OCR Text |
Show I I I; Starch As Truly Enslaved I '"171 a as Are Drug HiaterS Fiends By DR. J. R. GIBBS. . mmmmmmmll New Y'fc c"y !T i31101'1"' time ngo 1 wns called in to n case of n girl' who was suffering from anaemia. She workcl in a laundry. I mmm ltl6dtioncd her closely as to her habits of eating and living. A 1 -'glnted her diet nnd gave her strong medicines. The case J; ,jn(1'c1 mo' Finally she happened to remnrk tliat she chewed a Mn lot of Hfarch. 1 ordered her to quit it, and she promised mo pSf 8''c would. But she broko her word again and again. I la- 1)0r-Ctl ,1Cr tlirC "lon,,ls foro who finally gave up starch- , From this girl 1 got my insight into a habit which after it. cn l'cnr8 of study I now do not profess to understand. Like many work- inS K'8 8"C was a'gum-chewcr. I,wondcr how many gum-chewors realize the strength of the hold the habit has upon them? This girl one day forgot for-got to stock up with gum before going to the laundry. Once at her work slio could not get away. For weeks and months she hod ch6wcd gum as she worked. Her jaws had been incessantly in motion. On this day she was constantly conscious of the absence of the gum. She was unhappy. She, had nothing to chew on. She chewed her handkerchief, but it had not the consistency of gum and did not satisfy. The thought 'of gum became almost an obsession. Finally, in desperation, she thought of starch. It was white and powdery, but in a short time the moisture of the mouth and the manipulation manipula-tion of the jaws reduced it to somewhat of the consistency of gum. It was opoor substitute. ' She chewed starch all that day. The longer she. chewed a "wad" of etarch the sweater it became. That evening she noticed that her teeth were Avhiter than they had ever been before. ' She confided this discovery to another girl m the laundry, who informed her that she had been chewing chew-ing starch n ldng time. The second' girl had a complexion which was.much admired." It wa3 white and colorless but very clear. My patient's informant told her that many laundry girls chewed starcli for the complexion. So my patient gave up gum and chewed starch constantly. True, her complexion improved, but she did not know that n clear, white complexion is but an indication of impoverished blood. She kept on. The odd thing' about starch-eating is that .starch has absolutely no .medicinal virtue, nor dies it exhilarate or depress. It is simply an inferior in-ferior food which .makes ilabby, worthless flesh. It is a clog to the digestive diges-tive apparatus, and the starvation of the blood is a sure result of its long continued use. I cannot understand where the appetite if there is an appetite comes in. . Yet persuading a starch-eater to give up the habit is a long nnd difficult process. |