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P. 182
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182 Cleanliness of the Mouth.
every part of the East Indies, pay great attention to their
teeth. They are said to have better teeth than the inhabitants
of any other part of the world, which we may fairly attribute
to their habit of keeping the teeth and mouth free of foreign
matter.*
IMPORTANCE OF CLEANLINESS OF THE MOUTH.
The importance of keeping the teeth perfectly free of foreign
matter, has been illustrated in the consideration of "caries of
* " The natives of India, says Dr. Lind, (who was in the service of
the East India Company during twenty-five years, and travelled over
every part of India,) rub their teeth with fibrous wood, draggon's blood,
canes, and mallow roots, which cleans the interstices of the teeth."
"The natives of Hindostan, the Bramins in particular, are extremely
delicate in every point relating to the teeth; every morning when they
rise, they rub them for upwards of an hour together with a twig of the
racemiferous fig-tree, at the same time addressing their prayers to the
sun, and calling down the blessing of heaven on themselves and their
families. As this practice is prescribed in the most ancient books of law
and divinity, we may imagine it coeval with the date of their religion
and government. It exhibits a curious proof of the regard which this pol-
ished and scientific people had for the purity and beauty of the mouth,
when so simple a practice is inculcated as a law, and rendered indis-
pensible as a religious duty." Murphy, page 151.
The natives throughout India, use a tooth powder, which they call
mungun, prepared from the betel or areca nut ; its constant use gives to
the teeth a reddish cast, which they consider as an acqusition to the
beauty of them.
" We respire, about twenty thousand times in twenty-four hours,
and yet, for months and years, this vast quantity of air is rendered poison-
ous by one or more diseased teeth. How little does it avail an indi-
vidual, if by every possible means the purity of the air is preserved ; if
no impurities are suffered to remain in the streets ; if his tenements are
kept clean, his apartments ventilated ; if he makes distant journeys at a
great expense of time and money, for the benefit of pure air, and at the
same time, carry the cloaca of filth in his own mouth? If the state of
the breath, caused by bad teeth, so affects the olfactory nerves of a per-
son near an individual having bad teeth, what must be its effeet upon
the delicate and sensible tissues of the lungs of the person himself?
Nature has formed the langs mo3t delicate and sensible, and susceptible
to the slightest injurious impressions:—She has also finely temper-
ed the atmosphere for its safe and healthy reception in these delicate
organs; but an accident, or a disease, may render it impure, unfit for
respiration, and cause it, instead of harmonizing with the lungs in the
most perfect manner, to exercise a baneful influence, armed with pesti-
lence, and scattering the seeds of disease over the lungs, thus pouring
the streams of deadly poison through every vein of the system."— Fitch,
on the Teeth, pages 300, 301.
182 Cleanliness of the Mouth.
every part of the East Indies, pay great attention to their
teeth. They are said to have better teeth than the inhabitants
of any other part of the world, which we may fairly attribute
to their habit of keeping the teeth and mouth free of foreign
matter.*
IMPORTANCE OF CLEANLINESS OF THE MOUTH.
The importance of keeping the teeth perfectly free of foreign
matter, has been illustrated in the consideration of "caries of
* " The natives of India, says Dr. Lind, (who was in the service of
the East India Company during twenty-five years, and travelled over
every part of India,) rub their teeth with fibrous wood, draggon's blood,
canes, and mallow roots, which cleans the interstices of the teeth."
"The natives of Hindostan, the Bramins in particular, are extremely
delicate in every point relating to the teeth; every morning when they
rise, they rub them for upwards of an hour together with a twig of the
racemiferous fig-tree, at the same time addressing their prayers to the
sun, and calling down the blessing of heaven on themselves and their
families. As this practice is prescribed in the most ancient books of law
and divinity, we may imagine it coeval with the date of their religion
and government. It exhibits a curious proof of the regard which this pol-
ished and scientific people had for the purity and beauty of the mouth,
when so simple a practice is inculcated as a law, and rendered indis-
pensible as a religious duty." Murphy, page 151.
The natives throughout India, use a tooth powder, which they call
mungun, prepared from the betel or areca nut ; its constant use gives to
the teeth a reddish cast, which they consider as an acqusition to the
beauty of them.
" We respire, about twenty thousand times in twenty-four hours,
and yet, for months and years, this vast quantity of air is rendered poison-
ous by one or more diseased teeth. How little does it avail an indi-
vidual, if by every possible means the purity of the air is preserved ; if
no impurities are suffered to remain in the streets ; if his tenements are
kept clean, his apartments ventilated ; if he makes distant journeys at a
great expense of time and money, for the benefit of pure air, and at the
same time, carry the cloaca of filth in his own mouth? If the state of
the breath, caused by bad teeth, so affects the olfactory nerves of a per-
son near an individual having bad teeth, what must be its effeet upon
the delicate and sensible tissues of the lungs of the person himself?
Nature has formed the langs mo3t delicate and sensible, and susceptible
to the slightest injurious impressions:—She has also finely temper-
ed the atmosphere for its safe and healthy reception in these delicate
organs; but an accident, or a disease, may render it impure, unfit for
respiration, and cause it, instead of harmonizing with the lungs in the
most perfect manner, to exercise a baneful influence, armed with pesti-
lence, and scattering the seeds of disease over the lungs, thus pouring
the streams of deadly poison through every vein of the system."— Fitch,
on the Teeth, pages 300, 301.
