MY BODY TEMPLE

Lesson 2. Outside and Inside:

What do we call the main part of a tree? The trunk, you say. The main part of the body is also called its trunk. There are two arms and two legs growing out of the human trunk. The branches of a tree we call limbs, and so we call the arms and legs, limbs. We som­times call the arms the upper extremities, and the legs the lower extremities. At the top of the trunk is the head.

Now let us look at these different parts. As we read the name of each part, let’s touch that part which is named. We will begin with the head. The chief parts of the head are the skull and the face. The forehead, the temples, the cheeks, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, and the chin are parts of the face.

The chief parts of the trunk are the chest, the abdomen (ab' -do-men), and the backbone. The head is joined to the trunk by the neck.

Each arm has a shoulder, upper arm, forearm, wrist, and hand. The fingers are a part of the hand.

Each leg has a hip, thigh, lower leg, ankle, and foot. The toes are a part of the foot.

Our whole body is covered with something as soft and smooth as the finest silk. It is the skin. What is it that grows from the skin on our head? And what grows at the ends of our fingers and toes? We’ll learn more about the skin, the hair, and the nails in another lesson.

The body has two sides, the right side and the left side, which are alike. We have two eyes, two ears, two arms, etc. We have one nose, one mouth, and one chin, but each of these organs has two halves, which are alike.

Inside:

How does the inside of the body look? What is in the skull? What is in the chest? What is in the abdomen? Why do we eat and drink? Why do we become hungry and thirsty? What makes us tired and sleepy? How do we keep warm? Why do we breathe? How do we grow? How do we move about? How do we talk, laugh, and sing? How do we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell? How do we remember, think, and reason? All these, and a great many more interesting questions, you will find answered in the following lessons.

When we study the inside of the body, we begin to understand how wonderfully we are made. We cannot all see the inside of the body, and it is not necessary that we should do so. Many learned men have spent their whole lives in seeking to find out all about our bodies and the bodies of various animals.

If you take hold of your arm, it seems soft on the outside; and if you press upon it, you will feel something hard inside. The soft part is called flesh. The hard part is called bone.

All the bones of an animal, placed properly together, have nearly the shape of the body, and are called the skeleton (skel'-e-ton). The skeleton forms the framework of the body, just as the heavy timbers of a house form its framework. It supports all the parts.

The bony part of the head is called the skull. In the skull is a hollow place or chamber. You know that a bank often has a safe in which is kept money, important papers, and other valuable things. The chamber in the skull is the safe, of the body. It has strong, tough walls of bone, and contains the brain. The brain is the most important and also the most tender and delicate organ in the whole body. This is why it is so carefully guarded from injury.

The framework of the back is called the backbone. This is not a single bone, but a row of bones arranged one above another. Each bone has a hole through it, about as large as one of your fingers. A large branch from the brain, called the spinal cord, runs down through the middle of the backbone, so that the separate bones look as if they were strung on the spinal cord, like beads on a string.

The trunk of the body, like the skull, is hollow. Its walls are formed partly by the back­bone and the ribs and partly by flesh. A fleshy wall divides the hollow of the trunk into two parts, an upper chamber called the chest, and a lower called the abdomen.

The chest contains a pair of organs called the lungs, with which we breathe. It also con­tains something, which we can feel beating at the left side. This is the heart. The heart lies between the two lungs, and a little to the left side.

In the abdomen are some very wonderful organs that do different kinds of work for the body. Among them are the stomach, the bowels, and the liver. There are, also, other or­gans whose names we shall learn when we come to study them.

We have only begun to study the beautiful house in which we live, and yet have we not learned enough to show us how great and wise is the Creator who made us and all the wonderful living machinery within our bodies? If someone gave you a beautiful present, would you treat it carelessly and spoil it, or would you take good care of it and keep it nice as long as possible? We should also take care of our bodies to keep them in the per­fect and beautiful condition which our kind and good Creator gave them to us.

if we went out and bought a nice new car, the people who made the car would provide an instruction book that would tell us how to take care of the car so that it will run well and last a long time. Our Creator also put instructions in His book, the Bible we call them the laws of health, and God even promises that if we follow His health rules, He will do His part to help us stay well. This is sort of God’s insurance plan. We will learn about this also in our lessons. =^..^=

Questions:

1. Our body has many parts, each doing a different job, and yet they all work together. Can you think of jobs where many people do different tasks and yet all work together to get it done?

2. Feel your arm or leg gently and see if you can find the bones in them. What would they be like if there were no bones in there?

3. Do you think it is a good idea to learn about the rules of health and practice them so we don’t get sick?