The Oregon daily journal., September 21, 1913, Page 67, Image 67

Your
Maine
THYROID :
GLAND for
POOR TEETH
MORIS important than all the dentist and their
new fillings and methods is the mystery of Why
teeth decay. Dr. IL Swan Waller, an eminent
British dental authority, belleres that a certain duct
less gland in the neck, known as the "thyroid," largely
controls the destiny of our chewing apparatus. Of
course, nobody doubts that cleaning the mouth, select:
lng proper food and genertt care of the health aid In
keeping the teeth sound; anu lack of these things con
tributes to their breaking down. But these ace not the
only causes nor the main ones.
In spite of neglect and Ignorance, -some people hare
absolutely no trouble with their teeth, while others
tniBh and clean and yet spend small fortunes with the
dentis "A polished tooth never decays," they say,
and this is probably true, but It is equally true that
nobody can keep every portion of every tooth polished
all the time.
"The lungs and the liver and the heart and other
organs are supposed to take care of themselves with
out one's personal attention," says Drj Waller. "That
Is nature's business. If nature does not attend to her
BIRDS to Teach Us
WHEN TO MARRY
How A Little.Organ in YOUR NECK Makes Your TEETH GOOD or BAD
business we ought not to he perpetually dusting and
sweeping and clean!ngap after her as If she were a
careless housemaid, bnt should call her to account
"Good health was early recognised as ono of the
foundations for good teeth. But many cases of excel
lent general health show poor teeth, so we must con
clude that there are various kinds of good health, some
which include the teeth and some which, do not. Also
many patients of very feeble constitution for some
reason have no need of the dentist"
Among all the varying causes of health and disease
Dr. Waller finds one constant factor. When there is
trouble with the thyroid gland there Is trouble with
the teeth.
All over the body, In nooks and corners, are found
all sorts and sizes of glands. Some of these are well
understood, such as those that secrete saliva for the
mouth or tears for the eye. These -have outlets called
"ducts," which empty their products where they are
needed. There are also other kinds of glands which
have no outlet These are called the "ductless glands,
and whatever they secrete goes right Into the blood
itself. The thyroid is a blind, ductless gland. It is In
the neck and when enlarged causes the disease known
as "goitre."
The thyroid does several wonderful things for the
body of which we know; and doubtless several others,
unknown. The entire process of growth and develop
ment of a body into a full grown adult depends on this
small body hidden away behind our mouth.
When a baby is born without an adequate thyroid
it becomes what is known as a "cretin." The cretin
is not likely to be more than four feet tall, probably
less. His Intellect hardly progresses at all, often re
maining so chlldlbh that he is absolutely dependent on
others all his life. The cretin lives a dull, vegetable
like existence and takes note of very little that goes
on around him.
His bones are stunted and feeble, curvature of the
spine Is common and bow legs exaggerate the short
stature of the cretin. In the case of an Imbecile of
this kind with so many things wrong, it Is not sur
prising that the symptom of bad teeth should be passed
by with little interest Yet decayed teeth are the most
invariable symptom of all.
' Cretinism can be cured nowadays by treatment with
thyroid extract taken from the thyroid glands of ani
mals. This artificial supply gives the system the mis
sing element In building materials and the cretin at
once begins to grow and even make up for lost time.
If the treatment is begun early enough, the system Is
able to turn out quite a presentable human being in
the end.
Where the artificial thyroid substance Is supplied
before the permanent teeth appear these arrive strong,
full-slaed and able to resist the attacks of the microbes
and acids of the mouth. If the treatment begins after
the1 permanent teeth have come, they are small, in
formed and doomed to perpetual decay until they are
removed.
In the teeth, the action of the thyroid element Is
particularly suggestive of mortar. If there is extreme
scarcity of this element in the blood the teeth will be
stunted and malformed. If the lack Is not so great
the building of the teeth will go on, but the structure
is like a wall built by a stingy mason who has skimped
on the Quantity or Quality of his mortar. The tooth
crumbles away at the points nature stinted just as
bricks fall out of a poorly-made wall.
But the thyroid gland not only supplies a sort of
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A An Unhealthy Thyroid Gland
Make a Tooth Crumble Away, Jut
as Poor or Insufficient Mortar
Make the Brick Fall Out of a Wall
B Location of the Thyroid Gland,
Which, According to Dr. Waller,
Must Be Healthy if One I to Have
Good Teeth.
mortar for building, bnt it gives us anti-toxins to' fight
germ diseases. It Is such a faithful, self-sacrificing
body that It will wear Itself out in defence of the sys
tem. Before the thyroid was discovered It was noticed!
that an epldemio of typhoid fever In a community was
followed by an Increase in tuberculosis and other dis
eases among the convalescents. In the 'typhoid pa
tlents the thyroid gland had exhausted itself in
overcoming the disease and was unable 'to resist the
next invasion of tubercular germs. During this period
of thyroid prostration the teeth give incessant trouble,
but not usually while the system is combating the first
disease Among children's diseases, 'measles seems to
throw the heaviest burden upon the gland and
measles Is usually followed by a sudden increase In
dentists' bills.
The reason that mothers before childbirth usually
suffer from their teeth is because,the thyroid secretion
in their blood is drawn upon for the growth of the
child so that the mother's system, Including her teeth,
is robbed of its share. Giving thyroid extract to ex
pectant mothers not only prevents decay of their teeth!
but relieves nausea. ,
Of course, any person suffering from cretinism to si
marked degree, if treated at all, would be given enough
thyroid extract to supply the teeth as well as the rest
of the system. The persons to be benefited by Dr.
Waller's investigations are those who were born with)
healthy thyroid glands but have exhausted them la
fighting diseases. Such persons may stop the ravages
of decay in their teeth and avoid more obscure trou
bles in other parts of the system by putting them
selves under thyroid treatment This sbould be doue
of course, under the direction of a physician.
Why COCOA Is M VEGETABLE EGG
AT WHAT age does nature intend human
beings to marry? This is a question
which has received little scientific at
tention in the past, but the development of
eugenics will doubtless soon bring it to the
front.
Valuable data on the subject may perhaps
be obtained through certain unique research
work now being conducted by Profeesor John
B. Watson, head of the department of expert
mental psychology at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity. Professor Watson is making a study
of wild bird life, paying particular attention
to the age at which the feathery creature
mate.
It has been found that the red grouse,
partridge and most -pheasants produce their
young broods the season after the first Sum
mer in which they become attired in their
Cull feathery regalia.
Blackbirds and black game generally be
have differently. The plumage of the young
male is similar to that of the gray female.
In December the black garb is complete, but
the curved tall feathers do not reach their
full growth until the third year, and not until
then do these assume the marriage yoke a
flimsy silken skein esteemed by them ever
so lightly.
Gulls and wild sea fowl generally do not
mate or rear young until childhood's simple
feathers are laid aside. The third season
seems to be the best time for their mating.
The herring gull Is even as much as four
years old before It enters into the bonds of
wedlock. Most of the duck tribe start to mate
In their second season and rear young when
two years of age.
Ravens, falcons and eagles, particularly
golden eagles, and peregrines, do not mate
until the second year after they have hatched,
and many of them are four years old before
they begin to take care of an eyrie.
I COMPARE cocoa to a vegetable egg, because, like
the egg, it contains everything necessary for the
building of the animal body. When we analyze
cocoa we find it a perfect natural food. Analysis
teaches us that it contains a fair proportion of nitro
genous matter in the shape of gluten, a very large
proportion of fat a considerable amount of starch, so
much mineral matter, and, finally, a stimulant of its
own called theobromine.
Cocoa is an excellent substitute for tea and coffee,
especially to those who are over-stimulated by these
beverages. Pure cocoa is easily digested. Sat be sure
that you get it pure. Avoid all such preparations of
cocoa in which hops, kola and like substances have
been mixed. If yon find that one brand of cocoa does
not agree with yon, try another, until you find the one
which is best fitted for your constitution.
Cocoa Is the truly American "beverage, for It was
discovered by the Spaniards when they first landed In
Mexico, being there used by the natives In large quan- '
titles- Linnaeus appreciated its value, calling its chief
alkaloid theobroma (drink of the gods), suggesting by
the name that it was fit for the gods to drink, the real
ambrosia of the ancients.
It is native to South America and the land about
the Gulf of Mexico. The flowers appear upon the main
branches of the plant, one fruit developing from a
cluster of flowers. This fruit or pod Is from seven to
ten inches In length, and contains from twenty to fifty
seeds, what we call the cocoa beans. These beans
were so highly appreciated by the Mexicans that the
Spaniards found them used as currency. In order tc
secure the beanB the pods are opened, and the beans
In their fleshy bed are first dried out then fermented
and again dried or cured. In this condition they are
shipped all over the world for the manufacture of choco
late and cocoa.
The first process of manufacture is to roast the
bean carefully. Just to the proper point Then the
beans are crushed, and if chocolate is to be made, the
finely ground bean is mixed with water and flavored
with vanilla, becoming a paste, which is moulded Into
the familiar cakes of various sizes In which It Is mar
keted. In fact, the word chocolate Is made up of two
Mexican words, choco and lath, cocoa and water, for
Mexicans manufactured chocolate In the very same
way. They did not however, have the Improved mode
used now of extracting the oil under tremendous hy
draulic pressure, for this is the method of making the
coca used now so widely. This operation makes cocoa
far more digestible than chocolate, for the oils make
a drink too rich for the digestion of most persons, but
cocoa may be digested by any normal system.
The introduction of chocolate In London in 1657
created a great sensation, and it at once became the
fashionable drink. In the eighteenth century it was
widely used, and the consumption has increased enor
mously year by year since that time, as men and
women learned to appreciate the high nutritive .value
of cocoa, especially with the oil removed.
The United States consumes more than 26 per cent,
of the total production of cocoa, or over sixty tons per
annum. Germany consumes almost fifty Ions, and
France 28,044 tons each year. Great Britain uses
over twenty-nve tons, so it may be seen that this is an
enormous Industry, and one of the most valuable prod
ucts grown.
Why Some EYES FIND THINGS Easfly
ALL good eyes do not see alike. People whose eyes
will show the same focus by an expert test
do not see alike. They may look at the same
object and see it entirely different
Some men are adepts In finding something with their
eyes, while their companions who may possess Just as
good vision are not able to locate objects at all without
great difficulty.
The man who can walk about the lawn or in the
park and pick up four-leaf clovers has an eye that is
worth big money to him. He can easily be trained to
see things that the ordinary man will miss, or have to
look a long time to find.
Some men who go hunting can see a squirrel in -an
oak or hickory tree with apparent ease, while others
will go strolling about the timber and never see the
game at all. It is the same way in the open Held. The
rabbit can be found sitting by some while others will
almost run over the creature before they are detected.
This ability Is a gift This Is not only a gift de
veloped by some and undeveloped by others as a result
of their surroundings, but It measures the exact amount
of intelligent effort they have expended in attaining this
ability, also their preseverance in this line of endeavor.
Aside from the external causes that have made us
what we are, environment and heredity, is an inherent
capacity of individual Intelligence, or in other words
natural ability.
To define intelligence is not herein attempted, the
purpose being only to show what natural ability aided
toy the right method has done and may still da
It therefore remains that It is not the physical con
dition of the eye alone that determines the difference
of perception, but how well it has been trained, along
what line, and the innate capacity of the Individual In
telligence that directs It. -
The brain is really responsible for our ability to
eee objects better than others. Our soul has a closer
connection with things material, and the powers of the
brain are prompted by those inner powers that man is
at loss to fully understand..
We are benefited by the development of quick per
ception simply because tre movements of man in this
age are so much more rapid than in former ages we
must see and grasp the situation quickly, or our time
and efforts are spent in vain.
The brain is sunplled with impression plates as a
camera is supplied with plates to catch the object to be
photographed, and unless we can expose Instantaneous
brain matter we are slow.
Physically speaking, the reason why some men's
eyes are able to perceive more than others is due to
the effort made in training both eye and brain intelli
gently and persistently.
Heredity and surroundings are important factors,
but the inherent capacity of Individual intelligence, or
natural ability, Is the physical reason, Thus natural
ability, aided by intelligent effort and perseverance, per
foots our faculties. How. well we hare done sV shows
the strength of our will power, the degree of Intelli
gence, effort expended, and how we have persisted In
that line of endeavor.
This ability Is a gift and it may be cultivated to a
certain extent but there must be the natural ability be
fore the education will make the gift extremely pro
ficient Some say they never have the luck to find anything,
while others scarcely go out but they pick up money
or sometfhing of value. The eye simply does not take
In the situation.
Ab proof of these assertions, and for the very best
test or practice, let a person enter a room and remain
a given number of seconds or minutes, and then let
him retire and tell what he saw in the room. Practice
of this kind will make persons much more proficient
and it Is an excellent test for those who need their per
ceptive powers sharpened up for some certain vocation.
Such development in man of to-day is very valuable.
Our movements must be rapid," our understanding quick
and our action immediate It we are on a level with the
eventB of to-day,
How SWEETENED WATER Makes
TO prolong the life of cut flowers two pro
fessors of the School of Agriculture at
Rennes, France, have recently compared
the effect of various solutions with that of plain
water.
Over 100 different kinds of flowers were tried.
It was found that most of them would live and
stay fresh much longer if some sugar was put
Into the water in which they were kept
Sugar, however, was no help to tulips, daisies
or chrysanthemums, and it was a positive injury
to lilies and sweetpeas. It accelerated the open
ing of the buds, especially of roses and orchids.
Small quantities of chloral, ether, glycerine,
alcohol, lime water, and even" ammonia salts,
served to lengthen the lives of various kinds of
flowers. The water thus "modified" should come
CUT FLOWERS KEEP LONGER
as near as possible to the blossoms. In other
words, the stems should be immersed as deeply
as possible.
Some of the flowers kept in sugar and water
lived four times as long as would ordinarily be
the case. The amount of sugar required varies.
Carnations require 15 per cent of sugar, and
roses from 7 to 10 per cent Orchids should
have from 10 to 20 per cent
Flowers wilt because of the collapse of the
Individual cells of which they are made up.
They remain fresh as long as the pressure of
fluid within and without the cells stays uniform.
This balance of pressure depends upon a
liquid containing substances In solution, and by
"modifying" the water the requisite substances
may be artificially furnished.
The professors of Rennes state that to change
the water in which cut flowers are standing is
Injurious to the flowers, except when It Is neces
sary in order to prevent " the accumulation of
products of decay.
The consumption of cut flowers is enormous.
Nothing takes their place in the decoration of
rooms and banquet tables; therefore any avail
able means" of lengthening the duration of their
freshness so lamentably brief under the usual
conditions will be eagerly welcomed.
Floral adornments of this kind for a r.lns-1-.
wedding reception or dance in a home of wealth
and fashion would brighten the convalescent
waras or nair a dozen hospitals. If the length of
life and beauty of cut flowers could be no more
than doubled, tons of them could be put to this
charitable use daily in every large city after they
had served their original festive purpose.
Why to Shun BANNISTERS
IF we expect to avoid coming in contact
with all sorts of dreaded disease germs,
we should avoid catching hold of the
stair bannister on the stairway where
people of every walk of life are passing hour
ly. We naturally elide our hand up or down
the bannister as a means of support or pro
tection, but by so doing we are placing our
selves in much greater danger.
Janitors of alLpubllo Jmildings, should be
compelled to keep the stair bannisters as
clean as possible. A carbolic wash or other
antiseptic should be used.
In school buildings the stairways should be
made in Buch a manner as to avoid the ban
nister. Iron railings or bannisters are more sani
tary than wooden ones, and easier kept clean.
Brass ones are worse than wood.
Elevators have killed a few people, but at
the same time they have saved the lives of
thousands in permitting people to go up and
down in great structures without being al
most compelled to run their hands through a
coat of disease germs.
What Would Happen if the 5
EARTH TURNED FASTER
Y T has been figured out that if the earth were to
I rotate eighteen times as fast as It does now a man
at the equator would weigh nothing and that if he
jumped in the air he would remain there.
The man who would weigh nothing at the equator
would weigh 200- pounds at the-poles, and varying
no planets that turn eighteen times as fast as the
How You Can't Stop EARS GROWING OLD
THERE seems to be no hope for your ears. They
will grow old, no matter what you may try to
do for them. The other features of the face
respond more or less readily to treatment by the beauty
doctor. But the ears are hopeless.
Only very young people have really pretty ears.
We all- know what constitutes a pretty eai- shapeli
ness, plumpness of outline, and roslness. In addition,
it must be smalt But even the most beautiful ear has '
lost much by the time it Is In Its early thirties.
For one thing, it Is not so shapely as It was. Ageing
is a wasting process;' lis most significant phenomenon
Is shrinkage of tissue. This shrinkage makes itself
apparent earliest in the ear.
The ear is (built on a skeleton of cartilage. When
the enclosing layer of flesh shrinks even a little, It
begins to reveal more or less of the harsh outline of the
cartilaginous skeleton. Los of beauty Is the result
Owing to the. same tendency to shrink, a vertical line
or wrinkle, appears directly, fn front of the ear, It
marks the beginning of age, add is ineradicable; not
even the most skilful massage expert can take It out
Of course, the ears of a plump person do not ex
hibit the wasting process so markedly as those of a thin
person. Nevertheless, they lose their beauty of contour
soon after ybuth is past It one takes the trouble to
look, It will be noticed that the ears of elderly people
are usually very ugly though, doubtless, many of those
same ears were pretty once upon a time.
To be pretty, as already mentioned, an ear must
be at least reasonably small. But, unfortunately, ears
grow big. The other features stop growing when adult
age is reached, but the ears keep on growing very
slowly through life.
Anybody who looks about him will find that the
largest ears belong to the oldest people. The middle
aged ears he will notice are bigger than the ears that
are newly grown up.
We are net accustomed to think of ears as features
"As the ear shrink. vertical
wrinkle appear directly in front of of Importance, except for hearing purposes. But as a
it. The line mark the beginning f matter of fact, they have, a whole lot to do with, the
age, and it-, removal fa imnostiUe,' expression of the face,
weights between the poles and the equator. There are
earth, but there are some' where the force of gravity la
entirely different to what It is here. On the moon the
average man would weigh no more than fifty pounds,
it has been estimated, and could Jump as many feet
that is, fifty feet without-trouble Thle, however
would happen on any part of the moon, not because of
the centrifugal force, as would be the case If we were
spinning about eighteen times faster, but due to a lack
of gravltatlve force on the moon.
Measuring labor from our present standard, ft
laborer would have to receive enormous prices at the
poles and scarcely anything at the, equator, for at the
poles everything would be extremely heavy, while at
the equator a man might pick up a small cottage if he
could get a good grip on It and carry It about
To go south under such circumstances . would mean
more than It does now1, for In the South a man wouldl
feel light and springy, he could, walk all day without
tiring and Jump over almost any obstacle, like a tree
or a house, landing lightly.
Unless railroads ran east and west the problem
would be difficult to solve, it seems. Inasmuch as a
locomotive could scarcely pull the train in the North,
while in the South they would have to run under the
lightest of pressure or else. With full steam on and no
gravity, the train would pass the equator at about the
literal speed of lightning. . -'-','
All this is, of course, conjecture, but It Is based on
careful, studies of centrifugal force and Its action, a