A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

thrown out by the skin, are reabsorbed into the blood, and are slow but sure causes of a decay of the strength of the system. The skin is also provided with small follicles, or bags, which are filled with an oily substance. This, by gradually exuding over the skin, prevents water from penetrating and injuring its texture. The skin is also the organ of touch. This office is performed through the instrumentality of the nerves of feeling, which are spread over all parts of the skin. This general outline of the construction of the human frame is given, with reference to the practical application of this knowledge in the various cases where a woman will be called upon to exercise her own unaided judgement. The application will be further pointed out, in the chapters on Food, Dress, Cleanliness, Care of the Sick, and Care of Infants. CHAPTER VI. ON HEALTHFUL FOOD. The person who decides what shall be the food and drink of a family, and the modes of preparation, is the one who decides, to a greater or less extent, what shall be the health of that family. It is the opinion of most medical men, that intemperance in eating is the most fruitful of all causes of disease and death. If this be so, the woman who wisely adapts the food and cooking of her family to the laws of health, removes the greatest risk which threatens the lives of those under her care. To exhibit this subject clearly, it will be needful to refer, more minutely, to the organization and operation of the digestive organs. It is found, by experiment, that the supply of gastric juice, furnished from the blood, by the arteries of the stomach, is proportioned, not to the amount of food put into the stomach, but to the wants of the body; so that it is possible to put much more into the stomach than can be digested. To guide and regulate in this matter, the sensation called _hunger_ is provided. In a healthy state of the body, as soon as the blood has