CHAPTER IV 

 FOOD AND DRINK 



98. Why we must have Food. In a general way, the 

 body is often compared to a steam engine in good running 

 order. Our bodies, like the locomotive, move about, and 

 are warm, because a slow fire is always burning in them. 

 This fire, like that of the engine, needs fresh fuel from 

 time to time. Food is to our bodies what coal and wood 

 are to the engine. 



Without fuel and air the fire in the engine will go out. 

 So it is with the fire that is slowly burning in the body. 

 Without food and air this bodily fire would die out, and 

 we should soon perish. When coal or wood is burned 

 smoke and ashes are formed. When food is burned in the 

 body it forms waste matter, which is got rid of as speedily 

 as possible. 



99. How the Waste is made Good by the Food we eat. 

 Everybody knows that a steam engine wears out and 

 needs repair from time to time. So it is with the body. 

 Every beat of the heart, every contraction of a muscle, 

 and even our very thoughts, lead to waste. This tissue 

 change is so complete that not a particle of our present 

 bodies will be ours a short time hence. 



Something must be taken into the body to make up for 

 this continued loss of substance. The new material thus 

 used for restoring the waste tissues is the food we eat. If 



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