THOUGHT QUESTIONS. =Indigestion.=--I. _A Fetid Breath._ =1.=
Name three causes of bad breath. =2.= Let us investigate whether
indigestion could cause a bad breath. In what kind (two qualities) of
weather does meat spoil the quickest? =3.= Suppose that meat or other
food is put into a stomach with its gastric glands exhausted and its
muscular walls tired out, what will be the rate of digestion, and
what might happen to the food? =4.= Odorous contents of the stomach
(_e.g._ onion) can be taken by the blood to the lungs where it will
taint the breath.
After answering the above questions, write in a few words how
indigestion may cause a bad breath.
II. _A Coated or Foul Tongue._ =1.= When the doctor visits you, at
what does he first look? =2.= What sometimes forms on old bread? (p.
158.) =3.= Do you think such a growth possible on undigested bread in
the stomach? =4.= The microscope shows the coating on the bread to
be a growth of mold. If it forms on the walls of the stomach, it may
extend to what?
III. _Stomach Ache._ =1.= How can you tell whether fruit preserved
in a sealed glass jar is fermenting? =2.= What connection is there
between belching after eating too freely of sweet or starchy food,
and the observation above? =3.= A muscle gives pain when it is
stretched. Why does belching sometimes give relief to an uneasy
stomach? =4.= Can you, by using these facts, explain a cause of
stomach ache?
=For what Kind of Man were the Human Digestive Organs created?=--That
food is best to which the food tube has been longest accustomed. It
would be of the greatest value as a guide to diet if we knew the food
eaten by early man during the many ages _when he led a wild life
in the open air_. The organs of early man were doubtless perfectly
adapted to the life he led. The food tube is adapted to the needs of
those long ages, for a few centuries of civilization cannot change
the nature of the digestive organs; yet some people disregard natural
appetites and try to force the digestive organs to undergo greater
changes in a few months than centuries could bring about.
=To test whether an Article of Food belonged to Man’s Original
Diet.=--Scientists agree that the human race began in a warm country;
that _early man was without gristmills, stoves, or fire, and ate his
food raw_. If an article of food is pleasant to the taste in its raw,
pure state, there is little doubt that it, or a similar food, was
eaten by primitive man before he knew the use of fire in preparing
his food. Apply this test to the following foods, underlining those
foods that pass the test: apples, bananas, lettuce, turnip greens,
turnips, fruits, nuts, beef, fowls, eggs, oysters, green corn,
cabbage, pork, watermelons, grains, crabs, fish, white or Irish
potatoes, yams, tomatoes.
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