St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-03-07
FRESH AIR AND DYSPEPSIA.

FRESH AIR AND DYSPEPSIA
Extract nom . Lecture By J. n. KellogG.
n. D.. Of the Battle Greek Saaitariun.
It is a popular error that . person can
be healthy even If he Il not strong, for
it is actually necessary to have good
muscles il one is to have strong heart
and lung action, strong nerves and .
vigorous brain. We ordinarily breathe
once for every four heart beats Exer-
else increases aspiration, and relatively.
the action of the heart A strong heart
is able to empty itself completely and
send the blood coursing through the
bloodvessels, but q weak heart Il like
an old pump-it has to labor vigorously
to crowd the blood along. The heart 10
q great muscle and is made strong by
exercise. The blood is the life, and tho
activity of an organ depends upon the
amount of blood sent to it. The mus
cles need blood for force, the
brain for thought. BY means of the
lungs oxygen is introduced, which
is the vital agent for the entire
bodily activity. The difference between
a frog with its slow motions and low
temperature and the bird with its warm
blood and the velocity of the lightning
express is in the amount Of oxygen
consumed. The one has little bag In
which it swallows q small amount OF
air and the other has enormous lungs
in proportion to its size. The stomach
can not make good gastric juice with
out oxygen, nor can the liver do its rem
dcring work or its poison-destroying
work. Asking the liver to work with
out oxygen is something like asking
the Israelites to make bricks without
straw.
Another thing to be considered with
reference to the liver and stomach, as
regards exercise, is that the process of
breathing in itself helps the work of
digestion. Did you ever stop to think
how food and drink get into the blood?
A person takes glass of hot water and
in five minutes he is in profuse perspira-
ton, the water coming out through the
pores of the skin. The millions Of little
papille hanging out into the In
testines and in the folds of mucous
membrane lying in the stomach are each
little suction tubes by means Of which,
with that great pump, the diaphragm
behind them, fluids are speedily drawn
into the blood. Suppose you stop
breathing by holding your nose. You
feel sense of something pulling clear
down to the ends of your fingers. 1t is
the suction force of the pump drawing
Az 1~l<<l fv>ov,, Aha ax%vovv,s%;o. end fvn,v,
the liver. You see what q beautiful ar
rangcment this is. The chest is the
pump which draws the blood from all
these organs, and after the food is di-
gested, the little Will dip into the food
and draw il into the blood by the same
great general movement.
Breathing, then, is of the utmost i'm
portance with regard to the process Of
digestion. The liver has q constant
tendency to stagnation and torpidity,
but if the breathing is normal, by its
position under the diaphragm, it gets q
good, hearty squeeze with every breath.
and besides that is pressed upon by the
abdominal muscles from without. II
is thus emptied of its contents, and
the newly-digested food can be
taken in. Deep breathing helps the
liver in three ways-it brings in fresh
supply of oxygen, it helps circulation
through the liver and it squeezes the
liver and empties it out. We can not
have good livers without good lungs.
Exercise has a very important rela-
ton to the muscles of the trunk. as well
as Of the arms and legs. without ex-
ercise they become weak and relaxed,
instead of being tense and strong, as they
should be to hold the abdominal viscera
in place. The liver of man who takes
no exercise is just as heavy or little
heavier than that of . man who exer-
cises; his bowels are likely to become
clogged and the contents Of the whole
abdomen heavier than they should be,
while the muscles whose duty it is to
support them are weaker. 1t is very
common to find persons with their chests
flattened, the abdomen protruding and
all the internal organs more or less out
Of place, as the result of weakness Of
the abdominal muscles.
Grace, beauty and health agree. The
really beautiful arc always healthful.
Natures laws and arrangements arc
harmonious. You can not find such .
thing as beauty and health unallied.
Reported by Helen L. Manning.