ild was visited by
the assistant medical inspector. There was a marked improvement in his
facial expression,--he looked intelligent, was alert and interested.
When asked how he felt, he answered, "I feel fine now." It required
about fifteen minutes to get his history, during all of which time he
was responsive and interested, constantly correcting statements of his
father and volunteering other information. Eleven days after the
operation he was reported to have had no more epileptic seizures.
"Doesn't talk in sleep. Doesn't snore. Doesn't toss about the bed. Has
more self-control. Tries to read the paper. His immoderate appetite is
not present."

[Illustration: REASON ENOUGH FOR MOUTH BREATHING
Adenoid and tonsils reduced one third]

While the open mouth is a sure sign of defects of breathing, it is not
true that the closed mouth, when awake and with other people, is proof
that there are no such defects. Children breathe through the mouth not
because they like to, not because they have drifted into bad habits,
not because their parents did, not because the human race is
deteriorating, but because their noses are stopped up,--because they
must. A mouth breather is not only always taking unfiltered dirt germs
into his system but is always in the condition of a person who has
slept in a stuffy room. What extra effort adenoids mean can be
ascertained by closing the nostrils for a forenoon.

For many reasons it is perhaps unfortunate that we can breathe at all
when the nose is stopped up. If we could see with our ears as well as
with our eyes, we should probably not take as good care of our eyes. In
this respect the whole race has experienced the misfortune of the man
of whom the coroner reported, "Killed by falling too short a distance."
Because we can breathe through the mouth we have neglected for
centuries the nasal passages. When a cold stops the nose we necessarily
breathe through the mouth. Unfortunately children make the necessary
effort required to breathe through the nose long before other people
notice the lines along the nose and the slow mind. Mouth breathing will
show with the child asleep, before the child awake loses power to
accommodate his effort to the task. Therefore the importance of a
physical test at school to detect the beginnings of adenoids and large
tonsils before these symptoms become obvious to others.

No child should be exempted from this examination because of apocryphal
theories