"Doctor, in beginning the study of any subject, it is of course very important to start right."

"That is true, and if we are to understand the source of health as well as disease, we must know something about the digestive organs and how they work to keep us well, and under what circumstances they will not, or can not work, and thus allow us to get sick."

"A great many people don't understand what is meant by digestion."

"Digestion is the process by which the various particles of food we eat are dissolved and changed by the digestive secretions and processes into suitable elements for the various uses of the body."

Are The Particles Taken Into And Absorbed By The System Made Very Fine?

"Yes, the particles that are absorbed are so fine that they must be magnified several hundred times before they can be seen by the naked eye."

This Is Very Interesting, Doctor, Where Does The Process Begin?

"It commences where a great many kinds of trouble begin."

That Must Be In The Mouth?

"Yes, in the mouth and in the kitchen, and unfortunately, most people in this, as in other things, use their mouths and kitchens much but not well."

What Do You Mean By That?

"That they talk without thinking, eat without chewing, cook without knowing how, and eat more than they eat properly."

That Is Because They Don't Know How To Do Any Better?

"That's a charitable view and no doubt true in part."

"At any rate one is astonished, at how little people know about living and that is true even of the educated classes."

"Yes it is, A good many people would dispense with their mouths for eating if they could, and shovel their food into their stomachs just as they would load a wagon with hay. When they get sick, they charge it to anything or everything except their own folly."

Then The Great Fault Is In Eating Too Fast?

"Well, as already stated, digestion is first of all a process of dissolving, and a good many people treat their stomachs as though they had better teeth in them than in their mouths. It is time for people to learn that they only have one set of teeth, and that if they continually impose on their stomachs, by compelling them to do the work that should be done by the teeth, sooner or later, their stomachs will get stubborn and not work at all."

Yes, Doctor, But You Forget, Don't You, That Many Kinds Of Food Are Ground Before They Reach The Mouth?

"That would seem to be a good point, but somehow the creator of man did not anticipate mills, and consequently, arranged an important process of digestion in connection with the uses of the teeth, which cannot be avoided without positive injury."

Then There Is No Safe Way Of Cheating The Teeth Out Of Their Grinding Business?

"None whatever."

What Is The Important Process That You Have Just Mentioned?

"No doubt, you have noticed that when you chew anything, your mouth is soon filled with a slippery ropy fluid, usually known as saliva."

Yes, Where Does It Come From?

"It is a secretion that comes from glands within and adjoining the mouth each of which has a tube draining into the mouth."

"Have these glands names."

"Yes, the principal ones are known as parotid, submaxillary and sublingual glands and there are small glands scattered through the lining membranes of the mouth and tongue. These are called buccal (mucous and serous) glands."

Do They All Secrete The Same Kind Of Fluid?" "Well, It Is All A Digestive Agent, Though The Character Of The Secretion Of Each Is Different?" What Are The Various Uses Or Saliva?

"It was formerly supposed that the saliva had no other use than to moisten the food, and no doubt every one has noticed that as soon as they commence to chew anything, the saliva commences to flow; for that reason, it appeared that the saliva was only intended to make the food soft so it could be swallowed easily, but with the aid of modern chemistry, we have learned that saliva is a digestive agent, which must be mixed with the food during the grinding of the same by the teeth."

What Is The Nature Of The Secretion?

"It is an alkaline solvent that dissolves that part of the food known as starch, gum, pectose and similar sub stances."

In What Is An Alkali Different From An Acid?

"Probably, the nearest we could describe it would be to say that it is the opposite of acid. If we mix them in proper proportions, according to the strength of each, both will become inert."

Then Digestion Of All Foods Containing Starch Begins In The Mouth?

"It begins there if the saliva be mixed with the food but the fact that so many people swallow their food without chewing it, especially all soft foods, such as warm bread, mashed potatoes, pudding, oatmeal and all similar foods, there is not ordinarily sufficient saliva added to digest any quantity worthy of notice."

"Then the old saw, 'who eats slowly lives long' must be true."

"It is."

Has The Saliva Any Effect On Foods Other Than The Starches?

"Not as a digestive agent, but it aids in keeping the particles of food that are crushed by the teeth from adhering together."

How Much Saliva Is Ordinarily Secreted In A Day?

"Those who have carefully estimated it, say that eight to ten ounces are daily secreted."

That Would Hardly Include Tobacco And Gum Chew-Ers, Would It?

"No, chewing tobacco is a perverted use, and tobacco chewers have saliva with which to bathe a considerable portion of the earth but very little for their food."

Of What Temperature Does The Saliva Act On Starch?

"At 103° to 112° F. It does not act below 85° F. 0 any extent, nor over 168° F."

Then Moderate Temperature Is An Important Thing N Digestion?

"Yes, this explains part of the ill effects of ices and very hot drinks."

What Is The Other Part?

"Direct damage to the mucous membrane."