148 Heredity and Child Culture 



ing all through life, and children should thus 

 be taught to live on simple, nutritious and, if 

 necessary, inexpensive foods. This should 

 form part of their education. The palate must 

 be educated as well as the brain. 



The food given little children is often too soft. 

 Hard, gritty substances are needed to exercise 

 the teeth and develop the jaws. Too many 

 sweets and sugary substances also affect the 

 mouth as well as the digestive tract. These 

 conditions favor early decay of the teeth, which 

 does not occur among the lower animals. Ac- 

 cording to modern studies, the mouth assumes 

 great importance in the economy of digestion 

 and assimilation. It is likewise the source of 

 some focal infections that may affect distant 

 parts of the body. 



After considering the time and manner of eat- 

 ing, all that remains is to be sure that a properly 

 balanced diet containing all the necessary in- 

 gredients for growth and development is given 

 the child. The following is a convenient classi- 

 fication found in Farmers' Bulletin, No. 808 of 

 the U. S. Government. 



