The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-05-11
Keen Your Month Shut.

A few years ago, George Catlin wrote
q pamphlet, which was published in
England, and is now being translated in
most other European languages, on the
Importance of breathing through the
nose, in order to preserve health. He
has made observations on this subject,
first among civilized nations, finding
that individuals who habitually keep
their mouths open are never very healthy
or long-lived. Afterward, he observed
the same thing during sojourn of many
years among the Indians of North and
South America and he has come to the
conclusion that there exists definite law
for breathing and sleeping, obedience to
which must exercise the most beneficial
influence on the well-being of the human
race, and which cannot be too strongly
insisted upon. Mothers, and all others
who have children to educate, should be
persuaded of its great Importance, that
| they may inculcate upon their children
and pupils the golden lesson contained
in these four words keep yotr mouth shut
| Hitherto this advice has been considered
only as moral injunction, to restrain
children from talking too much but
Catlin prescribes it literally, and insists
| that air should only pass in and out of the
lungs by the nose, except in the act of
speaking or singing. He is so enthusi-
astic concerning the great value of this
single hygienic recipe that he closes the
book with the following remarks: "If
had million dollars to spend for a
charitable purpose, surprising all others
in value, 1 would spend it to print four
million of my books, and distribute them
among four million mothers, as well as
poor. l would not obtain therefor any
monument nor decoration of nobility
but l would-which is much better
have obtained the peculiarly joyful satis-
faction that 1 had left posterity legacy
of much higher value than money can
have"
There is no doubt that the advice is
good. The air, by being inhaled through
the nose, is more perfectly freed from
dust, and in winter reaches the lungs in
warmer condition than when inhaled
by the mouth, (Which is of great lmpor-
tance to people with weak lungs.) 1t
keeps the lower forward portion of the
brain cool, when inhaled by the nose
while it dries the saliva, and thus inter-
feres with digestion, when inhaled by
by the mouth and those who sleep with
their mouth shut will not have that dry
unpleasant taste when they awake in the
morning, and are less subject to that
nocturnal social misunderstanding.
There are a few other points of mino1
Importance, but worth mentioning. A
habitually open mouth gives a most
stupid expression to any face, and
usually, only the ignorant classes have
this habit while the more refined gener.
ally possess the opposite habit and keeI
their mouths instinctively shut.
However, in regard to the theory thai
life is shortened by the habit of breath
ing through the mouth, we are satisfied
that it depends on another cause, namely
a defect in the primary organization O.
the individual The channels of the nost
are often not left wide enough to admit
sufficient air for respiration SO that the
individual is compelled to respire at leas
a portion of it through the mouth. L
is fact known by connoisseurs of horses
that when their nostrils are too narrow
they cannot stand much fatigue, are
short-winded, never live long, and soor
break down. But as the horse canno
breathe through the mouth at all, th'
defect in question is more dangerous tt
him than to man, and often fatal wher
he is overworked.
In many instances, however, we fee
confident that breathing through tn,
mouth is matter of necessity, at leas
ill part; but though the defect in th'
construction of the breathing passage
cannot be overcome by an effort of th,
will, it may still mitigate the evil.