What is cartilage?--"An elastic substance, harder than flesh, but softer than bone." How are the bones of the spine placed?--"They are piled one upon the other." What do you mean by _forming_?--"Making." What do you mean by _upright_?--"In a vertical position." What do you mean by _flexible_?--"Easily bent." What do you mean by _column_?--"A pillar." What do you mean by _erect_?--"In a vertical position." Why is cartilage placed between the bones of the spine?--"To make the spine flexible; to keep the brain from injury when we walk or run." What do you mean by _elastic_?--"Springing back after having been stretched, squeezed, twisted, or bent." Tell about your ribs.--"My ribs are curved, strong, and light." Where are your ribs?--"On each side of my trunk." How many ribs have you?--"Twenty-four; twelve on each side." How are your ribs fastened?--"At the back to my spine; in front to my breastbone." What do your ribs form?--"A hollow place for my heart, lungs, and stomach." Where are your shoulder blades?--"In the upper part of my back." What shape are they?--"Flat, thin, and like a triangle." Of what use are your shoulder blades?--"For my arms to rest upon." Point to your collar bones. Where are they fastened?--"To my shoulder blades and my breastbone." Of what use are your collar bones?--"They keep my arms from sliding too far forward." Of what are your bones made?--"Of food after it has been changed into blood." Why should you eat wholesome food?--"That my bones may be strong and healthy." How does impure air hurt the bones?--"Impure air makes bad blood, and bad blood makes poor bones." Why should you sit and stand erect?--"Because my bones are easily bent out of shape; if I do not sit and stand erect, they will grow crooked." Why is it wrong to wear tight clothing?--"Because tight clothing crowds the bones out of shape." Whose bones are the more brittle, those of a child, or those of an old person?--"Those of an old person." What do you mean by _brittle_?--"Easily broken." Whose are the more flexible?--"Those of a child." What do you mean by _flexible_?--"Easily bent." What repairs the worn out bones, flesh, and skin of the body?--"The blood." What do you mean by _repairs_?--"Mends." What causes the bones, flesh, and skin of your body to change often?--"The bones, flesh, and skin are always wearing out, and the blood is always building and repairing them again." What are alcoholic liquors?--"Liquors which have alcohol in them." Name some alcoholic liquors.--"Beer, wine, rum, etc." Whose bones mend the more easily when broken, the bones of those who drink alcoholic liquors, or those of the people who do not use these poisons?--"The bones of those who _do not_ use alcoholic liquors." What other poison hurts the bones?--"Tobacco." How do alcohol and tobacco hurt the bones?--"They make bad blood, and bad blood makes poor bones." * * * * *