Faulty teeth are common in neuropaths, and at the risk of being wearisome--and good advice is wearisome to people--patients must get proper aid, privately or at a dental hospital, from a _registered dentist_, who, like a doctor, does not advertise. Teeth gone beyond recall will be painlessly extracted, those going, "stopped", and tartar or scale scraped off. If necessary, have artificial teeth, but remember that the comfort of a plate depends upon skilled workmanship, not on gold or platinum. Everyone should visit the dentist as a matter of routine once a year. Buy 3 ozs. Precipitated Chalk, 1 oz. Chlorate of Potash, and brush the teeth with this mixture ere going to bed; use tepid water after meals. Do not brush across, but, holding the brush horizontally, brush with a circular motion, cleaning top and bottom teeth at once. Use a moderately hard brush with a curved surface which fits the teeth. After each meal, it is essential to cleanse the interstices between the teeth with a quill toothpick or dental floss, never with a pin, for it is the decomposition of tiny particles that starts decay; _a tooth never decays from within_. 11/2 fl. oz. Glycerine, 1 fl. oz. Carbolic Acid, 1/2 fl. oz. Methylated Chloroform. With ten drops of this mixture in a wineglassful of tepid water, wash out your mouth and gargle your throat after every meal, sending vigorous waves between the teeth, and so removing any particles left by toothpick and brush. Children should be taught these habits as soon as they can eat, for the custom of a lifetime is easy. * * * * * CHAPTER XI DIGESTION "We may live without poetry, music and art; We may live without conscience, and live without heart; We may live without friends, we may live without books, But civilized man cannot live without cooks." The human digestive system consists of a long tube, in which food is received, nutriment taken from it as it passes slowly downwards, and from which waste is discharged, in from sixteen to thirty hours afterwards. Six glands pour saliva into the mouth, where it should be--but how rarely is--mixed with the food, causing chemical changes, and moistening the bolus to pass easily down. The acid Gastric Juice, of which a quart is secreted daily, stops the action of the saliva, and commences to digest the proteins, which pass through several stages, each a little more assimilable than the last. The lower end of the stomach contracts regularly and violently, churning the food with the juice, and gradually squirting it, when liquified to Chyme, into the small intestine. If food is not chewed until almost liquified, the gastric juice cannot act normally, but has to attack as much of the surface of the food-lump as possible, leaving the interior to decompose, causing dyspepsia and flatulence.