The Teeth

Closely related to the matter of eating is the proper care of the teeth.

Perhaps--without care--the mouth is the filthiest cavity of the body.

We spend a great deal of energy trying to keep food clean and water pure, but what is the use if we place them in a dirty cavity as they enter the body. Full 90 per cent. of the children examined in our schools have decayed and dirty teeth. These decayed teeth provide cavities in which food particles decay and germs grow, and through which poisons are absorbed. These conditions need not exist. Now just a few suggestions about the care of the teeth. Every boy should own his own tooth brush. The teeth should be scrubbed at least twice a day. At night they should receive most careful cleansing, using a good tooth paste or powder. Then again in the morning they should be rinsed at which time simply clean water is sufficient. Time should be taken in the cleansing of the teeth. The gums should be included in the scrubbing, as this acts as a good stimulant to the circulation of the blood to the teeth. Not only should the teeth be brushed with a backward and forward stroke, as we ordinarily do, but also upward and downward the length of the teeth. In addition to the scrubbing, particles of food which are lodged between the teeth should be removed after meals, or at least after the last meal of the day. This is most safely done by the use of a thread of a fair degree of thickness.

Dentists and druggists furnish this thread in spools. Hard toothpicks often cause bleeding and detach fillings. A dentist should be visited once every six months so as to detect decay immediately. Never have a tooth pulled unless absolutely necessary.

Care of the Eyes

Most troubles with the eyes come from eye strain. Styes and red lids are usually due to this cause. See how foolish, therefore, it is to treat these conditions as causes, when really {228} they are only the result of something else. Of course there are exceptions. Sometimes wild hairs and skin disease affect the eyes. Eye strain should be removed by wearing well-fitting gla.s.ses and then these other conditions will disappear. If constant headache is experienced or the eyes itch or become tired easily, there is possibly eye strain.

One way to test the eye is for vision. Place the following letters fifteen feet from you. If you cannot read them clearly with both eyes and with each eye separately, consult a first-cla.s.s oculist.

C L V F O T

E A C F D L O T

D V C L A E O T F

Never buy eye-gla.s.ses unless fitted by an expert. Such gla.s.ses should be worn in proper relation to the eyes. They should not be permitted to slide forward on the nose or tilt. They may need to be changed often as the eyes grow better.

For reading, a good, steady light is needed. Never sit in front of a window facing it to read. Always have the light come from the rear and over the left shoulder preferably. The book should be held on a level with the face and not too close. Sit {229} erect. Reading when lying down or from the light of a fireplace is unwise.

Care of the Ears

Affections of the ears are exceedingly serious and may lead to grave results. Any trouble with them should be given very prompt attention and a good specialist consulted. Pain in the ear, or ringing or hissing sounds, and particularly any discharge from the ear, should not be neglected. Any sign of deafness must be heeded. Sometimes deafness occurs in reference to some particular sounds while hearing is normal to others. No matter what the degree of deafness may be do not neglect to see a physician about it. Ordinarily the tick of a watch can be heard at a distance of thirty inches. If you cannot hear it at that distance and can hear it say at fifteen inches then you are just one half from the normal in your hearing. The test should be made with one ear closed.

Ear troubles are often caused by sticking foreign objects in the ear, such as hair pins, pins, matches, toothpicks and lead pencils. Never pick the ear with anything. Often the ear drum is pierced in this way.

The normal ear does not require anything more than the usual cleansing with the wash rag over the end of the finger.

If wax to any extent acc.u.mulates in the ear it should be removed by syringing, but ought to be done by a physician.

In camp an insect might crawl into the ear and if alive cause pain.

Putting oil or other fluids in the ear to drown it is unwise. If a foreign body should get in the ear it should not cause great alarm unless attended with severe pain. If a physician is not available at once such objects may remain for a day or two without serious results.

Syringing usually removes them, but it should be remembered that some objects like peas or beans swell if made wet. In swimming water is apt to get into the ear and cause annoyance. A rubber ear stop can be secured and placed in the ear at the time of swimming, thus keeping the water out. Cotton should not be stuffed into the ear to keep water out, as it may get inside.

One thing to keep in mind is that catarrh of the nose and throat often extends into the ear pa.s.sages through a tube which reaches from the throat to the ear and that syringing of the nose and throat frequently causes trouble in the ear.

Care of Nose and Throat

Always breathe through the nose. Air pa.s.sing through the nose is warmed and moistened and cleansed; thus it gets to {230} the lungs in a better condition. If you cannot breathe clearly through the nose, have it examined. There may be a growth present which needs to be removed. To become a good runner this is important. Adenoids, which are growths far back in the mouth, often interfere with nose breathing and are serious in other ways. Don't stick anything in the nose; and nose picking is not cleanly. If crusts form in the nose, use a little vaseline to soften them. Don't blow the nose too vigorously. It may cause trouble.

Frequent sore throat may be due to enlarged tonsils which either need treatment or removal. To one who has frequent colds in the head, the out-of-door life and morning sponge bath and moderate eating will be of help.

Care of the Feet

This is an important matter with scouts, as they will make frequent hikes and tramps. The first thing to do is to walk right. The straight foot is the normal foot. The normal foot is broad at the ball with s.p.a.ce between the toes. How different from the awful feet we see with toes twisted upon each other and crowded together. Walk with feet pointing straight forward. The feet that turn outward are weak feet.

Shoes therefore should be straight on the inner border, broad across the ball, and have a low, broad heel. The shoe adopted by the scout movement is a good design.

When a foot is normal, the inner border does not touch the floor. By wetting the foot one can see readily whether he is flat-footed by the imprint made. The following exercises are good to strengthen the arches of the foot if there is a tendency to flat feet: (1) Turn toes in, raise the heels, and come down slowly on the outer borders of the feet; (2) Walk with heels raised and toes pointing inward, or walk on the outer borders of the foot, inner borders turned up.

Shoes should fit the feet comfortably. Tight shoes, or shoes that fit loosely, will cause callouses or corns. The way to get rid of these is to remove the cause--namely, the badly-fitting shoes. Soft corns are due to pressure between the toes. The toes in such cases should be kept apart with cotton. Pointed shoes should be avoided.

Patent-leather shoes are non-porous and hot. Ingrown toe nails are exceedingly painful. The pain comes from the nail piercing the soft parts. Allowing the nail to grow long and beyond the point of the tender spot will help; {231} and on the side of the nail and under it cotton should be inserted to protect the soft parts.

Hot foot baths will generally relieve tired feet. Boys should be very careful in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g corns for fear of blood poisoning. Never buy plates at a store for flat feet. They may not be adapted to your needs. Always consult a foot specialist for treatment and buy plates if needed on his order. Only severe cases need plates.

Many boys are troubled with perspiring feet and are frequently annoyed by the odor resulting. Those who are thus troubled should wash the feet often and carefully, especially, between the toes. By dusting the feet with boric acid the odor will disappear. At first it may be necessary to change the stockings daily. In severe cases two pairs of shoes should be used, changing alternately.

Care of the Finger Nails

The chief thing in the care of the finger nails is to keep them clean.

Each boy should possess and use a nail brush. Always wash the hands thoroughly before eating, and use the end of a nail file to remove the acc.u.mulation still remaining under the nails. Keep the nails properly trimmed. They should not be too long nor too short. If long they are liable to break and if short to be sensitive. Biting the nails is a filthy practice and mutilates the fingers dreadfully and makes them unsightly. It is a very hard habit to overcome ofttimes and will require persistent effort in order to succeed. By keeping the nails smooth the tendency to bite them will to some extent be overcome. A bitter application to the nails will often remind one of the habit, as often the biting is done unconsciously. The nails should never be pared with a knife; a curved pair of scissors is better as the cutting should be done in a curved direction; but the best method is to use a file. The skin overhanging the nails should be pressed back once a week to keep them shapely. Rubbing the nails with a nail buffer or cloth will keep them polished.

Sleep

One thing a growing boy wants to be long on is sleep, and yet he is most apt to be careless about it. It is during sleep that a boy grows most and catches up. During his waking hours he tears down and burns up more tissue than he builds. Good, sound and sufficient sleep is essential to growth, strength, {232} and endurance. A boy scout should have at least nine or ten hours sleep out of every twenty-four. If you lose out on this amount on one day, make it up the next. Whenever unusually tired, or when you feel out of trim, stay in bed a few hours more if it is possible. A boy should wake up each morning feeling like a fighting c.o.c.k. When he doesn't he ought to get to bed earlier that night. Sleep is a wonderful restorative and tonic. It helps to store up energy and conserve strength.

Sleeping Out of Doors

The conditions under which one sleeps are as important as the length of time one sleeps. Many people are finding it wonderfully helpful and invigorating to sleep out of doors. Often a back porch can be arranged, or, in summer, a tent can be pitched in the yard. But, by all means, the sleeping room should be well ventilated. Windows should be thrown wide open. Avoid drafts. If the bed is in such relation to the windows as to cause the wind to blow directly on it, a screen can be used to divert it or a sheet hung up as protection. Good, fresh, cool air is a splendid tonic. In winter open windows are a splendid preparation for camping out in summer.

Conservation

In this chapter much has been said of the active measures which a boy should take in order to become strong and well. We should be equally concerned in saving and storing up natural forces we already have. In the body of every boy, who has reached his teens, the Creator of the universe has sown a very important fluid. This fluid is the most wonderful material in all the physical world. Some parts of it find their way into the blood, and through the blood give tone to the muscles, power to the brain, and strength to the nerves. This fluid is the s.e.x fluid. When this fluid appears in a boy's body, it works a wonderful change in him. His chest deepens, his shoulders broaden, his voice changes, his ideals are changed and enlarged. It gives him the capacity for deep feeling, for rich emotion. Pity the boy, therefore, who has wrong ideas of this important function, because they will lower his ideals of life. These organs actually secrete into the blood material that makes a boy manly, strong, and n.o.ble. Any habit which a boy has that causes this fluid to be discharged from the body tends to weaken his strength, to make him less able to resist disease, and often unfortunately fastens upon him habits which later in life he {233} cannot break. Even several years before this fluid appears in the body such habits are harmful to a growing boy.

To become strong, therefore, one must be pure in thought and clean in habit. This power which I have spoken of must be conserved, because this s.e.x function is so deep and strong that there will come times when temptation to wrong habits will be very powerful. But remember that to yield means to sacrifice strength and power and manliness.

For boys who desire to know more of this subject we would suggest a splendid book by Dr. Winfield S. Hall, ent.i.tled, "From Youth into Manhood." Every boy in his teens who wants to know the secret of strength, power, and endurance should read this book.

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