n to what we
were about to say respecting trusting to others' aid in the rearing of
children. Here it is that the young and probably inexperienced mother
may find our remarks not only an assistance but a comfort to her, in as
far as, knowing the simplest and best system to adopt, she may be able
to instruct another, and see that her directions are fully carried out.

2450. The human body, materially considered, is a beautiful piece of
mechanism, consisting of many parts, each one being the centre of a
system, and performing its own vital function irrespectively of the
others, and yet dependent for its vitality upon the harmony and health
of the whole. It is, in fact, to a certain extent, like a watch, which,
when once wound up and set in motion, will continue its function of
recording true time only so long as every wheel, spring, and lever
performs its allotted duty, and at its allotted time; or till the limit
that man's ingenuity has placed to its existence as a moving automaton
has been reached, or, in other words, till it has run down.

2451. What the key is to the mechanical watch, air is to the physical
man. Once admit air into the mouth and nostrils, and the lungs expand,
the heart beats, the blood rushes to the remotest part of the body, the
mouth secretes saliva, to soften and macerate the food; the liver forms
its bile, to separate the nutriment from the digested aliment; the
kidneys perform their office; the eye elaborates its tears, to
facilitate motion and impart that glistening to the orb on which depends
so much of its beauty; and a dewy moisture exudes from the skin,
protecting the body from the extremes of heat and cold, and sharpening
the perception of touch and feeling. At the same instant, and in every
part, the arteries, like innumerable bees, are everywhere laying down
layers of muscle, bones, teeth, and, in fact, like the coral zoophyte,
building up a continent of life and matter; while the veins, equally
busy, are carrying away the _debris_ and refuse collected from where the
zoophyte arteries are building,--this refuse, in its turn, being
conveyed to the liver, there to be converted into bile.

2452. All these--and they are but a few of the vital actions constantly
taking place--are the instant result of one gasp of life-giving air. No
subject can be fraught with greater interest than watching the first
spark of life, as it courses with electric speed "through all the gates
and alleys" of the