ioi8 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



The teeth should receive care from the first. Before the child is old 

 enough to handle a toothbrush, the mouth should be washed out twice 

 a day with absorbent cotton wet with dilute boric acid water. The im- 

 portance of keeping the teeth clean is twofold: first, to prevent their 

 decay, and second, to remove particles of food which, left in the mouth, 

 decompose and later, when swallowed with the food, start decomposition 

 in the intestine. Good digestion in later life depends so much on proper 

 mastication that defective teeth often interfere seriously with nutrition. 



It is poor economy to neglect the care of a child's teeth. Last year's 

 hat and coat had better do double duty if it is a choice between new clothes 

 and the services of a good dentist. In many of the large cities, dental 

 inspection in the schools is being required, for it is now known that decayed 

 teeth may so affect the child's general health as to make him dull and 

 backward. It has been found to be cheaper for State and taxpayer to 

 pay for medical inspection than to pay for teachers to go on teaching over 

 and over again curably dull and backward children. 



The child's dietary should be so regulated as to ensure right nourish- 

 ment of all bony tissues. Any habits such as " thumb sucking " or the 

 habitual use of that pernicious plaything, the " soother " or " comforter," 

 shoiild be discouraged. The pressure on the gimis through constant suck- 

 ing throws the whole arch of the inouth out of symmetry and later makes 

 mastication difficult and thus impairs digestion. Adenoids are said to be 

 caused by thumb sucking and the use of the comforter. 



DRUGS 



The belief that all ills may be cured with drugs is fortunately diminish- 

 ing as the knowledge of nutrition and hygiene increases, but there is still 

 too much " faith in the label on the bottle." Onl)^ a good physician 

 should be allowed to determine what medicines shall be given to the child. 

 The following quotations concerning soothing syrups are made from a 

 recent government bulletin on habit-fomiing agents, and show what 

 disastrous treatment is often innocently given to the baby: 



"It has long been known to the medical profession that these products 

 as a rule contain habit-forming agents, but the majority of mothers have 

 been and still are ignorant of this fact." 



" In some instances, in which the remedy is freely used and the child 

 does not succtmib, there is developed a case of infant drug addiction. As 

 soon as the effects of one dose pass away, the child becomes irritable and 

 fretful, with the result that another dose is administered, the craving is 

 met, and the child is quieted, a condition which is analogous in every 

 respect to drug addiction among adults. The chief active agents of sooth- 



