THE WORLD'S DEBT TO THE IRISH 
mode of eating. Physicians now insist that patients 
should eat something raw every day. Irish habits 
in the matter were the result of instinct and neces- 
sity rather than deliberate choice but they were such 
as to maintain vigor of health and strength. 
The result of these habits was that the Irish had 
excellent teeth as a rule. My grandfather who died 
well past sixty went to his grave with all his teeth 
and had never suffered from a toothache. It would 
be extremely difhcult to find examples of this kind 
among those who have been brought up in America. 
Quite needless to say grandfather did not use a 
toothbrush. He depended for the cleansing of his 
teeth entirely on his habits of eating. He ate a 
good many raw vegetables which required vigorous 
chewing and above all he ate bread that was not 
fresh but that was at least three days old and often 
was a week or more out of the oven. This vigorous 
chewing led to a free flow of saliva and that pro- 
tected his teeth from microbic invasion while at the 
same time the coarse tough bread acted as a direct 
mechanical cleansing agent. The children of the 
Irish did not suffer from enlargements of tonsils and 
adenoid overgrowth because their vigorous chewing 
supplied the salivary secretion which is antiseptic 
and the activity of the mouth and throat protected 
the glandular tissues of the fauces from microbic 
invasion much better than the soft foods that are fed 
to children in the modern times. Their poverty and 
their instincts led to the formation of habits of eat- 
ing that proved more healthy in the long run than the 
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