The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-08-15
The Causes OF Bad Breath.

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Most persons think that bad breath
comes from the stomach; that the
stomach, being out of order, sends up
an impure something which escapes in
the breath. This is impossible. A bad
breath never comes from the stomach.
Nothing ever comes upward except in
vomiting and eructations of wind.
There is no open passage through
which an odor can rise to the mouth.
The passage into the stomach from above
is always perfectly closed, except at the
moment when there is no chance for an
odor to escape from the stomach upward.
The nsophagus, or meat-pipe, closes
upon the thing going down, and grasps
it all the way, from the upper to the
lower end. For example, whole chest
nut passes down the esophagus. The
moment it enters the upper end of the
passage, the walls of the passage grasp
the nut, and squeeze it from above SO
tight as to force it down. The part of
the canal Immediately above the chest
nut all the way down Is so tightly closed
upon the nut, that the squeezing presses
it on until it is forced into the stomach.
Whenever there is nothing in the pas
sage it remains shut; the sides are
pressed together; nothing, whatever,
can escape from the stomach up through
it. And even in vomiting, it is very
difficult to force even solid matter up
ward. In most persons it requires O
tremendous effort to get anything up.
And yet, strange to say, most persons
imagine the passage to be an open pipe
through which bad odors may constant
ly pass up, and escape in the breath.
There are three sources of bad breath,
the mouth, the nose, and the lungs of
twenty cases of bad breath, 1 estimated
that fifteen came from the mouth, one
from the nose, and four from the lungs
AS generally, when the mouth is at
fault the lungs contribute something to
the odor, the above definite classification
is probably too precise but I think it
a close approximation to the truth.
THE MoUTH.-I need hardly argue
that rotten teeth and diseased gums
may produce a bad breath. have but
rarely met a case in which the teeth
were white and the gums healthy. In
every case of bad breath the mouth is to
be suspected and examined. In a ma
jority of cases, you smell nothing while
the patient keeps his mouth shut, and
breathes through his nose but as soon
as he begins to speak, then it comes.
That man must 60 at once to the dem
fist. He is the docter for the mouth.
He will remove every cause of offense
from that cavity.
| THE NosE.-The various forms of ca
tarrh are more or less productive of bad
odors. Ozena, which is the worst form
of catarrh, produces peculiar and sick
ening odor.
The cure of this malady is somewhat
difficult, but the odor arising from it
can be mitigated by thorough cleans
ing of the nose with water, or soap and
water, several times day. But cure
should be sought, and let it not be
sought at the hands of one of the ad.
vertising catarrh quacks.
THE LUNGs.-A man eats and drinks
say five pounds in a day. Now, unless
he is gaining weight, he must part with
five pounds. If we place on the scales
all that comes from his bowels and blad.
der, we shall find it weighs, say, one
pound and half. Three pounds and {
half have left the body in some othel
way or other ways. These other way
are the skin and lungs. By far tn,
larger part should escape through tn,
skin. Sometimes the millions of hole
in the skin, through which this worn
out, effete matter should escape, becom,
in part closed, from lack of bathing ant
perspiration and this effete matter cal
not escape freely in that way. But tn,
poisonous stuff must be gotten rid of il
some way. Now the lungs come in t,
supplement the skin. To a certain ex
tent, the lungs and skin are ever read.
to substitute for each other. If tn
lungs, for any reason, leave small par
of their duty undone, the skin at ono
steps in to assist. If the skin fails t
accomplish its whole task of the worl
of excretion, the lungs are ever read.
to assist in working off the impurities
But, whenever the lungs are obliged t,
perform this extra service, they canno
do it as well as the skin. They ar
obliged to work off impurities which d
not belong to their department, and S
they take on morbid condition, an
the excretions are so changed in charac
ter as to become offensive.
Three persons out of every four who's
bad breath comes from the lungs, ca
cure themselves, or greatly mitigate tn
nuisance, by washing themselves all owe
with streng soap and water, and follow
ing this by the vigorous use of roug
towels every day for a month, and exeI
cissng at least once day, till there
} free perspiration. By this time, the i'm
purities which should escape thrOug
, the skin have free escape in their nature
course, and the lungs return to thei
own proper work, and the disagreeabl
odor disappears.
In small proportion of the cases i
, which bad breath comes from the lung
the difficulty is foul condition of tn
system, not dependent upon the cond
J ton of the skin. In such cases, Ii
| whole system must be cleansed befor
, the bad breath can be removed.
Sin0uIar ITsa of n Nawsnanpr