Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-25

IATT OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Body and Mind department should be
addressed as follows: The Los Angeles
Herald, Editor Body and Mind Depart
ment. Neither The Herald nor, the edl-
tor of Body and Mind will answer ques-
tions of a personal nature. No inquiries
will be answered by mail.)
OF all the wonderful objects in ma
ture the body and mind are the most
wonderful The former because of it's
complex nature, the latter because or
it's remarkable functions.
Science teaches us that the body Is
composed of bones, muscles, ligaments,
blood, lymph, etc.; these in turn are
respectively composed of cells, all OF
which are invisible to the naked eye;
and the cells themselves are COM
posed of various elements found in
both the vegetable and mineral king
doms.
The senses, on the other hand, tell
us of the remarkable functions of the
mind. For instance, the sense of sight
tells us of the creations of the mind
in the form of objects of utility to
man, such as tables, flying machines,
steamers, ETC.; the sense of hearing
about roaring cannons, prima donnas,
tenors, articulate speech, ETC.; in short,
every one of the five senses compels
us to witness what the mind is capa-
BILE of creating.
Now, since the body and the mind
are the most wonderful objects in ma
ture, does it not behoove us to keep
them both in good condition?
Is it not of greatest importance to
man that he Cor she) shall preserve
the body in a sound condition while
life lasts and improve the mind while
| it is active? Most assuredly. Hence
| the object of the Body and Mind de-
partment of The Herald will be to in
struct it's readers how to do it. A col
unn or more will be devoted to these
subjects every Sunday, and we assure
our readers that we will make it as
| interesting to them as we know how.
During the writer's career as a prac-
| titioner of materia medica many Pc
culiar characters in the form of hu-
man beings presented themselves for
| treatment" as they called it, but
none puzzled me as much as those
who knew not their own bodies and
minds and much less the functions
| performed by any of their parts. Let
us take, for instance, the teeth. The
teeth, as all readers of The Herald
know are not part of the body for
ornamental purposes only, but to per-
form a function, namely, mastication.
The teeth exist for the purpose of
grinding into a pulp the food necessary
to nourish the body. Now, does the
average being know this, and if he
does know ii, does he see to 1t that
that part of the body, the teeth, shall
perform it? Not at all. The average
human being never has time for that,
he thinks. He thinks that what ne
| does not do nature will do for him.
What is the result? The result is
! that the teeth decay for lack of eXer-
else; and his stomach, by reason OF
the greater length of time 1t requires
to perform its function-that is tC
convert the food into suitable mate
rial for bsorption-eVentuany finds
itself unable to do extra duty, ano
various diseases ensue.
Again. supposing that a given in
dividual does take his time and gives
the teeth a chance TO perform theh
natural function, does he take the
trouble to keep his teeth clean i'm or
der that the particles of food which
necessarily stick to the teeth shall mo-
ferment, which is only another meth
Cd of nature to decay them? | regreI
to say that not very many mortal'
do mat.
The writer has seen individual!
without number who not only did no
know the purposes for which the teetl
exist, nor the manner by which they
may become decayed and useless, bu
they did not even know that sucl
things as tooth brushes exist and mucl
less their utility. 1t may soun(
strange TO most of our readers, bu
1t is true nevertheless.
There Is not a single element I'm thi
human body without am important Of