WOMAN'S WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16267, 28 June 1916, Page 9

WOMAN'S WORLD.

WHY FOOD MUST BE CHEWED. The idea prevails in most minds that the purpose of chewing food thoroughly is to break it up into small particles, with the main idea in mind that small particles are easily digestible, while large particles are impossible or difficult to digest. That idea (says Dr. Roller, in the New York Herald) is incorrect. It has been shown in the laboratory that a cube of meat which measures an inch will digest almost as quickly as one which measures a-quarter of an inch. A dog will swallow a piece of meat three or four inches long, and almost as thick, without chewing it at all. Yet a dog seldom has indigestion, except when some food faddist or fanatic tries to make the brute less brutal by turning a naturally carnivorous canine into a vegetarian animal. The point is that thorough mastication makes digestion more easy, not because the food is broken up into finer particles, but because food held in the mouth a great length of time and more carefully masticated has usually mixed with it a greater amount of saliva and its ptyalin ferment for the digestion of starchy elements. To hold food in the mouth until it is thoroughly masticated requires a certain amount of attention, which, by the wav, is the all-important i thing in the digestion of foods. This atj tention people do not always give. Saliva does not flow well when your mind is not on your eating. BEAUTY HINTS. No sensible girl turns to rouge and powder for beauty—if for no better reason than that both are perfectly plain to be seen by every onlooker. A clear skin is beauty's first need. This is to be obtained by such healthy habits of life as exercise, fresh air, and good, but not overmuch, food. The blood must be kept pure for the skin to be clear. And do not think your skin must needs be white to be beautiful; the dark skin of the true brunette is equally pleasing, but, of course, it must be free from greasiness, muddiness, and disfiguring spots of any kind. Nothing is a better tonic for the

HOW THE HANDS TELL TALES. It is possible to read a good deal of the inner working of a man's nature by the simple process of watching his hands. Nervousness, for instance, is shown more in the hands than anywhere. We unconsciously "spot'.' the nervous man very quickly in this way. The man of firm character attracts our attention by the imperative motion of the hands and the way in which he uses them to add force to an argument. And when we see anybody everlastingly curling and twitching the fingers we know' by instinct, though we fail to mark it, that he is a person who lacks confidence. The working of the brain is communicated to the hands and the hands move accordingly. Have you ever watched the hands of an actor ? _ A good actor performs his part with his hands quite apart from speech. You may know when he turns from a gay mood to one of anger by the sudden clenching of the fingers, and when the muscles relax and the fingers assume a careless form you know, though there is no other sign to tell you, that his next mood will be sorrow. Some of our actors and actresses ! make their hands almost speak. THE SPRING HAT. The sailor hat of the spring will be in bright colours, with the underpart of the brim black. These coloured sailor hats are said to be wonderfully dressy, and very stylish. Some have very small brims, and others are quite large. Anything in the way of a toque or close-fitting hat will be finished with a -strap, after the French military style. Madonna blue, a shade of blue that is without equal, has a very large say in trimming spring millinery, especially if the decoration is carried out with ribbon, and the Leghorn hat, in its old becoming, wide-brimmed shape, simply trimmed with black velvet and a rose or two, will be obtainable where cost is no object. DAINTY UNDIES. Camisoles of tulle ribbon and lace. witß decorations that are not entirely for private view, have not disappeared, in spite of the changes in blouse designs, for a blouse may come np to the ears and yet be transparent either in front or behind. The most practical " nnder-blouses" are finished at the waist .with elastic, and fasten under one arm. Shadow-proof petticoats are required with some of the diaphanous evening frocks. They are of heavy white silk or satin, with ■&■ double front. It is not necessary to have them double all the way round. , A finger-thick piping cord at the hem gives them the correct standoffishness. ■■ '• - Silver and gilt roses pretty—and quite serviceableas decorations for boudoir caps. Some of the new caps are in the finest cream net, mob-shaped, and with no decoration save that of a knot of the ribbon which shows through the net "drawing." Others, that are nearer the Dutch shapes have chin-straps or bridles of black velvet.