134 Lessons in Nature Study. 



Take your piece of beef and wash it very carefully and 

 thoroughly. The blood will all be washed out and the 

 muscle will become almost white. What, then, is the real 

 color of muscle ? To what does it owe its red color ? Why 

 are some people pale ? Why are our lips red ? Why do our 

 hands show red color when held up to the sunlight ? 



In like manner the different organs of the body may be 

 taken up, always introducing facts in the child's own ex- 

 perience when possible, and always bringing into school the 

 thing to be studied itself when such part can be had. Thus 

 exercises in breathing, feeling the pulse, " feeling the 

 muscle," allusions to having swallowed the " wrong way," 

 the mouth watering, etc.,, may be very useful means to 

 introduce subjects of physiology which are really so near 

 to us, and yet seem often to be so far away. A heart, lungs, 

 and liver may be easily obtained from the butcher. Every 

 child should know the heart, lungs, larynx, etc., not merely 

 from having read of them, but from having seen and 

 handled them, and in this way having formed an actual 

 acquaintance with them. 



