brush with a curved surface which fits the teeth.

After each meal, it is essential to cleanse the interstices between the
teeth with a quill toothpick or dental floss, never with a pin, for it is
the decomposition of tiny particles that starts decay; _a tooth never
decays from within_.

11/2 fl. oz. Glycerine,
1 fl. oz. Carbolic Acid,
1/2 fl. oz. Methylated Chloroform.

With ten drops of this mixture in a wineglassful of tepid water, wash out
your mouth and gargle your throat after every meal, sending vigorous waves
between the teeth, and so removing any particles left by toothpick and
brush.

Children should be taught these habits as soon as they can eat, for the
custom of a lifetime is easy.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XI

DIGESTION

"We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends, we may live without books,
But civilized man cannot live without cooks."

The human digestive system consists of a long tube, in which food is
received, nutriment taken from it as it passes slowly downwards, and from
which waste is discharged, in from sixteen to thirty hours afterwards.

Six glands pour saliva into the mouth, where it should be--but how rarely
is--mixed with the food, causing chemical changes, and moistening the bolus
to pass easily down.

The acid Gastric Juice, of which a quart is secreted daily, stops the
action of the saliva, and commences to digest the proteins, which pass
through several stages, each a little more assimilable than the last.

The lower end of the stomach contracts regularly and violently, churning
the food with the juice, and gradually squirting it, when liquified to
Chyme, into the small intestine. If food is not chewed until almost
liquified, the gastric juice cannot act normally, but has to attack as much
of the surface of the food-lump as possible, leaving the interior to
decompose, causing dyspepsia and flatulence.

Most people suppose the stomach finishes digestion, but it only initiates
the digestion of those foodstuffs which contain nitrogen, leaving fats,
starches and sugars untouched.

By an obscure process, the acid chyme stimulates the walls of the bowel to
send a chemical messenger, a Hormone through the blood to the liver and
pancreas, warning them their help is needed, whereupon they actively
secrete their ferments.

The secretion of the p