Polytechnic High School - Caerulea Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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HHN 1 think of the peace' ful thoughts that came to me before I took up the study of ' KV E LEULA EE ' physiology, and some of the related ologies , I am guilty of sighing for the the days of yesterfyear. It is not right that we should dwell upon the past, 8 8 6 8 6 Q 4 we should keep our thoughts turned ever toward the future with hope and determination in our hearts. Yet when I think-oh, physiology has ruined me! Everything I do, or say, or think, or eat brings up something I have learned in physiology. Each thing I eat I analyze as protein, carbohydrates, or fats, and I wonder whether or not it has food value. Many choice foods have been shorn of their attraction for me just because they have no food value. Lettuce-I've always been fond of lettuce- is spoiled for me, almost. My one excuse for eating it now is that it contains vitamins, even though its food value is nil. And when I wash it I think of all the millions of bacteria that, they say, cover it, then I scrub it until it is limp, thereby ruining it. Then I grow reckless and cry aloud, Come, little bacteriag here is a picnic for you, and I toss a dozen leaves into the salad bowl regardless-I must have lettuce. Tomatoes, the poor things, have no food value either, but-saving grace-they do contain vitamins. Now, to chew mashed potatoes and oatfmeal mush is, to me, a needless waste of energy, yet I know that starches are not digested in the stomach unless they are just thoroughly mixed with ptyalin in the mouth. Even then the action of the enzyme ceases as soon as it is mixed with the hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice. So I say, why not just calmly swallow soft, starchy food like mashed potatoes, mush, cornfstarch pudding, rice, and others, without chewing them? Let the amyolopsin in in the pancreatic juice take care of them. But every time I do swallow starchy things without Hrst chewing them, I open my eyes wide as I wonder what the amyolopsin thinks when these foods arrive with the work of digestion not even started! just imagine thinking of all these things at each bite of potato! It is awful. When we have steak that proves impregnable to our many assaults, I suggest that henceforth we state definitely and positively to the butcher I . .. f c Aman A an I ' . 1 . 1 t I 4 . - 60 an G .V ' A1 15. V. ' , ..-. ,gl .. - - vin, . .r 'rf' - . - . . . . . , . fr! -94? v2-f, , , . rv - . .- v , . -,., ' i '. f ' . f - 4 , .-. 1: - .,- - ' J. - 1 3, rg ' ' A 3. gf, A Q I ' fl 0 - v v w v v v v H v v v w w v v v v -I -. W . .. w t 1 - Nineteen

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5 ' A THINK I should have a lovely time ' : if I werefseventyfone. In the morn' ings I should don a blue percale xy I-ml! UE-A RTW:-LL dress and a starchy white apron. A wait- ress cap with blue ribbons would grace xl' J my white hair. I should make fried sIlW'mf,'lll' Hn cakes in a sunny kitchen. I've noticed L L ' that very correct grandmothers seldom say doughnuts Fried cakes is the word. I'd pile these, all sugary, in a brown crockery jar for little visitors. ' ' ' c 0 - 6 ' s . , 2 ' v A I D 'f ' 293:12 ., .::7.'f1 4 ,. .r .gif I ' ' , X... .fe -.a.. Q 9 . . P' 2' ' All Q , - ' .fn .Jvli ll ' n Annaasnnoia-'r2'pI 2g And the garden must needs be tended. A high brick wall would hedge in the flower beds. At one end I'd have a wicket gate set in an arched door. Intricate gravel paths bordered with pansies would twist about circles of riotous bloom. Having completed the morning's tasks, I should sit in the afternoons by a friendly window. A comfortable squeak would be the requisite for my chosen rocker. I should knit silk washfcloths with steel knitting needles. For pleasing variety, one pair would be tipped with royal purple sealing wax, another, gay yellow, and the third, cool green. I believe the washclothes ought to be connected with charity work. I'd like, too, a round basket with balls of yarn, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. I'm not certain of its exact purpose, but it would look well. Besides knitting, I should like to read a great deal. I should meditate on passages from Shakespeare and the Bible. For these afternoons I should have three lavender dresses, dimity, dotted Swiss, and Voile. In the grey stillness before evening I'd have a wee cup of tea. Then when I should see the moon, I'd draw the blinds. With a tall wax candle I'd light a fire of eucalyptus wood. It should always be eucalyptus wood. There is something exhilarating about the smell of it burning. Then in the flickering firelight, which I should love so, would come faint forms and faces I'd once known, greeting me and conjuring memories. So I should dream, reflecting on the past, speculating on the future, barely conscious of the present. And I should have an Angora, purring by the fire. Eighteen

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that we want muscle tissue, not cartilage. I no longer respect pork, for I cannot forget those curly, wigglyflooking trichina parasites that are in it. I shudder to think of the eightyfiive thousand little worms that may sometimes be in a single ounce of pork meat. As soon as I am up in the morning, I scramble wildly for my tooth brush, thinking of the myriads of bacteria that may have hatched during the night. And to think that some people eat breakfast without first washing their teeth-ugh! The thought of it drives me frantic. Oh phy' siology! I'll soon be a nervous wreck. If I cut a deep wound in my finger, all I can think of, as I watch it bleed, is antithrombin, prothrombin, fibrinogen, and I do not forget calcium salts. I wonder how long the fluid is thromboplastic substance, and when it neutralizes the antithrombin. I am happy when the blood ceases to flow from the wound, for I know the clot has formed and I will not lose more blood. Cf course, in the case of a deep and painful wound it is well to get one's mind off the pain, but think of the agony of mind, working over all those things. Oh physiology, physiology! When I am invited out for dinner and my hostess serves something I do not like and cannot easily swallow, I simply force it down part way, then concentrate on peristaltic motion to help me through the crisis. Cn Thanksgiving and Christmas, when all the good things of the season are assembled, I feel like eating until I cannot swallow more. Then I say to myself, I'Ifmm. Guess my cardiac valve must have paralysis.. My esophagus seems full to the pharynx. Better stop before the food runs over past the epiglottisf' After that, you see, the meal is a complete failure for me just because of my having studied physiology-it is just ruining me! Lf a mosquito bites me, I almost have hysterics for fear it is a yellow fever or malariafinfected insect. Then I proceed to worry about it for fortyfeight or fortyfnine hours, and if I do not at that time have chills or fever, I go peacefully about my duties. But the hours of thinking about the progress of the germ that might be in the body-it is enough to drive me insane. When I have -a pain in my side, I wonder instantly whether it can be peritonitis, and I shiver in apprehension. If my ears ring, I wonder what is pressing against my eutachian tubes. When I pass an unusually tall person, I decide that he had an abundant amount of secretion from Twenty