The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-08-19
WHAT CHEWING GUM DOES.
DOCTORS DECLARE THAT 1T
CAUSES SERIOUS INJURY.

CAUSES SERlOUS IND Uh1.
New York Star.
In the thousand and one shops sprink-
led through the narrow streets of this
city, where youngsters buy lollipops,
where boys invest their savings in base
balls ana cigarettes at penny apiece,
and where the young ladies of tenements
purchase the latest yellow-bound htera
ture, there is always a substance for sale
known las black chewing gum. Whether
1t is done up in sprangled tinfoil or re-
| splendent in gaudy tissue paper,
or decorated with parti-colored
ribbon, it is still black chewing gum. 1t
is generally made out of refuse gum arabic
stuff that cannot be used in the apothe-
cary shops, and is favored variously with
the cheapest of cheap extracts, licorice,
wintergreen, peppermint, or, more usual
| ly, one of those poisonous tlavors that are
compounded from acids. The manufac-
turers cut huge slab of the gum into
quadrangular pieces about the size of a
domino. In cold weather the bits are fra
BILE and break easily; when it is warm
they have the consistence OF piece of In
dia rubber.
1t is surprising how much of this black
cAewing-gum is used. A little girl gets
hold of a penny somehow, and she cannot
get to shop quick enough to buy some
of it. She chews and chews and chews on
it, her jaws working as regularly and Wig
orously as those of fourth of July orator.
If she has bosom friend, she may bite off
a bit of gum and set the other girl to
chewing. If she wishes to show par
ticular favor to her fve-year-old sweet
heart she gives him morsel. The yUung
ladies who devour the yellow-bound
novels devour gum, too. They
place a fragment of it between the
hindermost of their pearly teeth, and
while their souls go out to Elvira in her
prison, or their hearts flutter in sym
pathy with Edgor de Montmorenci in his
attempt to carry off the heiress,
they don't forget to chew
that gum. Young beaux, the lead
ers in tenement-house society, chew it,
too; for the men who make it advertise
that it purfumes the breath and lends the
mouth the odor of new mOwn field, also
that it aids digestion and clears the voice,
and is harmless and beautiful substitute
of ambrosial food for the gods.
1t isn't The physicians of Amster-
dam, N. Y, have just declared in solemn
conclave that the practice of chewing this
black gum is most harmful and pernicious.
Theyhave traced directlyto it innumerable
cases of sore mouth and sore throat that
they have treated of late. Their breth-
rem of the medical profession in New
York agree with them, and not only con-
denim black chewing -gum, but all chewing
gum of whatever color.
The physician who has charge of the
throat dispensary in one of the largest
hospitals in New York said yesterday:
DAY after day patients, nearly all girls
between 8 and IS years of age, come in
here and complain that it hurts them
when they swallow, or else that their
mouths sting when they drink anything
warm. On examining their Threats find
the delicate mucous membrane mark
ed here and there with little inhamed
patches. In nine cases out of ten it is
caused by chewing gum"
"Why is the gum hurtful?"
"The favoring is usually poisonous"
replied the doctor, "and by its constant
presence, in however small quantity, it
sets up an inflammation. But the habit
| Is OTHERWISE pernlclouS' lhe unolrlHB
motion of gum chewer's Jaws provokes
superfuous flow of saliva--just as If
there was always pinch of salt on the
tonsue-and wears out the saliva glands.
Gum chewing retards digestion. If a
woman fills her stomach with water or
saliva, she browns the gastric juices; also
the interminable attrition wears out the
teeth, and foreign flavor by degrees rem
ders the breath more and more disagree
able. The practice is bad in every way"