258 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



When one suffers from severe or continued earache it is 

 always best to consult a physician. In the meantime some 

 relief may be obtained by holding a hot sand bag or hot- 

 water bottle to the ear. 



354. Effect of Alcohol and Tobacco upon Hearing. Strong 

 drink tends to inflame first the lining membrane of the 

 throat and then that of the Eustachian tube. The inflam- 

 mation may spread after a time to the delicate apparatus 

 of the inner ear. 



The immoderate use of tobacco may injure the sense of 

 hearing. The irritating smoke, filling the deeper parts of 

 the nose and throat, easily finds its way through the Eusta- 

 chian tube and tends to irritate the delicate parts of the 

 middle ear. 



355. The Wonderful Sense of Sight. Sight is the highest 

 and most perfect of all our senses. By means of it we may 

 follow the vessel sailing along on the dim horizon, and the 

 next instant we may be reading the fine print of a newspaper. 

 By means of this sense we recognize the form, size, color, 

 and distance of thousands of different objects in nature. 



The sense of sight is so woven into the countless acts of 

 our everyday affairs that we scarcely appreciate this mar- 

 velous gift, so essential, not only to the simplest matters 

 of comfort, but also to the culture of the mind and the 

 higher forms of pleasure. 



356. The Eye. The eye, the outer instrument of sight, 

 is a most beautiful piece of mechanism. This little organ, 

 only about an inch in diameter, is in reality one of the 

 greatest wonders in nature. 



The eyeball is lodged in a bowl-shaped cavity made up 

 of seven of the bones of the head and face. This eye 

 socket is well protected on its edges by the dense and 



