"_The necessity of Mastication_ is sufficiently known--there is perhaps no person who has not, some time or other, suffered from Indigestion, for want of having chewed his food properly. The reason is obvious. Not to mention the saliva which moistens the food, and predisposes it to be dissolved, it cannot be doubted, that when it is reduced to pieces by the action of the Teeth, the gastric fluid penetrates, and attacking it at more points, dissolves it more speedily than when it was whole. This is true of menstrua in general, which always dissolve bodies sooner when they have been previously broken to pieces. This is also the reason why, in other experiments, masticated bread and _dressed_ flesh were more readily dissolved than unchewed bread and _raw_ flesh. The boiling had made it tenderer, and consequently disposed it to allow ingress to the gastric fluid."--SPALLANZANI _on Digestion_, vol. i. p. 277. [115] In no branch of the practice of Physic, is there more _Dangerous Quackery_, than in this department--the only means we can furnish our friends with to avoid this--is to recommend them to apply to a scientific Dentist of acknowledged integrity and experience.--Our own Mouth is under considerable obligations to Mr. EDMONDS, of Conduit Street, Hanover Square. [116] "Slave-dealers are well acquainted with the characteristic signs of perfect Health--any defect of which much diminishes the value of a Slave. The want of _a Tooth_ makes a Slave worth two Dollars less."--FINKE'S _Medical Geography_, vol. i. p. 449. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, by William Kitchiner