The Lambertville record., 1873-01-08
THE CAUSES or BAD BREATH.
By DIR. DIo LEWIS.

!
BY DR.. DIo LEWIS.
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Most persons think that a bad breath comes
from the stomach !; it being out Of dsslen 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 eructa-
tions of wind.
There is no open passage through which IN
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 up on the thing going down, and
grasps it all the way from the upper to the
lower end. For example, whole chestnut
passes down the oesophagus. The moment it
enters the upper end of the passage, the walls
OF the passage grasp the nut, and squeezes 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
1T is forced into the stomach. Whenever there
is nothing in the passage, it remains shut !;
the sides are pressed together; nothing what
ever can escape from the stomach up through
it. And even in vomiting it is very difficult
to force even solid matter upward. In most
persons it requires 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 constantly
pass up and escape in breath.
There are three sources of bad breath, the
mouth, the nose and the lungs OF twenty
cases of bad breath / estimated that fifteen
came from the mouth, one from the nose, and
four from the lungs aaie
As generally, when the mouth is in fault,
the lungs contribute something to the odor,
the above definite classification is probably too
precise; but think it Il close approximation
to the truth. T. aaa ~ q t9aa as
The MouTH.-I need hardly argue that rot
ten teeth and diseased gums may produce a
bad BREATH / have but rarely met 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. Ina
majority of cases, you smell nothing while the
patient keeps his mouth shut and breathes
through his nose !; bus as soon as he begins to
speak, then it comes.
That man must go at once to the dentist.
He is the doctor for the mouth. He will re-
move every cause of offense from that cavity.
THE NosE.-The various forms of catarrh
are more or less productive of bad odors
ozena, which is the worst form Of catarrh,
produces peculiar and sickening odor
The cure of this malady is somewhat diff
cult, but the odor arising from it can be mti-
gated by thorough cleansing of the nose
with water, or soap-and-water, several times
day. But a cure should be sought, and let it
not be sought at the hands Of one Of the adj
vertising catarrh quacks.
THE LuNGs.--A man eats and drinks, say
five pounds in day. Now, unless he is gain
ing weight, he must part with five pounds.
If we place on the scales all that comes from
his bowels and bladder, we shall find it weighs,
say one pound and a-half. Three pounds and
a-half have left the body in some other way
or other ways. These other ways are the
skin and lungs BY far the larger part should
escape through the skin. Sometimes the mil
lions of holes in the skin, through which this
worn-out, effete matter should escape become
in part closed, from lack of bathing and per-
spiraton and this effete matter cannot escape
freely in that way. Now, the lungs come in
to supplement the skin. To certain extent,
the lungs and the skin are ever ready to sub
stitute for each other. If the lungs, for any
reason, leave small part of their duty un-
done the skin at once steps in to assist. If
the skin fails to accomplish its whole task of
the work of excretion, the lungs are ever ready
to assist in working off the impurities. But,
whenever the lungs are obliged to perform
this extra service, they cannot do as well as
the skin. They are obliged to work off i'm
purities which do not belong to their depart
ment, and so they take ON morbid condition,
and the excretions are so changed in character
as to become offensive. trt
Three persons out of every four whose bad
breath comes from their lungs, can cure them
selves or mitigate the nuisance, by washing
themselves all over with strong soap-and-
water, and following this by the vigorous use
of rough towels every day for a month, and
exercising at least once a day till there is free
perspiration. BY this time the impurities
which should escape through the skin have
free escape in their natural course, and the
lungs return to their own proper work, and
the disagreeable odorl disappears.
In small proportion of the cases in which
bad breath comes from the lungs, the difficulty
is foul condition of the system, not depend
ent upon the condition of the skin. In such
cases the whole system must be cleansed be.
fore the bad breath can beremoved.S e
- Il . : nE.1el LII