In
other words, animal life makes conditions favorable for plant growth,
and vegetation makes possible the existence of animals.
An animal of the higher class can live several days without water,
several weeks without food, but only a very few minutes without oxygen.
When the blood becomes surcharged with carbonic acid gas, and oxygen is
refused admittance to the lungs, life ceases in about five or six
minutes. From this it can easily be seen how important it is to have a
proper supply of oxygen. Acute deprivation of this element is
immediately fatal, and chronic deprivation of a good supply helps to
produce early deterioration and premature death. The lungs can easily be
kept in good condition, and when we ponder on the beautiful and
effective way in which nature has equipped us with a respiratory
apparatus and an inexhaustible store of oxygen, surely we must
understand the folly of not helping ourselves to what is so vital, yet
absolutely free.
Wrong eating and impure air are largely responsible for all kinds of
respiratory troubles, from a simple cold to the most aggravated form of
pulmonary tuberculosis. Exercise and deep breathing will to a great
extent antidote overeating, but there is a limit beyond which the lungs
refuse to tolerate this form of abuse.
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