Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-09-23
NASTY CHEWING GUM.
Physicians Declare That 1t Causes sert'
Gus bronchial and Other Troubles.

GUS bronchial and Other Troubles.
In the thousand and one shops
sprinkled through the narrow streets
of this city, where youngsters buy
lollipops, where boys invest their saw
ings in base-balls and cigarettes at
penny apiece, and where the young
ladies of tenements purchase the latest
yellow-bound literature, there is al
ways for sale substance known as
black chewing gum. Whether it is
done up in spangled tinfoil, or re-
splendent in gaudy tissue paper, or
decorated with parti-colored ribbon, it
is still black chewing gum. 1t is gen.
orally made out of refuse gum arabic.
stuff that can not be used in the
apothecary shops, and is. favored
variously with the cheapest of cheap
extracts, licorice, wintergreen, pepper
mint, or, more usually, one of those
poisonous favors that are compounded
from acids. The manufacturers cut a
huge slab. of the gum into quadrangle
lar pieces about the size of domino.
In cold weather the bits are friable and
break easily; when it is warm. they
have the consistency of . piece of India
rubber. EtF
1t is surprising how much of this
black chewing gum is used. A little
girl gets hold of penny somehow,
and she can not get to shop quick
enough to buy some of it. She chews
and chews and chews on it, her jaws
working as regularly and vigorously as
those of a Fourth of July orator. If
she has bosom friend, she may bite
| off bit of gum and set the other girl
to chewing. If she wishes to show par
ticular favor to her five-year-old sweet
heart she gives him a morseL The
young ladies' who. devour the yellow
bound novels devour gum, too. They
place fragment of it between the
hindermost of their pearly teeth, and
while their souls go out to Elvira in
her prison, or, their hearts futter in
sympathy with Edgar de Montmorenci
in his attempt to carry off the heiress,
they don't forget to chew that gum.
Young beaus, the leaders in tenement
house society, chew it, too; for the
men who make it advertise that it per.
fumes the breath and lends the mouth
the odor of a new-mown field, also that
it aids digestion and clears the voice
and Is a harmless and beautiful SUBJ
stitute for tobacco; that it is, in fact, a
penny bit of ambrosial for the gods.
1t isn't. The physicians of Amster-
dam, N. Y, have just declared in sol
emn conclave that the practice OF
chewing this black gum is most harm
full and pernicious; they have traced
directly to it innumerable cases of sore
mouth and sore throat that they have
treated OF late. Their brethren of the
medical profession in New York agree
with them, and not only condemn BLACK
chewing gum, but all chewing gum o.
whatever color.
The physician who has charge of thu
throat dispensary in one of the larges
hospitals in New York, said yesterday
"Day after day patients, nearly al
girls between eight and eighteen year
of age, come in here and complain tina
it hurts them when they swallow, o.
else that their mouths sting when they
drink any thing warm. On examining
their Threats, find the delicate mu
eous membrane marked here and Their,
with little inilamed patches. In min,
cases out of ten it is caused by chewin,
gum. f--
why is the gum hurtfulp"
1.-THE havoring is usually poisonous,
replied the doctor, ''and by its con
slant presence, in however small guam
tity, it sets up an inflammation. Blu
the habit is otherwise pernicious; tn
untiring motion of gum-chewer'
jaws provokes superhuous flow o
saliva-just as if there was always
pinch Of salt on the tongue
wears out the saliva glands. Cur
chewing retards digestion. If won
an fills her stomach with water or sa
Iva she browns the gastric juices; ais
the interminable attrition wears out tn
teeth, and foreign flavor by degree
renders the breath more and more dis
agreeable; the practice is bad in ever
way."-M Y. Star