Читать книгу The House We Live In; or, The Making of the Body - Vesta J. Farnsworth - Страница 4

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OTHER: Let us look at the outside of our house before we try to see how it is made and furnished inside. I think you know now that when I am talking about a house or temple I mean the body. In some ways our bodies are like trees as well as houses. Look at this picture and tell me what you see.

Percy: A tree with a straight stem or trunk. It also has branches, called limbs, and is covered with bark.

Amy: And it has roots, which hold it fast in the ground.

Mother: Yes, trees are made to stand in one place while they live, and so they have roots. We have limbs like the tree, but our lower limbs are used to carry us from place to place, for we were not made to stand still. Can you think of another way in which we are like the tree?

Helen: Oh, I know! The middle part of the body is called the trunk.

Mother: Can you think of any other kind of trunk than the trunk of a tree or the trunk of the body?

Amy: A trunk in which to put clothes.

Mother: Yes, such trunks are useful to carry clothes. The upper part of the trunk of the body, or the part between the arms, is called “the chest.” Sometime we will try to learn what is packed away so nicely in the chest, or trunk, of the body, but we will only look outside now. What is on top of the trunk?

Helen: A strong, shell-shaped box made of bones, called the head.

Mother: This is what we might call the jewel-case, or the best part of all, for without it all parts of the body would be useless. Here we find the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears; and the head is fastened to the trunk of the body by the neck. How many limbs have we?

Percy: We have two arms and two legs, and these are called our limbs.

Mother: Now I think you can name the main parts of the body. What are they?

Helen: The head, trunk, and limbs.

Mother: You said the tree was covered with bark. Look at your hand. With what is it covered?

Amy: With skin.

Mother: Yes; we will talk more about this soft covering of the body at another time. We found these body-houses of ours are made to walk, work, run, jump, and do many other things. How are our limbs different from those of a tree?

Percy: They have joints so they can move many ways.

Mother: You may all put your arms out straight. Now raise them above your head and then touch your head without bending them.

Helen: We can’t do it, mother.

Mother: Let us see, then, how many joints, or bending-places, we have. We will call them the hinges of our house, for they help us to use our limbs, just as the hinges of a door help us to open or close the door. Please bend your arm and tell me how many parts it has.

Percy: My arm has two parts.

Mother: What do you think would be a good name for the part near your shoulder?

Amy: The top arm, or upper arm.

Mother: I think upper arm is best. Now if that part is the upper arm, what would you call the other part?

Elmer: The lower arm.

Mother: It is also called the forearm. Now move your elbow joint backward and forward, and tell me what kind of joint it is.

Helen: It is like a door hinge, for I can move it only two ways.

Mother: Yes, the elbow joint unites the upper and lower arm, and it can swing only one way. What shall we call the joint that joins the upper arm to the shoulder?

Percy: The shoulder joint.

Mother: Is this joint like the one in your elbow?

Helen: No, for I can swing my arm backward or forward or any way I like.

Mother: That is because it has a different joint than your elbow. It is called a “ball-and-socket” joint; that is, one end of the bone is shaped like a ball, and this fits into a hole shaped like a cup in another bone, like the one you see in the picture. This shows the hip joint, which is also a ball-and-socket joint, the same as we found in the shoulder. Now what is the joint called at the lower end of the forearm?

Amy: It is called the wrist.

Mother: The wrist is a joint that moves very easily in many different ways. Now how many joints, or bending-places, have we found in the arm?

Percy: The arm has three joints.

Mother: Elmer, you may take this ball. With what do you hold it?

Elmer: With my hand.

Mother: Tell me some ways in which we use our hands.

Helen: We hold, push, pull, lift, catch, and feel with our hands.

Mother: The inside is called the palm of the hand. What do you find at the ends of your hands?

Amy: Fingers.

Mother: Look at your fingers. Are they all alike?

Percy: One is much shorter than the others; all are different in length, and one is very small.

Mother: What do you call your short finger?

Elmer: My thumb.

Mother: You would find it hard to button your clothes and do many other things if you had no thumbs. A dog has no fingers, and if he wishes to hold or carry anything, he does it with his teeth. The first finger is called the forefinger, or index finger, because it comes first, and we use it to point with. The second is the middle finger; then we have the third finger; and the fourth is called the little finger, because it is the wee, tiny one of all. Open and shut your hands quickly. What do you call the parts of your fingers where you bend them?

Helen: Finger joints and knuckles.

Mother: You see there are many joints in the hands, so we can move them easily and quickly. What do you find on the ends of your fingers?

Amy: Finger-nails.

Mother: These hard, horny nails protect the ends of the fingers, and give them strength. Our hands were given us to help ourselves and others, and we should keep them neat and clean. They were not made to strike or steal.

Amy: I read this verse about our hands not long ago:—

“Hands were made to be useful,

If you teach them the way;

Therefore for yourself or neighbor

Make them useful every day.”

Percy: You haven’t told us about the lower limbs yet, mother.

Mother: No; and any boy or girl who enjoys running and jumping would think theirs a hard lot if they had no legs.

Elmer: I saw a boy with only one not long ago.

Mother: It is a great loss when a person loses an arm or a leg. Such people are called cripples. How many parts has each leg?

Amy: Each one has two parts.

Mother: And how many joints has the leg?

Helen: Three joints.

Mother: That is right. The one at the hip, as I have said, is a ball-and-socket joint; the one at the knee is a hinge joint, and the ankle is quite like the wrist. Then we have the foot, with a number of small joints, like the hand.

Percy: But we have toes on our feet instead of fingers; still there is the same number.

Mother: Yes, and some people can use their toes to draw pictures, write, and do many other things. Now we have found what our body-house is like on the outside, and we see how well each part is made for the work given it to do.