Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-01
MASTICATION THE LATEST FAD

Mastication is the latest cure for the | ills which affiict mankind. A German scientist has discovered that indiges- tion and all the complaints arising from it can be either prevented or cured by obliging patients to bite up thoroughly everything that enters their mouths. Even liquids, such as water, must be chewed to some extent, and soup must receive as much masti- cation as if it were composed of dry bread crumbs.
 According to the scientist who advo- cates this method S5 per cent of the stomach troubles of mankind are caused by improper methods of con- suming food and drink. The human mouth, he points out, is neither mere receptacle for food, nor is it designed sole for tasting It is as much di, getsive organ as the stomach itself More than half Of the process of diges- tion, he says, should take place in the mouth. It is when the work which should have been performed by the teeth is thrown upon the stomach that Indigestion and other troubles ensue. Animals do not have indigestion, says the German discoverer, because those which have been given ruminant teeth never think of bolting their food, as mankind so often does. The dogs bolts his food and does not suffer from indi- gestion simply because nature has pro- vided it with q digestive apparatus (Which renders chewing more or less superfuous. Nature, however, stopped with the animals. No man yet inyes- tigated has beel- found to possess the dogs digestive abilities.
 These are the basic facts upon which the German scientist has formulated his system of I masticatory cure for in- digestion and other stomach troubles. Even water is to be kept some time i'll the mouth. not because it needs masti- cation but so that it may be brought to the body temperature and impreg- mated to a certain extent with the di- getsive juices of the mouth.
 Science owes it's first knowledge of the properties and powers of gastric juice to an accident. man named St Martin received a gunshot wound ill his stomach, so that there existed an opening leading directly in the stomach. Through this opening Prof Beaumont, London. was able to watch the process of eXcretion and to discover S1ic VI WdN III NIItH lllc HOW NdS SIll1u- lated. Prof Beaumont found that the introduction Of any mechanical irri- tant into the stomach. such as the bulb of a thermometer. excited at once the secretion of gastric fluid. Quantities of this fluid were drawn away by the doctors for their experiments and ex- act knowledge of the methods Of diges- ton resulted. The quantity of gastric il1i6n estimated, but the average for I healthy adult may be assumed to range from ten to twenty pints in the twen- ty-four hours. The acidity of the fluid is due to the presence of free hydro chloric acid. Tn the healthy gastric juice the amount of free acid may be as much as2 per cent
 From the foregoing it can be seen how important it is that the first part of the digestive process should be per- formed in the mouth, so that enough alkalinity will exist in the food 10 partly neutralize what may be an ex- cess of acid in the stomach The di- gestive power of the gastric juice. so physiologists say. depends on the pep sin and acid contained in it, both of which are, under ordinary circum-
 
 healthy individual the general effect of digestion in the stomach is the con- version of the food into what is called "chylne,' semi-liquid substance con- taining those parts of the food which can be absorbed by the system.
 The preservation of the noraml aka Unity of the blood Is really the basis of the German method of curing dis ease by directing careful mastication of all food. The patient who presents himself for treatment is ordered to give at least seventy bites to every thing which he takes into his mouth and he is urged to count the biSes in order to make no mistake As a rule the patient is allowed to select his own diet. the only stipulation being that it shall be one that is readily Gigested and that it shall be properly masti- cated. One of the earliest results no- ticed Is that heavy eaters begin to con- sume much less food. As the diges- ton Improves less food is taken. be- cause it Is all asslmilated Baltimore Sun.