CHAPTER V


THE CARE OF THE BODY

The Bowels--The Kidneys--The Skin--Bathing--Douches--Clothing--
Corsets--The Breasts.

If we stop to think it is only too apparent that the human body is a
machine. We seize energy in one form and convert it into another,
just as truly as do the windmill, the locomotive, and the dynamo. In
the case of the human machine, the latent energy of the food is
turned into the various activities of everyday life. Our bodies
utilize their fuel more perfectly than any machine that man has
invented; but they fail, nevertheless, to do so completely. And just
as the efficiency of an engine cannot be maintained unless the smoke
escapes and the ashes are raked away, so no human being can enjoy
health unless his waste products are promptly removed. The task of
removal, as most of us know, is assumed by our excretory organs,
which include the bowels, the kidneys, the skin, and the lungs.

During pregnancy the mother must get rid not only of her own waste
products, but also of those of the child. The waste products of the
child, if weighed, would not amount to a great deal; but they are by
no means negligible. So far as we can tell, it is chiefly on account
of their peculiar character that they increase the work of the
mother's excretory organs. Whatever the cause, they do increase it,