ening taste. Do you think it would be
good to eat? Why not?

~16.~ You know that tobacco makes people sick when they first begin to
use it. This is because it contains a very deadly poison, called
_nicotine_.

~17.~ If you give tobacco to a cat or a dog, it will become very sick. A
boy once gave a piece of tobacco to a monkey, which swallowed it not
knowing what a bad thing it was. The monkey soon became sick and died.

~18.~ Many learned doctors have noticed the effects which come from
using tobacco, and they all say it does great harm to boys, that it
makes them puny and weak, and prevents their growing up into strong and
useful men. If tobacco is not good for boys, do you think it can be good
for men? Certainly you will say, No.

SUMMARY.

1. Both animals and plants are sometimes diseased. Flesh obtained from
sick or diseased animals is unfit for food.

2. Unripe, stale, and mouldy foods are unfit to be eaten and likely to
cause severe illness.

3. Foods are sometimes spoiled by having things mixed with them which
are not food, or which are poisonous.

4. The foods most liable to be adulterated in this way are milk, sugar,
and butter.

5. Tobacco, while not actually eaten, is thought by some persons to be a
food, but it is not. It is a poison, and injures all who use it.

6. Boys who use tobacco do not grow strong in body and mind.

CHAPTER VI.

OUR DRINKS.

~1.~ Water is really the only drink. It is the only substance which will
satisfy thirst. All other fluids which we drink consist mostly of water.
Thus, lemonade is lemon-juice and water. Milk is chiefly water. Wine,
beer, cider, and such liquids contain alcohol and many other things,
mixed with water.

~2. Why we Need Water.~--If we should wet a sponge and lay it away, it
would become dry in a few hours, as the water would pass off into the
air. Our bodies are losing water all the time, and we need to drink to
keep ourselves from drying up.

~3.~ Water is also very necessary for other purposes. It softens our
food so that we can chew and swallow it, and helps to carry it around in
the body after it has been digested, in a way about which we shall learn
in future lessons.

~4.~ Still another use for water is to dissolve and wash out of our
bodies, through the sweat of the skin, and in other ways, the waste and
worn-out particles which are no longer of any use.

~5. Impure Water.~--Most waters have more or less substances dissolved