Substance of the work entitled fruits and farinacea : the proper food of man / by the late John Smith, of Malton ; edited by emeritus professor Francis William Newman, for the Vegetarian Society.

  • Smith, John
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Substance of the work entitled fruits and farinacea : the proper food of man / by the late John Smith, of Malton ; edited by emeritus professor Francis William Newman, for the Vegetarian Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    CHAPTER VII. EFFECTS OF FLESH MEAT ON THE HUMAN TEETH. In the present flesh-eating age of Great Britain, pei-haps no complaint is more general than caries of the teeth ; and, as animal food is a frequent cause of indigestion, it thus conduces to the decay of those useful portions of the human fabric. But there is a more direct mode bj which animal food produces this effect. Bell, Fox, and other writers, attribute the decay of the teeth to inflammation, situated either in the lining mem- brane or the proper bone of the teeth ; but Mr. Robertson (a late author) proves—by a number of considerations drawn from the structure, physiology, and development of the teeth, and from operations performed on them—that caries is the result of chemical action of decomposed food upon the teeth, and not the result of inflammatory action. Upon examination it will be found that there are fissures formed in the enamel of the teeth, in consequence of the irregular distribution of that substance upon the surface ; also, that there are interstices, produced by the crowded position of the teeth, and irregularity of their shape ; and—as the fibres of animal food retained between the teeth undergo a process of decom- position (by the action of oxygen)—they acquire the property of corroding, disuniting, and thereby destroying the earthy and animal substances of which the teeth are composed. At first, there is formed but a very small hole, which is increased by the daily action of the same causes; the phosphate of Hme is gradually disintegrated by the carbonic acid, aided by the secretions of the mouth, until, at length, the nerve becomes exposed, and toothache is the result. Vegetable food is not so liable to be detained .between the teeth ; but when this does occur, it is not so injurious, because the starch of which this food principally consists is much more easily acted on by the saliva, and converted into gum or sugar—one of the nutrient prin- ciples. The pojDular notion that sugar injures the teeth i.s incorrect, excej)t in cases where, by its admixtui-e with other substances, it causes indigestion. It has been alleged, says Dr. Wright, that the eating of sugar spoils the colour of and corrupts the teeth. This, however, proves to be a mistake ; for no people on the earth have finer teeth than the negroes in Jamaica.* It has been previously shown that the teeth of the carnivora are formed for tearing, and not for masticating, and stand like the teeth of a saw ; by which means the particles of flesh, which so readily putrify, have no chance of lodging * Dr. Wright's Medical Plants of Jamaica.