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FOR PRACTICAL USE IN EVERY HOUSEHOLD,
FOR PRACTICAL USE IN EVERY HOUSEHOLD,
CONTENTS: THE WEIGHT OF THE EARTH—VELOCITY—NUTRITION—LIGHT AND DISTANCE—THE WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY—METEOROLOGY—THE FOOD PROPER FOR MAN. New York: CHR. SCHMIDT, PUBLISHER, 39 CENTRE STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by CHR. SCHMIDT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York....
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POPULAR TREATISE
POPULAR TREATISE
"In primis, hominis est propria VERI inquisitio atque investigatio. Itaque cum sumus negotiis necessariis, curisque vacui, tum avemus aliquid videre, audire, ac dicere, cognitionemque rerum, aut occultarum aut admirabilium, ad benè beatéque vivendum necessariam ducimus;—ex quo intelligitur, quod VERUM , simplex, sincerumqe sit, id esse naturæ hominis aptissimum. Huic veri videndi cupiditati adjuncta est appetitio quædam principatûs, ut nemini parere animus benè a naturâ, informatus velit, nisi p
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
HOW MANY POUNDS THE WHOLE EARTH WEIGHS. Natural philosophers have considered and investigated subjects that often appear to the unscientific man beyond the reach of human intelligence. Among these subjects may be reckoned the question, "How many pounds does the whole earth weigh?" One would, indeed, believe that this is easy to answer. A person might assign almost any weight, and be perfectly certain that nobody would run after a scale, in order to examine, whether or not an ounce were wanting.
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
THE ATTEMPT TO WEIGH THE EARTH. It is our task to explain, by what means men have succeeded in weighing the earth, and thus become acquainted with the weight of its ingredients. The means is simpler than might be thought at the moment. The execution, however, is more difficult than one would at first suppose. Ever since the great discovery of the immortal Newton, it has been known that all celestial bodies attract one another, and that this attraction is the greater, the greater the attracting b
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENT TO WEIGH THE EARTH. Cavendish, an English physicist, made the first successful attempt to determine the attractive power of large bodies. His first care was, to render the attraction of the earth an inefficient element in his experiment. He did it in the following way: On the point of an upright needle he laid horizontally a fine steel bar, which could turn to the right and left like the magnetic needle in a compass-box. Then he fastened a small metallic ball on eac
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
VELOCITIES OF THE FORCES OF NATURE. In former times, when a man would speak of the rapidity with which light traverses space, most of his hearers thought it to be a scientific exaggeration or a myth. At present, however, when daily opportunity is afforded to admire, for example, the velocity of the electric current in the electro-magnetic telegraph, every one is well convinced of the fact, that there are forces in nature which traverse space with almost inconceivable velocity. A wire a mile in l
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
HOW CAN THE VELOCITY OF THE ELECTRIC CURRENT BE ASCERTAINED. In order to illustrate, how the velocity of the electric current can actually be measured, we must first introduce the following: Whenever a wire is to be magnetized by an electric machine, at the moment it touches the machine, a bright spark is seen at the end of the wire. The same spark is seen also at the other end of the wire, if touching another apparatus. Let us call the first spark the "entrance-spark," the other the "exit-spark
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
NOTHING BUT MILK. Conceive a man, gifted with the keenest intellect, but not knowing from experience, that sucklings grow and become men, and imagine what he would say, if you were to tell him this: "Know, that the little being you see here, is a suckling, that is, a developing human being, who by and by will become thicker and taller. The bones of his body will become firmer and longer. The muscles that animate these bones will likewise increase in size. The same will happen with regard to his
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
MAN THE TRANSFORMED FOOD. Before speaking of the process of nutrition in the human body, we must first obtain a correct idea of what is meant by nutrition. Why are we obliged to eat? Of course we know that hunger forces us to do so. But every one is aware also, that above all we must ask, whence hunger arises; that we must first get better acquainted with hunger itself, in order to understand nutrition. To explain this, however, it is necessary to turn our attention to another thing, no less a m
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
WHAT STRANGE FOOD WE EAT. Man, according to what has preceded, is nothing but transformed food. This idea may frighten us; it may be terrible to our hearts; but let us frankly confess, it is a true one! Man consists only of such substances as he has consumed; he is, in fact, nothing but the food he has eaten; he is food in the shape of a living being. A child is said to live on his mother's milk; but what else does this mean than: "It is mother's milk, that has become alive by having been change
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW NATURE PREPARES OUR FOOD. In the preceding article it was stated, that the food of the child which lives on mother's milk, consists in its primary elements of peculiar substances. These are principally oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen; three gases to which may be added a large quantity of carbon, or, what is the same, coal. Besides this wondrous mixture of air and coal, the mother's milk contains still other elements, but in a smaller proportion. In every-day life many of them are unfamiliar;
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
WHAT BECOMES OF THE MOTHER'S MILK AFTER IT HAS ENTERED THE BODY OF THE CHILD? When the child has freed itself from the body of its mother, it consists of blood, flesh, and bones, which heretofore were formed and nourished by the blood of the mother. As soon, however, as the child is born, it ceases to be nourished in this manner. It ceases, also, to secrete through its mother, substances which are useless to it. The child now begins to breathe for itself, and by its breath secretes carbon in the
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
HOW THE BLOOD BECOMES THE VITAL PART OF THE BODY. One would be well justified in calling the blood "man's body in a liquid state." For the blood is destined to become the living solid body of man. People were astonished, when Liebig, the great naturalist, called blood the "liquid flesh;" we are correct even in going further and calling the blood "man's body in a liquid state." From blood are prepared not only muscles and flesh, but also bones, brain, fat, teeth, eyes, veins, cartilages, nerves,
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
CIRCULATION OF MATTER. Thus we have seen that the human body is vital blood, transformed and solidified. Now, blood is food transformed; food consists of primary elements prepared and changed by nature; hence, man himself is primary matter transformed and vivified. But the human race being thousands and thousands of years old, and there being upon the earth besides man the whole of the animal kingdom, developing, preserving, and nourishing itself bodily like man; the question arises: Whence do t
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
FOOD. From what has been said, it must appear evident that only such dishes make good food as contain the same constituents as the blood. To have these constituents, food must contain salt, fat, and sugar; all these ingredients must, of course, be in a certain proportion. That water is essential for the support and renewal of the body is clear to every one. The flesh we eat, contains nearly eighty per cent. of water, and yet a man must die, if he were to eat nothing but meat and to have no water
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
ABOUT NOURISHMENT. In obedience to the demands of modern science, numerous experiments about nutrition have been made, in regard to digestion as well as to the effects of hunger and of various elements of food. As to digestion, the most excellent observations were made on men afflicted with a fistula in the abdomen, that is, a wound penetrating to the stomach. By means of this wound, it was ascertained very minutely how long it took to digest food, and what kind of transformation it underwent. F
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
SOMETHING ABOUT ILLUMINATION. From time to time we hear of plans to illuminate whole cities by a great light from a single point. The credulity of the newspaper public about affairs belonging to Physics is so great, that we are not surprised if such plans are spoken of as practicable; though, indeed, one needs but cast a glance of reflection on them, to be at once convinced of their impracticability. The impracticability does not consist so much in this, that no such intense light can be made ar
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
ILLUMINATION OF THE PLANETS BY THE SUN. It was demonstrated above, that it is impossible to illuminate large distances by a single light. Yet we must acknowledge that nature herself does this, and that the sun is the only light which shines throughout the solar system; for the light which is seen in the planets is but light received and reflected from the sun. This is sufficient reason for us to believe, that there are not on every planet creatures as we see them on our earth; but that, on the c
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. Many people are greatly surprised, that when a new planet is discovered—and within late years this has been frequently the case—astronomers should be able to determine a few days afterwards its distance from the sun, together with the number of years necessary for its orbit. "How is it possible," they ask, "to survey a new guest after such a short acquaintance so accurately, as to foretell his path, nay, even the time of his course?" Nevertheless it is true that this can b
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
MAIN SUPPORT OF LEVERRIER'S DISCOVERY. When Leverrier was working at his great discovery he did not strike out a new path in science; he was supported by a great law of nature, the base of all astronomical knowledge. It is the law of gravitation, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. Those of our readers who have fully understood what we said before (page 50) about light, will now easily comprehend, what we are going to say about the force of gravity. Every heavenly body is endowed with the power of a
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
THE GREAT DISCOVERY. Perhaps the question presents itself to the thinking reader: If it be true that the heavenly bodies attract each other, why do not the planets attract one another in such a manner that they will run round and about each other? Newton himself proposed this question; he also found the answer. The attractive power of a celestial body depends upon its larger or smaller mass. In our solar system the sun's mass is so much larger than that of any of the planets, that the balance of
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WEATHER. We presume that in a state of unusual bad weather there are many persons, who find occasion to reflect on the nature of weather in general. A few years ago, we had "green Christmas and white Easter," and spring was of course far behind when Pentecost arrived. We had still cold and rainy days, while the nights were frosty; and, if one might judge from appearances, it seemed that nature had made a mistake, and had not known of our being then in the month of June, which
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
OF THE WEATHER IN SUMMER AND WINTER. As we have stated above, there exist fixed rules about the weather; these rules are simple and easy to compute. But our computations are often disturbed by a great many circumstances beyond our reach, so much that we are governed more by exceptions than rules. These latter are based on the position of our earth with regard to the sun. They are, therefore, easy to determine, for astronomy is a science resting on firm pillars; and although nothing in the univer
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
THE CURRENTS OF AIR AND THE WEATHER. In order to fully understand the conditions of the atmosphere, one must carefully notice the following: Though the sun produces summer and winter, and although his beams call forth heat, and the absence of heat causes intense cold on the surface of the globe, yet the sun alone does not make what we call "Weather." If the sun's influence alone were prevalent, there would be no change at all during our seasons; once cold or warm, it would invariably continue to
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRM RULES OF METEOROLOGY. The air which is continually rising in the hot zones and circulating towards the poles and back again to the equator, is the prime source of the wind. This latter modifies the temperature of the atmosphere; for the cold air from the poles of the earth, in coming to the equator, cools the torrid zone; again, the hot air going from there to the poles heats the colder regions. This accounts for the fact that very often it is not so cold in cold countries as it really
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
AIR AND WATER IN THEIR RELATIONS TO WEATHER. Let us now examine the causes which disturb the regular currents of air, and which render the otherwise computable winds incomputable, thus producing the great irregularities of the weather. The main cause lies in this, that neither the air nor the earth is everywhere in the same condition. Every housewife that but once in her life hung up clothes to dry, knows full well that air absorbs moisture when passing over, or through, wet objects. If she wish
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
FOG, CLOUDS, RAIN, AND SNOW. The air imbibes particles of water from all parts of the earth; and thus charged with water it is the same and operates the same as our breath. So soon as a stratum of air that contains water-particles, meets with a colder stratum, these airy particles of water immediately flow together to form fog. But fog, as has been said, is nothing but a cloud. He who has travelled in mountainous countries, has often noticed this. From the valley it often appears that the top of
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
HOW HEAT IN THE AIR BECOMES LATENT, AND HOW IT GETS FREE AGAIN. In the preceding chapter it was shown how warm air produces evaporation, and how cold air causes rain and snow. In this chapter we desire to demonstrate how the reverse may take place, viz., the engendering of cold and heat by evaporation and rain. Although what we wish to prove in the following is firmly established, yet it is not easy to make it understood. For this reason many educated men, who have read much about "free and late
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
LATENT HEAT PRODUCES COLD; FREE HEAT, WARMTH. He who considers how water when heated is transformed into steam, and how this steam has absorbed the whole portion of heat that was necessary to form it, will easily understand, that places where vapor is formed must become cooler. Just as the fire used for cooking purposes cannot heat the stove, so that portion of the sun's heat which changes the water on the surface of the earth into vapor, cannot heat the earth. Hence it follows, that wherever wa
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
RULES ABOUT THE WEATHER, AND DISTURBANCES OF THE SAME. If we cast a glance upon the phenomena of our atmosphere, we find that they are indeed computable, and that the weather in general may be foretold, even for large countries, with some degree of certainty. Nay, there are countries where the weather is not variable at all, but changes at regular periods and according to fixed rules. In countries near the equator, where the sun's heat is very strong, heat, calm, and dryness prevail during the s
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
THE CHANGEABLENESS OF THE WEATHER WITH REGARD TO OUR GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. We have endeavored to explain why our weather is so uncertain and incomputable. As we have seen, it has its origin in this, that in our regions the warmer equatorial currents of air no longer move above the colder ones, but that they descend here, and pursue their northern course alongside and opposing the colder currents. This often gives rise to a struggle between cold and warm currents. In summer we witness such comba
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
ABOUT THE DIFFICULTY AND POSSIBILITY OF DETERMINING THE WEATHER. Having now explained the rules referring to the conditions of our weather, and proved that owing to the geographical position of our country, to determine the weather in advance, is difficult, we wish to examine this difficulty a little more closely in pointing out the wrong direction which has hitherto been pursued in the science of meteorology. The main difficulty in predicting the weather for any given place consists in this, th
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FALSE WEATHER-PROPHETS. We wish to speak here a few words about the false methods, that have hitherto been applied to the investigation and foretelling of the weather. The weather prophecies of the almanac are a disgrace to our advanced age. Those who still print them deserve that their productions should nowhere find sale. We are not of those who expect everything of the magistrates and their orders; but an example should be set to prevent the publishers from dishing up to the people such a
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
HAS THE MOON INFLUENCE UPON THE WEATHER? The idea that the moon exercises an influence upon the state of the weather is very general, not only with the people, but also among the better educated. What induces them to entertain it, is not real observation of nature, but a belief which is not without a semblance of truth. If, they say, the moon has enough influence upon our waters to produce tides, it must exercise a still greater influence upon the sea of air surrounding us, and hence it must be
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
THE RAPID RENEWAL OF THE BLOOD IS AN ADVANTAGE. Our articles of food are also called articles of life , and very properly so; for that which lives in us is, indeed, nothing but food transformed into ourselves. According to this, it is very easy to determine what a man must eat in order to live; what kind of food can best maintain his health; what constantly renews his working-power; what compensates for the loss he experiences by emission of breath, perspiration, and excretions. This easy task m
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
DIGESTION. In the preceding article we said that the rapid conversion and waste of the blood is the main point in nutrition. In the examination of food, only such articles ought to be pronounced good and healthy, as are capable of rapidly replacing the blood lost by work and vital activity. It follows from this, that our chemists do not do enough, when they examine the food and determine its worth merely according to its contents; articles of food must be studied also in reference to the rapidit
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
COFFEE. We come now to consider the various articles of food in detail. We shall take for guide neither the luxurious life of the rich, who, on account of his disordered stomach, constantly tickles his palate with dainties; nor the miserable life of the poor, who, on account of his empty stomach, is bound to find everything palatable. We wish rather to take into consideration the food of that class of people in which the husband works hard to support his family; and where the wife is a good hous
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
COFFEE AS A MEDICINE. In recent times coffee has been considered, not as an article of food, but partly as a spice and partly as a kind of medicine. Spice it is, inasmuch as it causes, like many other spices, the stomach to secrete an increased quantity of gastric juice. Digestion only takes place when the sides of the stomach secrete a liquid having the quality of digesting food. Owing to this, well-to-do people take after dinner a cup of coffee in order to promote digestion. It is because at n
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
USEFULNESS AND HURTFULNESS OF COFFEE. Since coffee possesses the quality of stimulating the nervous system, it is a matter of course that in many cases its effect is rather injurious. Phlegmatic people, especially, need coffee, and they are fond of drinking it; for a similar reason it is a favorite beverage in the Orient, where its consumption is immense. But to persons of an excitable temperament the enjoyment of coffee is hurtful; they ought only to take it very weak. With lively children it d
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
BREAKFAST. Workmen, even those who must perform hard labor, are sufficiently strengthened by coffee and wheat bread in the morning to begin their work. But to be able to continue it, a more substantial breakfast is necessary, since coffee and bread alone would only replace what was lost during the night. On the continent of Europe it is therefore the custom to take coffee, or milk, and bread very early, and, at about nine or ten o'clock a more substantial meal, a kind of lunch. Breakfast is with
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
LIQUOR. Is it advisable to take a "drink" before breakfast? This is a question of the greatest importance, and requires a very clear and impartial answer; for which our space is almost too limited. Liquor is no article of food; if for a moment it were considered as such, we should find that it is even less nutritious than water with sugar in it. What makes liquor a necessary article, especially so to the working-classes, is a certain quality it possesses, a quality just as dangerous as it is goo
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
INJURIOUSNESS OF DRINKING LIQUOR. He who accustoms his stomach to secrete gastric juice only after a stimulus effected by spirits, destroys his digestive power. Unhappy man! He is no longer able to digest food, unless he stimulate his stomach with liquor. The already weak stomach is, by this habit, weakened more and more. Soon a small quantity will no longer suffice; a larger portion must effect what formerly was done by the smaller; this goes further and further, until finally the drinker becom
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE POOR AND THE LIQUOR. The poor workman who has accustomed his stomach to perform digestion only through the excitement of a previous stimulant, cannot, even if he knows the miserable condition he is in, abandon this bad habit without almost superhuman efforts. Working makes him hungry; but his stomach not being able to digest solid food, eating becomes disagreeable to him. His relaxing strength, however, demands support. His vital activity is suppressed; he must have a fresh supply of strengt
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF INTEMPERANCE AND ITS PREVENTION. The digestion of the drunkard, as we have seen, is greatly impaired; the process of nutrition entirely changed. There is a change in the tissues of the interior of the body. The inner organs are encumbered by fat; even under the very skin, layers of fat are formed. It is this that gives the drunkard that bloated appearance, which is very characteristic, and an evidence of the fact that the evil has reached a high stage. The stomach and the hea
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
DINNER. We wish to speak now of dinner, the principal meal of the day. Here, too, we shall take for standard neither the unhappy poor, who must eat what little he can obtain; nor the opulent rich, who finds a pleasure in eating what others cannot obtain. We shall take for base the plain household of the citizen, who takes healthy meals in order to strengthen him for renewed activity. What may have been the reason for putting the principal meal in the middle of the day? It was done for the reason
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
NECESSITY FOR VARIETY IN FOOD. Let no one believe that it is from mere daintiness that man is fastidious in regard to food, and that he lives on a great variety of victuals. The human body is the transformed food which he has eaten. It is quite correct that man can live on bread and water a long time; but man's nature is so varied, his qualities are of such numerous kinds; his character, his impulses and passions, his wishes and desires, his thoughts and labors, are so infinitely varified and so
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
BROTH. Soup, meat, and vegetables are the principal dishes of a plain household dinner. When examining this more closely, we find the selection so judicious that we may well admire the tact of woman, who discovered it long before science did. The good tact of woman does even more yet; it selects the dishes in such a manner that they mutually compensate for their wants, that is, that each offers to the body what is wanting in the others. The principal dishes composing a meal are divided into fat-
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT IS BEST TO BE PUT INTO SOUP? The answer to this question will be "Something farinaceous," and, indeed, no better answer could be given. Broth contains gluten and albumen, both of which are changed in the body into flesh. Not only the animal part of our body, but chiefly the active, working part of it requires nutriment that can be transformed partly into fat. Breath and perspiration, so unavoidable in labor, are supported by means of fat in our body. This explains why fat people perspire mo
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
LEGUMINOUS VEGETABLES. The greens which we put in soup cannot be considered nutriment, but rather a kind of spice, and perhaps also as a means of giving us the benefit of some medicinal qualities which they in part contain. We will dwell no longer on this subject, but proceed to the most nutritive articles of food we use, viz., the leguminous vegetables. Pease, beans, and lentils are so extremely rich in fat and muscle-forming elements, that in this regard they excel bread and are almost on a le
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
MEAT AND VEGETABLES. It is an old German habit to consider meat and vegetables as belonging together. In the common kinds of vegetables there is very little nutriment. Nearly nine-tenths of the weight of cabbages and other varieties consist of water. There is therefore but little left for nutriment proper, as, for example, vegetable albumen, gluten, vegetable fat, starch, and sugar. It is only such vegetables as turnips, etc., that contain much sugar, for which reason they are well adapted for c
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NAP AFTER DINNER. An old adage says, "After dinner thou shalt either rest or walk a thousand steps." Habit, however, has modified this very much; for people nowadays neither rest nor walk; but, if they can, they lie down and slumber. Now, it is true that sleep does not belong to the articles of food. We might despatch the question of the nap after dinner here at once; yet, if it has any influence upon the digestion of food, it is of enough importance to merit a few words. It was mentioned be
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
WATER AND BEER. During the forenoon a general desire for food is felt, while in the afternoon thirst is more common, in which case the best and most natural beverage should always be water. Properly speaking, water is no article of food, if by that term we understand only animal and vegetable matter. Water is no organic, but a mere chemical agent. But if man were to consume no water he would perish. Therefore water is essentially necessary to man, although it does not satisfy his appetite; for i
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
SUPPER. No time of the day is more pleasant than the evening hours after the day's work is over; there is a solemn calm and quiet in them which charms both soul and body. This time of ease and rest must not be disturbed on our part by overburdening the stomach. We eat only for the purpose of compensating for the loss experienced through our work; we should not eat more than is necessary to supply the strength lost; in other words, to give us sufficient strength to continue our labor. And as the
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