Our food in the ground.
The food of plants is in the ground, and the roots take it up; but so, too, is the food of animals in the ground. And yet, if we should fill our stomachs ever so full of earth, we should not be nourished. How is this? It is because the food is not in the right condition for us while it is in the earth. It must bechangedbefore our stomachs can do any thing with it.
The plants gather it and fit it for our use.
Now this is just what the plants do for us. They get this food out of the earth for us, and put it into such a condition that our stomachs can use it. I will make this plain to you. We eat bread made from wheat. It nourishes us—that is, blood is made from it. But what is the wheat? It is grain that is made from the sap that comes up in the pipes of the stalk, and this sap is made from what the root sucks up out of the ground. You see, then, that what the wheat is made from is in the ground; and all that the plant does is to take this up out of the ground and make it into wheat, so that our stomachs can use it for food. The plant’s stomach, then, we may say, gathers food out of the ground for our stomachs.
One of the things that we eat is sugar. Where does it come from? It is made from the earth. But if you should put earth into your stomach, no sugar could be made from it in your body. There are some plants that have to do this for us. They makesugar from the earth for us to eat. This part of our food then, may be said to be really in the ground, for what it is made from is there.
The same thing is true when you eat meat. This meat was once a part of the ground. See how this is. Suppose it is a piece of beef from an ox: the grass that the ox ate was made from sap sucked up from the ground; then from this grass blood was made in the ox; from this blood the meat was made; and now from the meat blood is made to nourish you.
Changes in the food while it is becoming fitted for us.
See, now, how many changes the food in the ground goes through in this case before it becomes a part of your body. First it becomes sap; then it becomes a part of the grass; then in the stomach of the ox it is sucked up, and is changed into blood; then it becomes a part of the ox; then it is sucked up in your stomach, and is changed into blood; and now it is ready to be used in your body to make nerve, or bone, or eye, or tooth, or any part of the house of your soul.
You sometimes drink the milk of the cow. This also comes from the ground. See how this is. The cow goes to pasture, and eats the grass that is made from the ground. The cow’s blood is made from this, then milk is made in her bag from the blood, and in you this milk is changed back to blood.
So you see that all our food really comes from the earth. There is in the earth under our feet just what makes and nourishes our bodies. We can not get at it ourselves, mixed up as it is with the earth, but the plants suck it up and prepare it for us; and in this you see the reason for the expression “Mother Earth.” Theearth is our mother. We get all our food from the earth as really as the infant gets its food from its mother’s breast.
You can also see, from what I have told you in this chapter, the meaning of the text, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” We are dust, that is, earth; for we are made from it, and are nourished by what comes from it, and when we die our bodies will become a part of the earth again.
Reasons why animals have a stomach.
You see that there are two reasons why animals have a stomach to put their food in. One is that they want to move about. They could not have a root for a stomach as plants do. They must have a stomach that they can carry about with them. We can suppose an animal made like a plant. It might have feet with roots sprouted out from them, and these roots might have little mouths which would suck up food as soon as they were put into the ground. But how very awkward and inconvenient this would be! The animal would be obliged every now and then to bury up its feet with their roots in loose moist earth, and stay still in one spot till enough was sucked up from the earth for its nourishment. And, besides, the roots would be dangling around, and catching in every thing as the animal moved about. Your little feet could not carry you about as nimbly as they now do if you had such roots fastened to them.
Another reason is, that the food in the ground is not fitted to nourish an animal. It must be gathered up in plants, and be changed in them, as I have shown you in this chapter, before it can be of any use to animals.
Why the stomach of a plant is so much larger than the stomach of an animal.
The stomach of a plant is much larger than that of an animal.The stomach of an animal, you know, is but a small part of its body; while the root of the plant—that is, its stomach—is nearly as large as the plant itself. What do you think is the reason of this? The little mouths in the root of the plant suck up only a small part of the earth, the plant’s food, and so it takes a great deal of earth to give the plant all the sap that it needs. It is for this reason that the root spreads out so far on every side. Now in the animal the mouths in the stomach suck up a great part of the food. It does not require, therefore, a large stomach, for it needs to put but a small amount of food into it. You see, then, that the food of the plant is bulky, as we say, and therefore it must have a large stomach, while the animal can manage its food with a small one.
Questions.—Where is the food of animals? What must be done to it before they can use it? What do the plants do for us? Tell about the wheat. What is said about sugar? What about meat? Mention the changes that food goes through in this case before it becomes a part of your body. What is said of milk? What is the reason of the expression Mother Earth? Explain the text, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” What is the first reason given why an animal has a stomach to put his food in? What is the second reason? Why is the stomach of a plant so much larger than the stomach of an animal?
Questions.—Where is the food of animals? What must be done to it before they can use it? What do the plants do for us? Tell about the wheat. What is said about sugar? What about meat? Mention the changes that food goes through in this case before it becomes a part of your body. What is said of milk? What is the reason of the expression Mother Earth? Explain the text, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” What is the first reason given why an animal has a stomach to put his food in? What is the second reason? Why is the stomach of a plant so much larger than the stomach of an animal?