Page 224 - My FlipBook

been influenced by that notion to such a degree that they -
are not using their teeth as they should use them ; they

complain that their beefsteak is tough, that it is difficult
to chew. If the teeth are in good condition, and if the
habit of the use of the, teeth has been what it should be,
there is no beefsteak that the person cannot chew with ease.
For a good many years past I have, whenever I have found
a person complaining that their beefsteak is tough, at once
began making inquiries as to what was the matter; there
was something wrong. During some experiments upon this
subject I went to a butcher and told him to look out for a
piece of the toughest meat that he could find. Some days
later he said that he had what I wanted and he presented
me with a piece of meat from the muscles of the neck of
an old ox, and said if that wasn't tough he wouldn't be able
to furnish me with a tough piece of meat. I took it, had
some of it fried and tried its toughness—with this instrument,
the phagodynamometer. I had at the same time with me
looking over the experiment a couple of gentlemen. One
of them could bite down 240 pounds on gnathodynamometer
and the other 220 pounds, with their molar teeth. The meat
was very nicely cooked. I had them try it and they had
no difficulty whatever in chewing it ; could mash right
through it without any difficulty whatever. I tried it on
this instrument to determine the number of pounds neces-
sary to crush the fibers of that meat, and I found that over
the surface of two molar teeth, which I have here, it re-
quired ninety pounds. I have a little piece of meat here—
a bit of roast mutton. The principal point is to show you
the manner of making a test to learn how much pressure
is required to crush different articles of food with the teeth
rather than to show you the hardest thing- that can
be crushed. If I had some nuts we might crush them
and eive vou the number of pounds necesisarv. Now, anv
of you, in chewing a piece of meat that is a little bit
hard, if you will notice carefully during the mastication,
will find that there is a crackling sound emitted just at
the time the fiber of the meat is being broken up. If your
occlusion is good that crackling sound will be prominent,
when you notice particularly for it, but habitually we do
not notice it. In chewing meat with this machine we find

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