Mastication means a thorough breaking up of the food into the smallest particles, and insalivation means the mixing of the small particles with the saliva. The mechanical work is done with the jaws and tongue, and the chemical work is performed by the saliva. When the mechanical work is done thoroughly the chemical work is also thorough, and the test for thoroughness is loss of taste. Masticate the food until all taste has disappeared, and then it will be found that the swallowing reflex unconsciously absorbs the food, conscious swallowing, or at least, an effort to swallow, not being called for. It may take some while to get into the habit of thorough mastication after having been accustomed to bolting food, but with a conscious effort at the first, the habit is formed, and then the effort is no longer a laborious exercise, but becomes perfectly natural and is performed unconsciously. This ought to be common knowledge. That such a subject is not considered a necessary part of education is indeed lamentable, for the crass ignorance that everywhere abounds upon the subject of nutrition and diet is largely the cause of the frightful disease and debility so widespread throughout the land, and, as a secondary evil of an enormous waste of labour in the production and distribution of unneeded food. Were everyone to live according to Nature, hygienically and modestly, health, and all the happiness that comes with it, would become a national asset, and as a result of the decreased consumption of food, more time would be available for education, and the pursuit of all those arts which make for the enlightenment and progress of humanity. To become a convert to this new order, adopting non-animal food and hygienic living, is not synonymous with monastical asceticism, as some imagine. Meat eaters when first confronted with vegetarianism often imagine their dietary is going to be restricted to a monotonous round of carrots, turnips, cabbages, and the like; and if their ignorance prevents them from arguing that it is impossible to maintain health and strength on such foods, then it is very often objected that carrots and cabbages are not liked, or would not be cared for _all_ the time. The best way to answer this objection is to cite a few plain facts. From a catalogue of a firm supplying vegetarian specialties, (and there are now quite a number of such firms), most of the following information is derived: