The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-02-09
How Most People
Maintain Wrong Beliefs
Everyday Matters in Which
We Are Usually in Errer.---.

particular llHe we NCly oooh
that our authorities are uprootlng
and utterly doing to death some OF
our most fond little beliefs; we find
not only that we have been negative
ly in the wrong through lack of any
information, but that we have been
positively, and often assertlvely,
wrong, having taken our stand on
what develops to be absolutely mlsln-
formation. This holds true with ref
erence to all things, both animate
and inanimate, but in no line is 1t
more striking than with regard to
ourselves, our bodies, u senses, our
foods, and our diseases.
Meet ten averagely well-informed
persons and ask each to locate his
heart. At least nine, and probably
all Of them, will place their hands
we'll around on the left side or on the
left breast up toward the shoulder.
OF course, every one knows that the
heart is on the left side! But 1t hap
pens that it is not. The most muscu-
lar chamber, the left ventricle, is on
the left side of the heart, n the
largest artery, the aorta, arches over
to the left. and the point is directed
toward the left, and these conditions
make the beating Of the heart more
readily felt on the left side; but
should we carefully slice ourselves
directly through the centre OF the
breastbone a larger portion OF the
heart would go out with the right
side than with the left.
We may assume that each Of US
belongs to that more fortunate class
which dimes every day, and we have,
therefore, had in the course OF the
past ten years about $3.50 dinners.
Counting out the day we dined alone
On the railway train, we have, then,
heard in the past ten years no less
than 3649 times the remark, isn't
1t peculiar hat a person weighs no
more after a hearty meal than be-
iore?" 1t would be peculiar. very, if
It were true; but 1t isn't. If you eat
two pounds of dinner you will, i'm
mediately thereafter, weigh very
nearly two pounds more than you did
Just before, as any good scales will
demonstrate. The reason that you
would not weigh exactly two pounds
more is that the body is constantly
losing weight, whether n is eating
Or not, by p~erspiration and by the
moisture and dioXide gas eXhaled
from the lungs. A man Of average
weight will lose about two pounds in
4 Turkish bath.
Almost every one has more knoWl-
edge of the Scriptures-particularly
of the first two or three chapters of
Genesis-than of anatomy, and Is
ready with a quotation to prove that
D woman has one more-or, rather,
that a man has one less-rib than a
woman. An examination Of a nor
NAL skeleton viii convince him Of his
error. Both men and women are
duly fitted out with twelve pairs Of
ribs.
On the other hand, most of us who
are very wise smile knowingly when
some one makes the foolish assertion
that one is taller in the morning than
In the evening. But try it. Between
he t~wenty-four vertebrae of the back
bone are little disks of cartilage, and
these in the course of the day are con-
Siderably compressed by the weight
Of the body, expanding again when
The body is in a recumbent position.
In the case of a heavy man Of good
average height the difference in his
height at morning and evening is
usually about a half inch.
How many times have we been
solemnly informed that fish is a
brain food? There is no foundation
whatever for the belief that fish con
tains any particular elements which
adapt them especially as food for the
brain or which support mental efforts.
The value of fish as a food to persons
engaged in mental labor is found in
the fact that fish do not contain large
quantities of those materials which
demand much physical exercise or ex-
ertion for their complete consump-
ton. AS the brainworker is seldom
physically active, the value of fish as
food for him is due to what is not
contained in the fish.
Don't go into the water until you
have become cooler!" is a caution
frequently given intending swimmers
and bathers. The kindly cautioners
are not quite sure just what would
happen if, when heated, a person
should plunge into the stream Or surf,
but it would be something very dread
full, in which they disagree with the
Royal British Humane Society, which
urges: Battle when the body is
warm, provided no time is lost in get
ting into the water. Avoid bathing
when the body is cooling after per-
I spiration."
y 1t is when We happen to get con-
troll of another PERSONS body that We
prove most ~conclusively what a mass
of misinformation we have acquired.
For instance, when some n has been
drowned, or nearly drowned, we seize
upon the poor, cold body and rub it
vigorously with whisky, under the
impression thai we are warming it.
Logical, when we consider that when
fever is reaching a dangerous height
we rub the patients body with alcohol
to reduce his temperature? The i'm