TALKS ON HEALTH.

Matamata Record, Volume XI, Issue 933, 2 July 1928, Page 2

TALKS ON HEALTH.

DIET AND TEETH. If you are shown the skeleton of any animal, you can tell what sort of food it lived on by an examination of its jaw 3 arud teeth. A sheep, for instance, has no teeth in front in the upper jaw, because the haul gum is quite effective enough for the chisel teeth of the lower jaw to act ag. inst in nibbling gra.is. 'lne teeth of a lion are long ami sharp for catching its prey and tearing vne meat. A norse that feeds ou nay and corn has no need of a long canine tooth, therefore Nature Avisely does away with it, and a space is left in the jaw in the place occupied in other animals by the eyetooth. A whale that lives in the sea and derives is sustenance from the Welsh'Mountain, the dressed carcase of few hours’ notice, weighs 101 b to 14lb, small particles of living matter floating free in the waters, has no need of teeth for mastication, and so the jaw-bone is bare of ivories. It may,

then, bo definitely established that * there is a precise relation of diet to teeth; grinding teeth for vegetarians long, sharp teeth for meat-eaters. Teeth in the animal world are sometimes used for fighting, and then, of course, they have no relation to diet. The tusk of an elephant is the eyetooth of the upper jaw.

The Case of Man. So clear is the lesson to be learnt from the shape, -size, and structure of teeth, that it is worth while to examine the month of the animal known as Man. Scientists call .him Homo Sapiens, which means Wise Man. Whether the title is deserved or not I must leave to yon. When we come, to examine the anatomy of the human apparatus for mastieatiDg food, we find three great outstanding fnc.t*. L.et ns name these three facts, and then see what conclusions we can iderivo from them.

1. The teeth are “very hard. With the exception of metals, ivory is one of the hardest substances in nature. Think of an ivorv billiard-ball, which can stand such hard wear an,d tear. When you give Tom and Mary fishknives for a wedding present von insist on ivory handles because they will wear for a lifetime. Bone is hard, but not nearly so hard a.s ivory. Nature, ever wise, has manufactured by her marvellous alchem-sr this adamantine material wherewith to cover the teeth of her offspring.

2. The bone in which the teeth are so firmlv s"t is of very powerful structure. Oorsiduring the exposed: position of the lower jaw, it is very sel-

dom broken; it takes a very hard punch to fracture the jaw. When oanison ..ad to choose a bone from the skeleton * of, an ass to employ as a loiiiai ‘weapon against the Philistines, lie, picked out the jaw-bone. He knew now strong it was, and that he could batter m the skulis of his enemies without finding his weapon broken in his Land.

3. The third fact is that the jaw muscles, for tlieir size, are the strongest in the body. Eve-vone has. .heard of the grip of a bulldog. Some of you may nave seen strong men on the musical-hall stage lifting very keavy_ r weights slung from an india-r’ubbet' mouth-piece held iu the teeth. When { the •jaw-muscle is examincu., it is found to contain strong fibrous bands to increase its p.ower. “As Clear as Daylight.” With these three facts in our minds, and knowing that Nature adapts teeth to the diet she intends us to cat, we may exercise our ingenuity in devising a suitable diet. Do we need adamantine teeth set in an iron jaw and worked, by powerful muscles to eat jelly and slops and soft pappy food? Certainly not. It is as clear as daylight that we were intended to ea» things that need scrunching. If soft foods had been our correct diet, wc should have been given a mouth like that of a jelly-fish.

A Rule of Nature. A golden rule of Nature’s, to which 1 have' often referred, is that any part of the body that is not used begins to die away. The arm of a blacksmith quickly wastes to nothing if he sprains .his wrist badly and has to Keep his jn in a sling for three .weeks, Th: t is celled “atrophy, from . 'ise-ise. ’ ’ This universal law applies to teeth. You may depend upon it, if the teeth