,
counting the chews, or otherwise making a bore of eating. It merely
means giving up the habit of forcing food down, and applies to all
foods, even to liquid foods, which should be sipped.

[Sidenote: Evils of Insufficient Mastication]

The consequences and evils of insufficient mastication are many, and may
be enumerated as follows: Insufficient use of the teeth and jaws (and
hence dental decay as well as other and worse dental evils);
insufficient saliva mixed with the food (and hence imperfect digestion
of the starchy substances); insufficient subdivision of food by
mastication (and hence slow digestion); the failure of the taste nerves
to telegraph ahead, as it were, to the stomach and other digestive
organs an intimation of the kind and amount of digestive juices required
(and hence indigestion); the overseasoning of food to make it relishable
even when bolted (and hence overeating and irritation of the mucous
lining); the excessive use of meat and eggs and like foods, which can be
eaten rapidly with relative impunity, and the corresponding neglect of
other foods, like bread, grains, vegetables, and salads, which require
more mastication (and hence intestinal poisoning).

[Sidenote: Prolonged Relish of Food]

The habit of insufficient mastication is subtle, because it has become
"second nature" with most of us. To free ourselves of it we must first
of all allow plenty of time for our meals and rid our minds of the
thought of hurry. A boy's school in which the principal is endeavoring
to fight the habit of food-bolting has wisely ordained that no boy may
leave the dining-room until a certain hour, even if he has finished
eating long before. In this way the boy soon learns that there is
nothing to be gained by fast eating, and, in fact, that the pleasantest
way of spending the meal-time is to prolong the relish of the food. It
would be well if all of us would adopt a similar rule for ourselves.
Mr. Gladstone did something of the sort and was noted for the slow
mastication of his food. Latterly Mr. Horace Fletcher set such a rule
for himself, and revived the interest of the public in the subject.

[Sidenote: The First Three Mouthfuls]

At first one must give some conscious attention to his efforts to
reform; but if one will merely attend carefully to the first three
mouthfuls of a meal, the slow pace can often be established for the rest
of the meal without further thought.

[Sidenote: Careful Tasting]

Slo