Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-03-06
CHEWING GUM.
Something About the Habit That Has
Grown On Us

country lIC AANASoSS.
Two-thirds of the girls, be they pretty
OF otherwise, that one meets on the
highways of the city are either working
their Jaws for all they are worth or have
small lump tucked away in some OBJ
scure corner of the mouth and give it
gentle squeeze between the teeth when
they are sure of being unobserved.
Gum chewing is less disgusting than
tobacco chewing.
And if it becomes u natural habit, as
il seems likely TO do, we may comfort
ourselves that the gum chewing Ameri-
can is far preferable to the snuff dipping
Mexican.
AMI gum chewing is not as exclusive
ly confined to the female sex as is smok-
ing to the male, for many men use gum
to help still the craving for tobacco,
thus jumping from the frying pan into
the fire, perhaps.
True, gay young women are lately be-
coming so...ewnat addicted to the use of
the weed, claiming that if men have the
right TO put their feet on the mantel
and make room blue with smoke why
should they be denied the privilege,
since it has such n soothing effect on
The temper? And if women can find
anything that has a salutary effect upon
their tempers what folly 10 deprive them
Of it,
| UNSATISFACTORY REASONS.
Why do women chew gum? You do
| not know, and even the chewers them
selves do not seem to.
80, 1 chew because L can, L guess"
said one pert young miss upon being
questioned.
| And l because my mother tells me
not TO, - said another, with a mischiey-
| Gus laugh.
II chew because like the taste and
and because everybody else chews,"
said third indifferently, and likewise
snsw cred they all; the truth is, they
really did not know why they chewed
and had never thought to ask themselves
the question.
| The history or chewing gum is like
the growth of all animal and vegetable
life-one of evolution.
Children began to chew the exuda-
tions from different trees, from the
peach, plum, pine, spruce and sweet
| gum. thus putting it into somebody's
mind 10 make an artificial gum
1t was first made of beeswax, gutta-
| percha, and other rubbery and sticky
substances, which were perfectly pure
and harmless, and costly in prepara-
tion. But three years ago some inven-
| tive genius discovered that by boiling
| some of the baser elements of petroleum
| and mixing in a small amount of bees
wax gum similar to the more expen-
siye could be produced which was quite
susceptible to favors and trifling in
| cost.
by the use of scents and large duanti-
ties of sugar, which is the principal
article used in the composition of any
gum, the disagreeable taste and odor of
| petroleum vas entirely obliterated ana
a salabie article was produced. About
the sanA time a gum called ''Balsam
/ Tolu' was produced, which also found
4 ready sale, particularly among chill
| dren, and then '.Paraffin'' in all of IFS
| fiayors and mixtures had its day.
One variety of white gum was fol
| some time quite extensively manufac-
/ tu-ed in China That country has
tree peculiar to itself which possesses
an attraction for an insect with a queer
Chinese name which one will neither
attempt to write nor pronounce. Num-
bers of them collect upon the tree, and
when they have departed to pastures
new branches are found to be literally
covered with waxy deposit. BY boil
! ing the branches the wax is separated
! from them, and when the water and
A
| remains.
MORE THAN 81, ,500,0 \ YEAR.
This is purified, sweetened, favored,
! cooked in cakes, and little fancy pic
ture pasted on top, and We have the old
| white gum which so many of us have
chewed until our Jaws ached- The sale
of this variety was enormous, but it has
now been supplanted by newer kinds, as
has the old rubber wax.
| Physicians differ considerably in their
views on the subject. An eminent ply
sician from Ohio declares that gum
chewing seriously affects the eyes .ght,
and that he never fails to detect the
use of it by an examination of the eye.
Another says that the muscles of the
jaw and face near the temple are en-
larged and hardened and the curve of
the lips is destroyed. And, on the
other hand, doctors without number,
advise its use to cleanse the teeth and
aid digestion.
1t is quite the fad at the present time
to chew spruce gum. 1t, at least, is
pure from all the adulterations which
are ROW so common.
Dealers in gum say that until within
a few years its use was almost exclu.
sively confined to children, but at the
: | pItScuJ lllIlc lIle uelnaIu among auulIS
is continually increasing.
IL has been computed by a statistician
. that the people of the United States
spend more than 81, 500, 900 every yeal
for chewing gum. There is manufac.
tory in Louisville, KY, that alone turns
out 800, 600 boxes of six dozen cake:
each yearly, which is distributed al
over the world. And when we think
I of all the other manufactures of gum:
: OF different varieties which are in full
blast, selling as much or more than the
one mentioned above, we are astounded
at what mans jaws can do.
. DR.. J. J. WiId, F. r. G.. s., sum:
= up as follows the results of recent in
! vestigations into the causes OF the colol
! of the sea, and of the apparent dis
: coloratlon Of the sea water in certain
areas of the ocean. The various tint.
! OF blue and green which constitut,
: what may be called the proper color OF
sea water are due TO a greater or less
> proportion Of salt held in solution, the
1 l.