Read Ebook: A Handbook of Health by Hutchinson Woods

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Ebook has 439 lines and 11093 words, and 9 pages

'tro gen. A tasteless, odorless, colorless gas, forming nearly four-fifths of the earth's atmosphere; and constituting a necessary part of every plant and animal tissue.

Pro'te ins. Foods containing a large amount of nitrogen; such as meat, fish, milk, egg, peas, beans.

A or'ta. The main artery of the body; it leads out from the left ventricle of the heart, carrying arterialized blood to all parts of the body except the lungs.

Ar'te ries. The blood vessels and their branches that carry blood from the heart to all parts of the body. The pul'mon a ry artery carries impure blood to the lungs.

Cap'il la ries. The minute blood vessels which form a network between the ends of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.

Cir cu la'tion. The passage of the blood from the heart into the arteries, and from them through the capillaries into the veins, and through the veins back into the heart.

Heart. A muscle-sac located in the thorax between the lungs, its lower point, or a'pex, being tilted somewhat to the left; the centre and force-pump of the circulatory system.

Ox i da'tion. Combining with oxygen.

Ox'y gen. A colorless, odorless, tasteless gas, which forms about one-fifth of the earth's atmosphere. It is found in all animal and vegetable tissues. When it combines with other substances, a certain amount of heat is produced; and if the process is sufficiently rapid, a flame is seen.

Pulse. The regularly recurring enlargement of an artery, caused by the increased blood flow following each contraction of the ventricle of the heart.

Veins. The blood vessels and their branches through which blood flows from all parts of the body back to the heart. All the veins except the pulmonary veins carry impure blood; the pulmonary veins carry arterialized blood from the lungs. Ve'na ca'va. Either of the two large veins discharging into the right auricle of the heart. Por'tal vein. The large, short vein that drains the liver and adjacent parts.

Ven'tri cles. The two chambers of the heart that receive blood from the auricles and force it into the arteries.

Breath. Air taken in or sent out in respiration; that breathed out containing carbon dioxid, watery vapor, and various impurities.

Car'bon di ox'id. A gas formed of carbon and oxygen; colorless and odorless; has a somewhat acid taste, and is used for aerating soda water and other beverages; is present naturally in mineral and spring waters. It is present largely in the fissures of the earth and makes the choke-damp of mines. Called also car bon'ic acid.

Ep i glot'tis. The valve-like cover that prevents food and drink from entering the larynx.

Ex cre'tion. A waste substance thrown out, or rejected, from the system; for example, carbon dioxid, sweat, ur'ine, the fe'ces.

Lar'ynx. The enlargement of the windpipe, near its upper end, across which are stretched the vocal cords.

Lungs. Two spongy organs in the thorax, entered by the bronchi with their bronchial tubes; they contain in the walls of their air cells the capillaries through which the blood passes from the branches of the pulmonary artery to the branches of the pulmonary veins.

Rec'tum. The lowest and last section of the alimentary canal, being the discharge pipe of the large intestine, and excreting the solid wastes in the form of the feces.

Res pi ra'tion. Breathing; the action of the body by which carbon dioxid is given off from the blood and a corresponding amount of oxygen is absorbed into the blood.

Skin. The continuous outer covering of the body, in the deeper layer of which are located the sweat glands, which secrete sweat and excrete it through the sweat ducts and their openings in the surface of the skin.

Tra'che a . The windpipe between the larynx and the bronchi.

U'ri na ry system. The organs concerned in the secretion and discharge of urine: the kid'neys , the u re'ters , the blad'der .

Brain. The soft mass of nerve tissue filling the upper cavity of the skull. Its cellular tissue is gray, and its fibrous tissue white. With the spinal cord it controls all the sensory and motor activities of the body.

Cer e bel'lum. The part of the brain lying below the hind part of the cerebrum.

Cer'e brum. The upper or fore part of the brain; it is divided by a deep fissure into two hemispheres, its cor'tex lies in many con vo lu'tions , and its fibres run down into the spinal cord. In this part of the brain are the centres, or controlling nerve cells, of the senses and most of our conscious activities.

Me dul'la. A portion of the brain forming an enlargement at the top of the spinal cord and being continuous with it; the channel between the brain and the other parts of the nervous system.

Muscle . A kind of animal tissue that consists of fibres that have the power of contracting when properly stimulated. A bundle of muscle fibres, called a muscle, is usually attached to the part to be moved by a ten'don, or sinew. Muscles causing bones to bend are termed flex'ors; those causing them to straighten, ex ten'sors. The movements of muscles may be voluntary , or involuntary .

Nerve. A fibre of nerve tissue, or a bundle of such fibres, connecting nerve ganglia with each other or with some terminal nerve organ. Nerves running inward toward the spinal cord and the brain are called sen'so ry nerves; those from the brain and spinal cord outward, mo'tor nerves.

Nerv'ous system. The nerve centres with the sensory and motor nerves and the organs of sense.

Neu'rons. The cells of the spinal cord and the brain.

Re'flex. A simple action of the nervous system, in which a stimulus is carried along sensory nerves to a nerve centre, and from which an answering stimulus is sent along motor nerves to call into play the activity of some organ, without consciousness, or without direct effort of the will.

Spi'nal cord. The soft nerve tissue that extends from the medulla almost to the end of the spinal column, being encased by it. It controls most of the reflex actions of the body.

Stim'u lus. Anything that starts an activity in the tissues on which it acts; for example, light is a stimulus to the nerve tissues of the eye.

INDEX

Abdomen, 204.

Accommodation, 264.

"Adam's apple," 272.

Adenoids, 253, 256, 257, 274.

Air, circulation of free, 140, 149; composition of, 132; indoor currents of, 148-150; per person, 142; pure and impure, 139-146.

Alcohol, a medicine, 96, 100; an antiseptic, 318, 319, 324; a narcotic, 90, 98, 99; a toxin, 94; decreasing use of, 101-103; effect of, on character, 101; in beverages, 94, 95; in patent medicines, 237; not a food, 90, 96; physical effects of, 97-100, 122-124, 166, 197, 199, 201, 239; source of, 93, 95.

Aldehydes, 94.

Ale, 94.

Alveoli, 135.

Ameba, white corpuscles compared to, 109, 110.

Amherst, experiments with smokers at, 107.

Ammonia from decay, 74, 308.

Animals and plants contrasted, 5-7.

Anopheles, 302.

Antiseptics, use of, 317-320.

Antitoxins, 293-296.

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