OUR BABIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14013, 18 September 1909, Page 5

OUR BABIES.

vHy "Hygeia.") Published under the auspices ot the Society for the Promotion of the ilcalth of Women and Children. ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES. Duiiodin.— Plunkct Nurses Mrs. Matheson and Miss Ellis. Office of the Society, Health Department Rooms, Liverpool Street, Dunedin. Office hours, Monday, Thursday and Saturday, from 2to 3 p.m. Tel. 1136. Hon.* sec, Mrs. Carr, 8 Heriot How. Tel. 1774. Cliristohureh. — Phinket Nurses Morgan and Macarthy. Office of the So cicty, 27 Durham Street South. Tel." y-10. Office hours, 2to 3 li.in. daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. Hon. sec., Mre. F. H. Pyne, Bealey Avenue. Tel. 285. Wellington. — Phinket Nurse M'Donald, 73 Aro Street. Tel. 2425. Hon. bee, Mrs. M' Vicar, 45 Marjoribanks Street, City. Tel. 2642. Auckland. — Plunket Nurse Chappell, I.i ;t,reot. Tel. 851. Office oi the (society, 2 Chancery Street. Tel. B'JO. Office hours, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.20 to 4 p.m. Hon. sec, Mrs. W. 11. Parkes, Marinoto, SyimoikU Street. Tel. 240. Napier. — Plunket Nurse Donald, Masonic Hotel. Tel. 87. Hon. sec, .Mrs. E. A. W. Heuloy, P.O. Box 04. Tel. 147. l'ulnioisLoii North. — Plunkot Nurse Henderson, care of W. Park, bookseller, The Square. Tel. 20. Hours 3to I p.m. daily. Hon. sec, Mrs. M. Cohen, Grey Street. Tel. 58. New Plymouth.— Phinket Nurse War- [ nock, Imperial Hotel. Tel. 123. Oitice of the" society, Town Hall, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m. Hon. Sec., Mrs. R. J. Matthews, Fitzroy, Tel. 104. Timaru. —Plunket Nurse Bowman. Office of the society, Arcade Chambers. Tel. 314. Office hours, 8.30 to 130 and 6.30 to 7.30. Hon. sec, Mrs. Smithson, Faillie, Sefton Street. Tel. 230. Society's Baby Hospital, Karitane Home, Anderson'b Bay, Dunedin. Tel. 1985. Demonstrations on points of interest to mothers are given by the matron every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30. All mothers are invited. Messages may be loft at any time at tho Plunket Nurses' offices or private addresses. The society's official sheet of instructions, written by Dr. Tnibv King, pice 3d (postage free), add all other • information available from Hie lion, secretary of each branch. A previous article on Mastication, which apiwared in this column a fortnight ago, showed the extreme importance ot exercising the jaws by giving babies and young children some food needing thorough chewing, instead of limiting them to "pap," when they have got beyond the stage of mother's milk. This providing of food which needs work to be done on it is equally important during the second year, and exerts a profound influence over the '•manufacture and setting" of the permanent teeth if continued until they have all come through the gums and taken up their life work— to say nothing of the value of projwr eating habits as aids to digestion throughout life. To the expectant and nursing mother, thorough mastication is oi special significance, and the importance of the whole subject can scarcely be over estimated. The following extracts from Dr. ' Harry Campbell will help parents to realise the duty they owe to their offspring from first to last in this very practical field of true education. ' , MASTICATION. (Adapted from Dr. Harry Campbell.) Mastication promotes the Flow of the Saliva and the Insalivation of the Food. — The more the foot! is masticated the more completely is it insalivated. Now. inasmuch as starch is converted by the saliva, first into dextrine and then into maltose, it follows that the whole of the starch ingested may be transformed" into maltose within the month if only mastication is persisted in long enough; and it is surely better for tho individual to manufacture his maltose within the laboratory of his own organism than to have it administered to him in the form of the artiiiVally prepared "malt extracts ; yet, strange to say, patients are often allowed these extracts when they are forbidden the starchy foods which they could by adequate mastication, quite easily convert into maltose for themselves As a matter of fact, starchy foods, if sufficiently insalivated, are seldom indigestible. Mastication iLjreases tho Amount ot Alkaline Saliva Passing into t..J Stomach, and thus not only prolongs the period of starch digestion in this nrgan. but influences gastric digest* m in other ways,; it is probable .liat •» deficiency of alkaline .saliva in the ,tomaoh is inimical to normal digest,! v.i. [Memo. by " Hygeia." — Mothers should clearly understand that the -ahvarj glands are late in developing, •md that therefore starch does not normally form part of tho food until the baby is nino months old. After that ■\iip, Nature provides for a steadilyincroasing flow of saliva. Hence the iumhl for introducing rusks, bread, ceroil jollies, etc., to keep pace with the growth of the child's starch-digesting organs. l Mnstiration Promotes the Flow of fiastric Juice, and thus prepares the stomach for the reception of food. This effect is probably produced chiefly through the medium of psychic influ«nec. for tho more efficiently mastication is performed the more effectually is tho sonse of taste excited. Mastication Stimulates the Heart, Hiid so promotes the circulation. INFLUENCE OF MASTICATION ON THE JAW AND ADJACENT STRUCTURES. Muscles of Mastication. — Seeing that all rhythmic muscular contractions stimulate the flow of blood and lymph not only in the contracting muscles themselves, but in the neighbouring parts also, it follows that the exercise of tho masticatory muscles, which aro tar more massive than is generally realised, influences, with their own nutrition, that of the important structures adjacent to them — i.e., the jawbones, salivary glands, mucous membrane of mouth, soft palate, tonsils, pharynx, and cavities ot tho nose, etc. All these parts are, during mastication, copiously flushed with blood and lymph, their nutrition being correspondingly stimulated, and it is not therefore surprising that in those who from childhood upwards have been accustomed to masticate efficiently they should he well developed— the jaws well grown and shapely, the teeth sound and regular, the tongue (for we must not forget that it. too, is a masticatory muscle) and salivary glands large, the nasal and naso-pharyngeal passages spacious, and the mucous membrane of the mouth and adjoining cavities healthy ; and Mint, oii the other hand, in those who li;ue never adequately exercised their masticatory muscles these various structures should bo correspondingly ill-

developed and liable to disease. It should be observed that some of the largest muscles which cause the movements of the lower jaw during mastication arise from the very region whence adenoids spring. Tho Jawbones.— That the jaws do not attain normal sizo unless properly exercised is shown by the overcrowded teeth ot thoue brought upon soft foods, even in tho absence of that peculiar defoimity of tho jaws resulting from mouth-breathing, which, as we shall see, is itself the indirect result of lnetficient mastication. The Teeth.— But were there any doubt on those matters, it ib only necessary to consider the teoth themselves to arrive at cert:uut> Who can contemplate the jan bones <>f VT^n old child, so dissected as to display all the embedded teeth, without being assured of tho influence of mastication and eruption 0 Fiftj-ttio teeth meet the view ; the out in- r»«ion from th* orbital runs to tho inferior border of the mandible is, in [net, a m«'»' c «» them, temporal > and permanent, the latter in various phases of growth, and onh Us sufficient inasticihon that shall ensuio the conditions necessary to it can their adequate development pw-si-bl\ bo brought about. It is mastication alone that can stimulate the circulation in the tooth-tieiiiis that they nia\ grow, and in the jaws that, when -Town, the teeth shall find room; and mastication. an»'", «s necessary to enable the pcimanent tooth to take up thoir nonial positions, so as to secure a n<>od "bit-"- i.e., proper apposition of the upper and the lower teoth. The piesMiro of tho two raws of teeth against each other makes for a healthy condition alike (if the teeth, the sockets containinij; them, and the surrounding ti vmes of the "limb, inasmuch as it stimulator tlw circulation in toothp'tilp, tooth-MM-koth, mid adjacent parts. Hence disease of tho tooth and toothsockets (locay, abscess, etc.) is much more common in inefficient than in efficient masticators. A few words may here bo said rogarding the influence of mastication in ■weariiiK down the teeth. Those who masticate well wear away their teeth considerably. This is due not so much to the attrition of coarse, hard food against the teeth as that of the opposing teeth against one another, for it must be remembered that in normal mastication these are not merely pressed vertically one upon another, but also are mado to grind against one another by a lateral and sagittal movement. If in a person, say over 30. we find little or no wearing down of the teeth, we may be sure that he does not masticate properly ; the information which this simple test gives may often cause us to surprise our patients by passing an accurate opinion on their masticatory habits. I suppose it is because the English people, nutured principally on soft food, do not wear their teeth down, and still more because, not using their teeth properly, these tend to grow out of their sockets, and thus appear unduly long, that our Continental neighbours regard us as being large and long in the tooth, and as such so frequently represent John Bull in their cartoons.