eathe through the nose. In the course of a few
months the complexion will have cleared, the expression will have
regained its natural intelligence, digestion will be well performed,
and the child's whole condition will be that of alert vigour instead
of one of listless and sullen indifference.

Errors of Digestion.--From the consideration of certain states of
the nose, mouth, and throat, it is easy to turn to what is so often
their consequence. Many forms of indigestion are due to the septic
materials swallowed. It would not, however, be fair to say that all
indigestion is thus caused; not infrequently indigestion is due to
errors of diet, and here the blame must be divided between the poverty
and ignorance of many parents and the self-will of adolescents. The
foods that are best for young people--such as bread, milk, butter,
sugar, and eggs--are too frequently scarce in their dietaries owing to
their cost; and again, in the case of many girls whose parents are
able and willing to provide them with a thoroughly satisfactory
diet-sheet, dyspepsia is caused by their refusal to take what is good
for them, and by their preference for unsuitable and indigestible
viands.

A further cause of indigestion must be sought in the haste with which
food is too often eaten. The failure to rise at the appointed time
leads to a hasty breakfast, and this must eventually cause
indigestion. The food imperfectly masticated and not sufficiently
mixed with saliva enters the stomach ill-prepared, and the hasty rush
to morning school or morning work effectually prevents the stomach
from dealing satisfactorily with the mass so hastily thrust into it.

There is an old saying that "Those whom the gods will destroy they
first make mad," and in many instances young people who fall victims
to the demon of dyspepsia owe their sorrows, if not to madness, at any
rate to ignorance and want of consideration. The defective teeth,
septic tonsils, discharging adenoids, poverty of their parents and
their own laziness, all conspire to cause digestive troubles which
bear a fruitful crop of further evils, for thus are caused such
illnesses as anaemia and gastric ulcer.

Constipation claims a few words to itself. And here again we ought
to consider certain septic processes. The refuse of the food should
travel along the bowels at a certain rate, but if owing to
sluggishness of their movements or to defects in the quality and
amount of their secretion, the re