the head, and with a small block ) ) press firmly against the screw driver, at the same time turning J the screw driver and the hlock. The screw- will come out almost as / easily as If the head was intact. To Stop a Leak. T O stop a leak, mix whiting and yellow soap into a thick paste with a little water. Apply this to the place where the leakage is and it will be instantly stopped. A visit from the plumber will still be necessary, but there is no special hurry for more radical repairs. To Preserve Flowers. D IP the flowers in melted paraffin, withdrawing them quickly. The liquid should only be hot enough to maintain its fluidity, and \ the flowers should be dipped one at a time, held by the stem and moved about tor an inslant lo get rid of the air bubbles. Fresh \ flowers, tree from moisture, make excellent specimens. Cleaning Glasses. T UMBLERS which have been used for milk should always be rinsed in cold water before they are washed in hot. When this is done the milk does not stick to the glass, and there is no danger of their looking cloudy. Cooking Vegetables. T O preserve the color of green vegetables, put them on to cook in boiling water into which a pinch of salt has been dropped. When SHOP SIGNS Were FIRST USED W HEN primitive man first found it necessary to use weapons there must have been some men among the clan who had a greater “knack” or ability in form ing them than other men, just as some men have the ability to paint or to chisel statues to-day. And it naturally followed that these men soon found all their time occupied in making weapons for the other men who could use them skillfully enough, but could not make them. As civilization advanced, meagre as was the advance, there seems no doubt that the caves or huts of these weapon makers became veritable shops. Later to indicate which of the huts contained weapon makers, some weapons were hung outside the entrance. In this manner was introduced the first shop sign. It would have been impossible to engrave on a slab of soft stone or burn in a slab of wood “John Brokentooth, Maker of Spears,” and stick this over the “shop," for the very simple reason that there was no alphabet, no knowledge, of writing or reading and no written language whatever. But the idea of hanging up some weapons indicated just as clearly to primitive man that there was a man inside who made those things as would a big sign over a store to-day indicate that guns and knives and revolvers were sold inside. Even as recent as when London was quit© a village very few men had names. The man who made pottery hung up some earthen pots. Later he was called “Potter,” and so the nam o of Potter came about. But shop signs were used thousands of years before there was any writing, and consisted of the articles them- selves or something that stood for them, such as the bush over the wine shop door. No doubt, when characters were first used, these were used as signs. The first charac ter writing was decidedly crude, being rough designs of articles themselves, pictured of men and of animals and weapons and dishes. Then, instead of hanging out the articles themselves, pictures graven in stone or painted on stone of the articles made and sold were placed in front of these shops. From that to the characters that were without pictures, but which were in reality, a crude alphabet and told in actual reading a story, were used as signs. A sort of com- bination of a picture of a sword, perhaps, and a few characters which stated that fine swords were made there. Then came the days when men had names and so they put their names on their signs, together with lettering and pictures, such asr “John’s Son, Sandals,” together with either A sandal carved in wood or a crudely painted sandal on the sign. To-day we see such signs as “John Smith, Butcher,” on a sign, and above it a large head of a bull carved and painted or gilded. In Giant Cacti for Telephone Poles O UT in southern Arizona, where the country is full of those very large cacti that sometimes reach a height of from twenty to forty feet, the telephone line men are using the cactus trees for telephone poles. In some places miles of wire is strung without any poles being set. and in some sec tions the poles are scattered along between the trees. One difficulty that has been experienced Is the trouble arising from lightning. The wires catch the lightning, and the great cacti trees are good conductors, and quite fre quently poles have to be planted to take the place of a destroyed cactus. The cross arms are fastened to the grow ing trees, and the sections free from elec- icai storms are rendering excellent service. Why a DROP OF WATER Stays in the Ocean 3,640 YEARS W HEN a drop of water reaches the ocean it is destined to remain there 3,460 years! This does not mean that every drop of water will stay exactly that length of time in the ocean, for some drops may be drawn out by evaporation the next day after they pour into it. Again some drops of water may wander about in the ocean ten thousand years before they get out. The average length of time, however, for a drop of water to remain in the ocean is 3,460 years. All this has been figured out by a Uerman scientist who has made a careful estimate of the total volume of water that goes into the ocean every year. He declares that one- three thousand four hundred and sixtieth (t-3,460) of the total amount of water in the world goes into the sea every year and. there fore. a particle of water before evaporation lA) Sun Draws Up Water to Clouds (B). Clouds Drift Over Land at (C) and This Drop Falls in Rain Into the River at (D) and Flows Back Into Ocean at (E). Where It Wii! Average to Remain for 3,460 Years has. on the average, stayed 3,460 years in the ocean. The life of a drop of water once out of the ocean is apparently a merry and a busy one, for after evaporation it will become again condensed into water in about ten days. It may fall as rain in the Rocky Mountains and drift into the Gulf of Mexico or into the Great I.akes, but its time in fresh water is short, comparatively speaking, and it will not be many years before it will have found its way back to the ocean again, either by means of rivers, or by evaporation and then by means of rain from the Great Lakes or some such place. But wherever the drop of water lands on earth, it is not long before one of three things happens—it falls to earth and gets back to the ocean by subterranean passages, it falls into a river and flows back to the ocean, or it falls into a lake and 4s either evaporated into the clouds or finally gets into a river. i How to Cure Ivy Fr-' ouin^ A LL sorts of things are Advised for the cure of poisoning . y »vy. So many t people are bothered with he common ) “poison ivy” during the Sumntei that there i are always scores looking for a cure. A very] simple one has been suggested by Dr. Robert t T. Morris, of New York. It is as follows: ' “As soon as the symptoms of itching and ) rejjness appear and you know you have ex- 1 posed yourself to the innocent looking but ; poisonous vine, wash the spots thoroughly \ with green soap, using a brush for the wash- \ ing, and follow this with another thorough ) washing with 98 per cent grain alcohol.” | One treatment of this, if taken early enough, or when the first signs of the poison appear, I will generally result in driving out the poison ) and effecting an immediate cure.