STARVATION AND SUFFOCATION. I// 



dows and no open fireplaces, we are as badly off as the 

 puppy would be in his box, without an air-hole, if you 

 should occasionally open and shut the lid quickly, as 

 we do our doors on a cold day. 



2. Starvation and Suffocation Compared. If a man gets 

 no food, he soon dies of starvation. If he gets some food, 

 but not enough for the needs of his body, he lives longer, 

 but his whole body is weak. At last he dies of slow 

 starvation, unless some disease attacks his feeble organs, 

 and kills him before want of nourishment has had time 

 to do so, 



It is much the same as regards the supply of oxygen 

 in the air we breathe. If there is no oxygen in it, death 

 takes place in a few minutes. Death from suffocation 

 occurs quicker than death from starvation, because our 

 bodies have laid up in them but very little more oxygen 

 than they need at the moment; whereas, in fat and some 

 other tissues, there is a store of nourishing matter which 

 the body can make use of when its food is not enough. 

 Fat, when not present in such excess as to hamper 

 various organs in their work, may be compared to a 

 little money laid by in a savings-bank, and ready for use 

 in case the regular supply gives out. There is no such 

 bank in our bodies where extra oxygen can be stored. 

 In health, the blood and each organ possess just a little 

 more than they want at the moment, but that is all. It 

 is like a few cents of pocket-money, which does not last 

 long if we have to live on it. 



2. What happens if a man does not get enough food ? Of what 

 does he die ? If he gets no oxygen ? Why does a man die of suffo- 

 cation sooner than of starvation ? To what may fat be compared ? 

 How much oxygen do the blood and organs possess in health ? To 

 what compared ? 



