The history of a mouthful of bread

Passing from birds to reptiles is like falling from a torrent into still water. Life drags on as sluggishly with the second as it dashes furiously forward with the first.

Before speaking of insects, my dear child, it will be necessary, in the first place, to tell you to what primary division they belong and on what characters this division has be...

He will not take much time to describe. He is, in brief, a tube, open at both ends, so as to allow food to come in and go out. That is all.

_Marsupium_ is Latin for purse, pouch, or pocket. The marsupials are distinguished from other animals by a pouch which the mother has under her belly, and in which the little on...

I hope I have told you enough, my dear child, to enable you fully to estimate the force with which air presses upon everything on the surface of the earth, and consequently upon...

We are becoming terribly learned, my poor child, and I am half afraid you will be getting tired of me. When I was little myself, I had rather a fancy for breaking open those bar...

And this is the history of your body being warm exactly like a dining-room stove, where the oxygen in the air forms an alliance with the hydrogen and carbon of the wood. Nature...

Tell me, my dear child, when you have seen birds taking their flight into the air, and going boldly to their object, without a thought of all the barriers, ditches, rivers, and...

When we have been laboring very hard, my dear child, and want to rest for a minute, we say, _Let us take breath_; because breathing is an action which takes place of itself, req...

One word more before we finish. We must not leave off without bidding a last farewell to the good servant of whom we have spoken so much; the model steward so exact in giving ba...

Crustaceans consist of cray-fish, crabs, lobsters, and prawns, who may be considered cousins-german of insects, among which more than one naturalist has thought they ought to be...

Let us continue to pass in review the different orders of the class Mammalia. We may meet elsewhere with facts more important to science, but nowhere with any so personally inte...

If you have thoroughly understood the story I last told you, my child, it will have revealed to you the whole mystery of the _circulation of the blood,_ and you are at the prese...

One more word before we part about the last of the eaters, about Vegetables. They will furnish you with a new and very clearly marked proof of the uniformity of the fundamental...

Do you remember of my talking of the _vertebral column_ when I was describing that great artery, the _aorta_, to which it forms a rampart of defence? I should not have named it...

Thus much is settled, then. It is the blood which sets everything in motion throughout the body. The organs are idlers who would do nothing but for him; they only work when goad...

'It is dangerous to show man how much he resembles the beasts, without at the same time pointing out to him his own greatness. It is also dangerous to show him his greatness, wi...

Once in the _oesophagus_ (you remember this is the name of the tube which leads to the stomach), the mouthful of food has nothing to do but to proceed on its way. All along this...

Every created thing has an appointed part to perform; but there are some mysterious parts of which we cannot understand the drift. That of the ruminants, however, is so clearly...

I fear you will be getting a little weary, my dear, of dwelling so long on this intestinal tube, where things which looked so well on one's plate become so transformed that they...

We have spent a very long time, my dear child, over the little fire, which goes on burning secretly in every one of us, quietly devouring what little girls eat with such a good...

Here, then, my dear child, we have arrived at the explanation of that great mystery, WHY _we breathe._ Keep on the alert, for we are now entering into a region where everything...

There is a favorite conjuring trick, which always amuses people, though it deceives no one. The conjuror shows you an egg, holds it up to the light that you may see it is quite...

There was once upon a time a banker, a millionaire, who could reckon his wealth not by millions only, but by hundreds of millions and more; who was, in fact, so tremendously ric...

Let us look at the subject from a distance, that we may understand it more clearly. Let us imagine a horse drawing a heavy cart slowly along. Ask it to gallop, and it will answe...

I venture to hope, my dear child, that more and more light is dawning upon your mind, as we gradually proceed on our little journey. You must by this time have some idea how the...

You see now, I hope, that we have something else to consult besides a dainty taste when we are eating; and that if we are to work to any good purpose we must think a little abou...

When you were quite little, my dear child, and still a nursling, you had nothing behind your lips but two little rosy bars, which were of no service for gnawing an apple, as the...

We made a very long story of the stomach last time, my dear child; and, after all, I see that there was one thing I forgot to tell you--viz., what it is like.

Now, about this doorkeeper, or porter, as we will call him, of the mouth. I do not suppose you have guessed who he is; so I am going to tell you.

Have you never, my dear child, whilst warming your little feet on the hearth in winter-time, asked yourself, _What is fire?_ that great benefactor of man; fire, without which pa...

We are going to make acquaintance to-day with a new personage, who well deserves our attention. It is the child of oxygen and carbon, [Footnote: This is the name learned men hav...

At the foot of the mountains, from whence I write to you, my dear child, when we want to show the country to a stranger, we commence by making him climb one of the heights, when...

And accordingly our porter too has a broom specially placed at his service, namely, the tongue; and an unrivalled broom it is--for it is self-acting, never wears out, and makes...

To-day we have to begin by making acquaintance with a new term. I would willingly have spared you this, if I could, for the word is neither a pretty, nor a well-chosen one, but...

It is at the extremity of the capillary arteries, as we have said, that the incomprehensible prodigy of the nourishment of our organs is accomplished. This done, the next thing...

The first time we talked about the Blood, my dear little pupil, I introduced him to you as the steward of your body, and what a steward to be sure! Always awake, as you may reme...

You probably knew what I meant, because it is a word which is used in conversation and pretty well understood by everybody. But I am bent upon giving you a more exact idea of it...

When I said formerly that our dear and wonderful steward the blood, was everywhere at once, you little suspected the prodigies involved in that _everywhere_. But you will have a...