The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-07-10
MANaWITHOUT TEETH
WILL THAT BE A CONDITION OF TIE
PARKWAY FUTURE2

fHtNNSNNI ~ SNGA
Less and Less Need For MOlars Every Day.
Soft Foods Require No Masticstion-our
Ancestors Required Strong Teeth, but
We Don't Eat AS They Did.
viii the human race lose its teeth in the
years to come? Will not our descendants
have much smaller jaws than We have and
no maxillary muscles to speak oi?
While these ideas may seem fantastic
they are based on solid facts and reasoning
The human race is likely before many cen
turtles TO be tOothlcSs because each year
there is less and less use for the teeth
Especially among the higher and weather.
classes is this So Anything to cat that
requires the muscular excrtion of the jaws
to any extent Is apt to be thrown aside and
its place taken by soft, deity prepared
foods that need little effort ON the part of
the teeth
Thus moro and more the teeth are COM
ing to be useless appendagcs. Scientists
say now that the progcnitors Of the human
race had tails and that they gradually lost
them because they became useless. 1t Is
known that if II limb or any organ OF the
body ceases to be used for any length OF
time it will become practically parilyZed
and without life. Should it continue to he
unused for generations it would ut last dis
appear And this is the way the teeth are
likely to GO.
1t is n fact not to be denied that year by
year our molars play II diminishing part i'll
the functions of life Seldom nowadays
a set of vigorous white teeth are seen either
in man or woman unless they are artificial.
Looking at it from the point of view of
science, there is no reason why the teeth
should be the fine structures of bone pro-
tectcd by their hcalthful coating of pcarly
| enamel that they once were. In the early
DAYS before civilization hud come with its
cnervations u mans teeth We're almost as
| important to him as his arm. Knives and
| forks had not come into play then, and I'M
| civilized mans food consisted In great part
| of meat, raw, or SO impcrfcctly roasted
| that 1t had to be ground into bits within
| the mouth Nuts and fruits had hard skins
and needed sharp biting before they could
| be comfortably dcvourcd. The carly Asiat-
| ic tribes, the Norscmen and the North
| American Indian have bad the fame of
their shining, strong teeth come down to
| us, and it was no uncommon feat in those
days for II man to perform as II perfectly
natural thing what would seem at the pres
| ent time prodigies of strength with his jaw
bone.
While even in those early times there
were enerVation and scnsuOuSncSs rampant
| among the ayistocrats, it did not come
| down to the middle class or the common
| people, who kept ON eating food that was
/ tough. 1t never occurred to them that eat
| ing could bc made easy by the rcflnements
| and the clcgancics of boiling, roasting and
sundry concoctions. Their nourishmcnt
was purchased ut the price of the sweat OF
| their afms and the masterful power Of
| their grinding teeth. Ono needs only to
read bit of the literature Of the middle
| ages to learn that good 'trcncher men"
were highly regarded. To be n "ucncher
man" meant nething moro nor less than
to be able to clear off the great wooden
dishes hcapcd with meats in an uncom-
| monty short time.
So it went along for centuries, with the
| women as well rs with the men, soft foods
being hardly known, even in the halls OF
the highest in the land. As civilization
became NOM and mere pronounced and
luxurics began to become necessities it wa,
still only the better class that We're affect
ed. The poor had to continue eating wha,
they best could get and continuing tC
make tho fullest use EFF their jaws anC
| their teeth But within the past half cen
tury n change has slowly been setting in
| So pronounced Is this getting that ut tho
table of the laborcr at Sl.25 n day, as wei
| as Mt the board of the millionaire, soft
foods arc served ond eaten to the exclusion
of nearly all else. The workmun's wife
who cannot afford to buy the fine cut o.
meat that the richer man has sent to him
boils and roasts until she sets before hcl
husband and children as tender n dish u!
those that stand on the tables of tn,
wealthy.
Candy, too, is much softer than it uset
| to be, and in place of the hard, sugary
balls creams, nougats and candicd fruits
| TO say nothing of the French CONNECTION:
that are constantly increasing III popular
ity, have come pretty thoroughly int
| vogue. Once upon time molasses candy
was greatly in favor, and candy pulls on,
of the delights of Il generation that is nov
| past.
| Science besides has aided in this by de
| vising canned meats and condensed foods
which arc made today in enormous guam
titles and distributed widely. There i
| precisely the same amount Of nutrimcn
in these that there is III meat and Ncgc
| tables in their natural state subjected onl,
| 10 u hlllull ulllbulb VI C'phluR, DuG CLtIll
zeal processes take the place OF actual mas
tication, and as the food slips down TIN
throat there is nothing left, TO all intent
and purposes, for the teeth to do. Orig
inally planned for the benefit of invalid
| and for the convenience OF travellers, thcs
canned and condensed supplies have gont
further in their adaptability to the want
of the human race and now are eaten b,
thousands who are quite able to masticat
the toughest foods if they only would
l New York ,JOurnal