Evening journal., 1915-09-23
HOW TO KEEP WE'LL
By Chas. G. Perciyal, NJ. D.

Enquiries ON health subjects may be
directed to Or. Percival, Of this paper,
and will be answered IN these columns.
He will not give medical advice.
The enamel covering our teeth will
last as long as we do if we intelligently
cooperate in the care of them. This
may be accomplished by simply paying
a visit once n month to a reliable dent
ist and having the teeth given a thor
ough cleaning his to be followed up by
daily care that is. the brushing of the
teeth upon rising and retiring and after
each meal.
The Health Department of New York
city has issued leaflets for the care Of
teeth and it has given the following as
safe and cheap tooth powder; Two
ounces Of precipitated chalk. onc-half
ounce CASTLE powdered soap and one
dram Of powdered orris root.
Mouth germs can only gain foothold
where there is roughness Go cling to.
Dccayng food creates acids which cor
rode the enamel and afford the desired
roughness, and the tartar affords the
same. Il is easy TO see why clean teeth
are so necessary. If these mouth germs
do get fastened upon unclean teeth il
is almost impossible to dislodge them,
as they are provided by nature with a
glue-liko substance by which they at
tach themselves, and there they stay
and work destruction Entering the
teeth through tartar and carroded en-
amcl, they do not stop until the tooth
is decayed. Cleaning and polishing the
teeth keeps of the growth of tartar. If
chldren's teeth are given a fair chance
they may at the age of twenty he with
out a single cavity, and it is possible TO
prevent decay for fifteen years. with
care it is possible to prevent it indef-
nitely.
Decay Is accomplished during sleep,
and a good mouth wash upon retiring is
advised Nothing is better than one
teaspoon of common baking soda in a
half glass Of water. The enamel Of our
teeth is ono Of the hardest substances
known, but it is the one part of the
human body which never renews itself.
Once destroyed nothing can replace it.
Measurements OF human eyes dem
onstrate that there is probably no
such thing in the world as an abso-
lutely perfect eye That would be
miracle which nature with all her
infinite ingenuity has never perform
ed. No human face among all the
worlds sixteen hundred million may
be held perfect, either artistically or
physiolOgically. To the owner of the
face, this is relatively an unimport-
ant matter. but to the owner of the
pair Of eyes an error of one three
hundredth of an inch in the curva-
ture or dimensions of the eyeballs
may make their all-important func-
tion abnormal. tesulting in eye-strain
with its attendant physical ills.
The eye responds to the slightest
physical force in the world, that is
light waves which are hundreds Of
millions o. times more infnitesimal
than sound waves. The eyes are the
hardest worked of all organs. and the
safey and eXistance of human lives
frequent depend directly on their ac-
curate working.
The harmful results of eye-strain.
never wholly absent throughout life,
may begin very early in childhood
even in the second year. Many little
children, for instance. are constantly
tearing their clothes. hurting their
feet and legs, stumbling and falling
because their eyes are so faulty that
their estimates of the size, location
and nature of objects are not correct
ly made. Adults who have been blind
and are suddenly given good vision
require years to learn TO see with ac
1 curacy or safety in action.
Probably 6 per cent. of children are
left-handed, left eyedness causing left
handedness. From 6 to 10 years oi
age many children show an incom
\ prehensible nervousness" twitchine
of the hands and face, tickle appetite
and various disorders, all usually due