MASTICATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 596, 23 August 1913, Page 2

MASTICATION.

The following from Dr Harry Camp- j bell [emohasises what, we baid last week: —■--• MEANS OF ENSURING EFFICIEN T 51A 3 TIC A TlO N. In order to secure the full advantage accruing from the use of the jaws and their appendages, it is above all necessary for them to be adequately exercised during the period of development. If this is done the masticatory instincts will establish itself as a permanent force, so that the individual will tend for the rest of his life to subject even soft foods to thorough mastication. The tongue, the lips, and the jaws of the newly-born child find their natural exercise at the mother's breast, and W9 should therefore do our utmost to get the mother to suckle her child. If, unhappily, we fail in this, we must see that the teat of the feeding bottle ia so constructed as to compel the child to earn his meal by, at any rate some exercise. Directly the disposition to bite hard things is manifested, the instinct — for instinct it is—should be gratified. The instinct becomes more and more pronounced as the time foi the eruption of the teeth approaches. It :id now more than ever necessary to provide the child with hard substances on which to exercise his jaws and gurus. A great deal of the trouble of teething is due to the disregard or the ignorance of that is fact. What, then, are we to employ lor the purpose? Though ivory, coral, and the like hard, smooth substances may be useful in their way, it is far better to give the child something which is not only hard, but also nutritious and pleasant to the taste —something which will at one and the same time exercise the chewing apparatus, excite the taste organs, and provide a certain amount of nutriment. To this end we may, as the teething time aproaches. give a chop or a chicken bone from which practically all the meat has been removed. From such bones a small amount of nutriment can be extracted, ani this of a kind most acceptable to the infant stomach, for we must not forget that the young human being is essentially carnivorous. Chicken and chop bones, yielding as they do to the pressure of the gums, are, moreover, just the right consistence for ths purpose in view. By thus providing the masticatory apparatus with suitable exercise We shall do much to facilitate the eruption of the teeth and the growth of the jaws and. their appendages, including the salivary glands, and so to prepare the mouth for the reception of vegetable food. This should, of course, not be given until the teeth appear, and it should be noted that the order in which these malje their appearance gives some indication as to the time to administer vegetable food to the child. WHENITO BEGIN GIVING STARCHY FOOD. The lower incisors are first erupted, seventh to eighth month; then follow the upper incisors, seventh to tenth month. These teeth enable the child to bite, but not, be it observed, to masticate, for which function the molars are necessary. Now, the first molars do not with us appear until the twelfth to the fourteenth month, and it seems certain therefore that our primitive ancestors, unless they cut their molars earlier could not have obtained starch in any quantity until they had reached this age. These considerations suggest the desirability of not giving mere than the smallest quantity of starch before the twelfth month, Before the twelfth month we should be careful to give the child its limited supply of starch in the form compelling vigorous mastication. If given, as is the custom, in the liquid or pappy form, it will pass down as crude starch into the stomach, and will be likely to cause indigestion ; but if we select a form which obliges the child to chew properly, not only will the jaws, meet, and the gums obtain the exercise for which they crave and without which they cannot properly develop, but much of the starch will be converted in the mouth into maltose. Nothing can be iiioip, foolish than to upset the child's digestive system by deluging it vvJtii liquid starch, and then seek io make it well by ordering it, as is so frequently dune, malC extract —the very substance, i.e., maltose which the child can, and ought to. manufacture within the laboratory of its mouth. There is only one way io develop the masticatory instinct in a child, and that is to give him food which obliges him to masticate. It is mere waste of words to tell him to chew hitfood properly; and to blsme him for gobbling it is as unjust as it is foolish. The blame, it any there be, attaches not to the child, but to those who are responsible for his irrational dietary. All that is needful is to give the child from an early period foods which compel mastication. Many people are under the impression that it' the young child is given solid food he will be likely to choke; but of this there is no danger if he is given hard things from the beginning. It is only when, by pap-feeding, his normal masticatory instinct has been kept in abeyance, and the habit of bolting the food has been acquired, that any danger is to be apprehended on his score. Even then it is but remote, and can be readily overcome by judicious handling. IN WHAT FORM SHOULD ST AH OH BE GIVEN? Starch, then, should bo given to tho child in a solid and somewhat tough form, such a? breadcrust. Loaves should be shaped so as to irivu a rnr.:.'i- : mum of crust, and l > n i t hard. A ~'

ter, bacon-fat, or diipping, constitutes a very acceptable and wholesome morsel. Memo, by Kygeia, — Ureaii dried by standing on »•£!£(? m an oven wita ilia door aiat* and then lightly U"> sUnuii, gives a fair amount of muscular exercise, and its dryness ensures insaiivatioii. Plain oa!; cake made wjvho.ut. fat need 3 very thorough mr.si ieation. The same applies to hard, plain ship a biscuit, but this is not easily procurable nowadays. Further, biscuit are some7r'hat objectionable, because they form a soft (rummy paste, which lends to lodge about the teeth, and may lead to caries. When by such means as uic-so the child's instinct to masiieale uc.s bad proper opportunity to develop, we may allow a certain amount ot soft; siaiciiy food, such aa porridge, boiled potatoes, milk pudding, and the like: and these, he will now be likely to subject to something like adequate mastication, which will tend to mitigate the evils associated with such food. When a child has learned to masticate thoroughly he can be given this. Though animal food does not prolonged mastication, it is then cooked, all the better for a certain amount of it going to the coagulation of the proteids; and in order to ensure the efficient mastication of meat fish, and poultry by children, Dr Sim Walace recommends that these foods should be given in large pieces, cut thin. Fat pieces, about one inch square, generally necessitate a certain amount of mastication. It is difficult to swallow large flat pieces of meat wihtout mastication, but when finely minced little or no mastication i? called forth." The younger the child the more underdone should the meat be.