HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 54

HEALTH COLUMN.

Fat Plenty of < rnit.

The number of people who refuse to eat the cms* of a loaf must be very great. ■

"It hurts my gums," so they, say , : if you remonstrate.

It ought not to. Your jaws ancl teeth were meant to be hard enough to eat any crust — even if necessary to crush small bones. And the more you give in to their soreness, the weaker they will become. Like the muscles of your arms and legs, your jaw muscles need exercise. Chewing and carefully masticating a good tough ciust every day for breakfast is the very best thing for your teeth and juws as well as for your digestion, for the crust of bread is more wholesome and nourishing than the crumb.

A person who eats nothing but soft food is sure to be obliged to visit the dentiso often — not only for decay of the teelh, but for a disease daily becoming more and more common, and called "Rigg's Disease." This causes all the teeth to become loose in their setting, and comes from an insufficient blood supply to the roots of the teeth, causing ihe muscles to become flabby. So, whatCA'er you do, eafc plenty of crust, toast, and hard biscuits.

The Fresh Air Cure for Consumption. — It is a matter of common knowledge that the late Sir Andrew Clarke cured himself of consumption by living as much as possible in the open air. The piinciple involved has since been generally recognised by the medical profession, witli the result tint the old bad practice of keeping consumptives in warm, stuffy rooms has been almost ertirely abandoned. It is fresh air which is mainly responsible for the wires worked at such, places as Davos, where the patients spend 14 hours a day out of doors, breathing cold, bracing mountain air, while they are exhilarated by bright sunshine. The result is that each diseased snot in the lungs is cut off from the healthy tissue by a ring of stretched cells, across which disease germs cannot pass, and so the malady is arrested until the strengthened bod\ can overcome it.

Testing Water. — Here is a simple test for the presence of sewage in water. All drinking water should be tested in town or country frequently, as there are other impurities besides sewage which are quite as deadly, and every cistern of water is liable to be a source of blood poisoning. Mice, rats, and other pests must have water, and Many a case of typhoid is set up by such' as these falling into a cistern and remaining there foi months in a decomposed state. To detect the impure conditior is very simple and unfailing. Draw a tumbler of water from the tap at niglit, put a piece of white lump sugar into ifc^nd place ifc on the kitchen mantel shelf, or anywhere thai the will not be" under 60deg. Fahr. In the morning the water, if pure, will be perfectly clear ; if contaminated by sewage or other impurities the water will be milky. This is a simple and safe test well knowr in chemistry.