THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 299 



are swallowed or produced in the body by disease, may 

 excite them to vigorous action and cause vomiting, or may 

 injure them so that their impulses almost cease. Aside 

 from this, about the only danger to which the system is 

 exposed is a blow upon the abdomen or neck ; such a blow 

 is always dangerous. Death may then result through shock 

 to the heart, or through paralysis of the vasomotor nerves, 

 which causes the arteries to enlarge and hold so much 

 blood that too little goes to the brain. " Fidgets " is caused 

 by poisons from fermented food going to the sympathetic 

 ganglia and irritating them. Backache in women is some- 

 times caused by the abdominal organs being prolapsed or 

 pushed downward by the pressure of a tight corset, or pulled 

 down by the weight of skirts supported by these organs. 

 This causes the sympathetic nerves to be stretched at their 

 attachment near the spine. 



554. Sympathy in functional activity between the va- 

 rious vital organs is brought about through this system, and 

 gives it its name. Derangement of the stomach may affect 

 the heart. One organ seems to share in the illness when 

 another is deranged. This is well, for when one organ is 

 diseased, the others do not continue to act and impose work 

 upon the ailing organ. A feeling of weakness, which rests 

 the muscles, and a loss of appetite, which rests the digestive 

 organs, accompany most forms of illness. 



555. THOUGHT LESSON. Obedience to Natural Law. 



1. What is the natural direction of growth of the big 

 toe? 



2. Think of six evil results, direct or indirect, which will 

 follow the transgression of God's design in this simple 

 matter. 



3. Which part of the spinal column, designed in infinite 

 wisdom to be most flexible, do some people try to make the 

 most inflexible ? 



4. The mobility of the false and floating ribs was intended 



