Chewing

“ That it may be more rightly and clearly understood how the flesh and blood of Christ can be food and drink of the faithful, and be received by them unto eternal life, let us add these few remarks. Chewing is not of one kind alone. For there is a corporeal chewing, by which food is taken into the mouth by man, bruised with the teeth and swallowed down into the belly. ”

“ Later than biting, but still before the teeth are cut, chewing becomes instinctive, and also licking. Between the tenth and the sixteenth week the head becomes completely balanced, the efforts in this direction being voluntary and determined by the greater comfort of holding the head in an upright position. ”

“ One receives the impression, upon the whole, of an admirable chewing apparatus, conveying pleasant suggestions of much and good eating. But, at the same time, one traces in these features, especially in those of the women, a certain touch of ingratiating petted softness. ”

“ We have learned that chewing is not merely a process of cutting our food into such lumps as we can swallow without hurting ourselves; but that the food must be ground up fine and thoroughly mixed with the saliva, that the saliva may reach every particle of starch. ”

“ Their habits and manners and aspirations and desires appear in effect to be based entirely on nut-chewing, which, as every naturalist is aware, tends to render the chewer acquisitive, cute, tricksome, not given to reflection, tough and nimble of body, and reasonably devoid of soul. ”

“ So prevalent is the habit of chewing, and so little, from long custom, do the ladies care about it, that I have been told that many young ladies in the South carry, in their work-boxes, etcetera, pigtail, nicely ornamented with gold and coloured papers ”

“ In this country, this preliminary process is often sadly neglected, so much so that a distinguished investigator, named Horace Fletcher, has, within the last few years, established a school for the cultivation of the habit of chewing, with the idea that if this practice could be encouraged and at least twenty chews taken with every mouthful, the health of the individual would be vastly improved and sick persons even cured merely through this practice. ”

“ CHEWING, or mastication, is the action of the teeth, by which solid food is broken, and divided into smaller particles: thus, being at the same time mixed with the saliva, it is better prepared for digestion, both on account of its pulpy state, and the solvent nature of the fluids, secreted by the salival glands, during the exertion of the adjacent muscles. ”

“ Surely it is a most unbeautiful sight to see a number of people, young and old, with or without teeth, filling their mouths with mutton or beef, chewing, denticating, masticating their morsels, and then washing them down with wine or water. ”

“ We examine the teeth, and find those of the Dog, the Cat, and the Bear sharp and cutting, while those of the Cow, the Deer, and the Horse have flat surfaces, adapted to grinding and chewing, rather than cutting and tearing. We compare these features of their structure with the habits of these animals, and find that the first are carnivorous, that they seize and tear their prey, while the others are herbivorous or grazing animals, living only on vegetable substances, which they chew and grind. ”

“ In the back part of her mouth she has six broad, flat teeth on each side of each jaw, with which she chews her food.
6. Cows are of different colors. Some are red, some are black, some are white, and some are spotted or striped. I have seen one kind that looked like a black cow with a white blanket on.
7. When the cow eats grass, she swallows it without chewing. When she has enough, she stands still or lies down, and the grass comes up into her mouth in little balls, and these she chews fine and swallows again. ”

“ Why, after the cow has chewed the fresh green grass or the dry hay in her mouth, she sends it down into a large stomach, to be soaked; then she sends it into another stomach, to be rolled into balls; then up it goes into her mouth again, to be chewed over; and each little ball is a cud. ”

“ Next calves lie dying all over the luxuriant grass, and yield up their sweet life by the full manger: next madness comes on the kindly dogs, and a hard rattling cough and choking swelling of the throat on the sickened swine. ”

“ She likes rats and mice far better than books.
Ah! that poor little mouse, it is out of its pain,
And will never feel pussy’s sharp talons again.
I hope it has not left some young ones at home,
Who with hunger may die ere their mother shall come.
And yet ’twould be wrong to say puss is not good,
For the rats and the mice, you know, serve her for food;
And though we may pity the poor little mice,
Yet we don’t like to lose our cheese, butter, and rice.
THE COW
Most parts of the cow are useful and good,
For leather, for lanthorns, for candles, or food ”

“ The habit of the cow, also, in eating the placenta, looks to me like a vestige of her former wild instincts—the instinct to remove everything that would give the wild beasts a clue or a scent, and so attract them to her helpless young. ”

“ But you notice that the cow has a few different teeth in front; they are made to cut. Now watch a cow as she eats grass, and see how she uses these two kinds of teeth. With the front teeth she bites the grass—that is, she cuts it; then with the end of her tongue she puts it back where the grinding teeth are, to be ground before it goes into the stomach. ”

“ The fowl that is impaled reddens, turns brown, becomes splendid; the fat which moistens it softens its hues; a delightful odor irritates the olfactories; your tongue involuntarily caresses your lips; you take in the divine emanations of the fat; with eyes lifted to heaven in a serious transport, you wait till the cook takes off the creature and offers you the part that belongs to you. ”

“ Not being able to chew, as they have no teeth, they swallow their food without any preparation, nearly as the beak has seized it, and amass a quantity of it in a spacious stomach, just as the ox does in his paunch. ”

“ The custom of painting the mouth and part of the cheeks before each meal, and drinking and smoking out of their own utensils, was strictly and invariably observed, till the winter began to set in; and during the whole of that time they would never kiss any of their wives or children. They refrained also from eating many parts of the deer and other animals, particularly the head, entrails, and blood; and during their uncleanness, their victuals were never sodden in water, but dried in the sun, eaten quite raw, or broiled, when a fire fit for the purpose could be procured. ”

“ But children — never! And I saw this fish being carried from market in its shell, with claws, bright eyes, and shiny tail. . . . The children all hide themselves, and the cook, blinking squeamishly, takes the animal by the claws, puts it on a dish, and carries it to the dining-room. The grown-ups take it, and eat . . . eat it alive, eyes, teeth, claws. And it hisses, and tries to bite their lips.
I frowned disgustedly. But why did my teeth begin to chew.? An animal, disgusting, detestable, frightful, but still I ate it, ate it greedily, fearing to notice its taste and smell. ”

“ The flesh of the hedge-hog is occasionally used as food, and is said to be very delicate eating. The skin, which was frequently employed by the ancients as a clothes brush, is now used by farmers, in some parts of the Continent, to put on the muzzles of calves which they are about to wean, that the cow may not permit them to suck. ”

“ If patients are told to chew their food carefully, however, without further directions than this, it will usually be found that they begin to chew their meat a great deal and their vegetables scarcely more than before. It is, however, vegetables that must be chewed particularly. ”

“ If it is possible for an animal to feel and show contempt, it was revealed in the gaze that cow cast upon me as she turned her head to observe my manoeuvres. I had heard that some cows have a bad habit of holding back their milk. ”

“ Arrangements of its hair so audacious as these need explana­tion, and it is found in the mode of life of the cow. So large a part of its daily life is spent in the business of grazing with her muzzle close to the ground, during which the neck of the animal is constantly stretched downwards from the back at the level of the shoulders, that the skin, which is very loose in this and most other portions of its body, is dragged upon to allow of the extreme flexion of its neck. ”

“ Compare with the cow a horse—an animal of nearly allied structure, but habituated to a more concentrated diet. Here the body, and more especially its abdominal region, bears a smaller ratio to the limbs; the powers are not taxed by the support of such massive viscera, nor the digestion of so bulky a food ”

“ The lowing of the cow, the bellow of the bull, the bark of an angry dog echoing among the hills at eventide, combined with so many other different sounds and impressions, has become enticingly sweet to the pensive listener. The insect-choir of night has as much of the calming and refining influences as the bird-choir of the morning. ”

“ Bulls with broad dewlaps, cows in careworn plight,
Heifers that startle at the curlew's flight,
With solemn steps, and balancing their heads,
Dull, as reluctant to forsake their beds
Of straw, descend, preceded one by one,
By their long shadows in the risen sun ”

“ NO OTHER ANIMAL, even of the same order, possesses in so remarkable a degree the power of converting pasture into flesh as the Leicestershire sheep; the South Down and Cheviot, the two next breeds in quality, are, in consequence of the greater vivacity of the animal's nature, not equal to it in that respect, though in both the brain and chest are kept subservient to the greater capacity of the organs of digestion. ”

“ How should you like to see a cow with her ears—poor thing!—cut to the shape of a leaf with notched edges, and horns trained in some queer shape, twisted into curls, or divided into four, with two meeting overhead, and two turned down toward the ground? ”

“ Now, if any of you lads have ever driven31 cows or sheep, around whose necks bells were hung, you have noticed the natural fact that they have a sound peculiar to themselves. Referring particularly to cows, you may have observed the jangle, jangle, made by the motion of the head in cropping the grass, varied now and then by the confused jumble caused by the animal flinging her head over the back of her neck or fore part of the body to drive away the insects plaguing her. ”

“ To break a Sheep-biting Dog.—Take some wool off a sheep’s rump, steep it in train oil, put it in the dog’s jaws, and sew up his mouth. For killing poultry, boil a chicken in its feathers, take it hot from the boiler, squeeze the water from it and put it into his jaws, and tie them together. ”

“ The cow, for instance, as anyone can see, is merely a walking mammary gland, the giraffe is a neck, a dog—well, anyone knows what a dog is always thinking of—sniffing the wind for news as his sight is so poor—and so a dog can be regarded as a nose. ”

“ The cheeks contain pouches in which a quantity of food can be stored, the animal carrying it in to the safety of its burrow to be eaten, and so avoiding the danger of being out for a long time of feeding. ”

“ The want of improvement in sheep, which is occasionally observed, and which cannot be accounted for by any deficiency or change of food, may sometimes be justly attributed to the tenderness of the mouth when the permanent teeth are protruding through the gums. ”

“ A cock may be distinguished from a hen by a darker back, and the more glossy appearance of the feathers. The belly also is white. Their natural food is insects, worms, and snails. In a domesticated state they will eat raw meat, but snails and worms should be procured for them. ”

“ He could merely see a dark blotch behind the bushes—the carcass of a cow or steer probably—and he watched the beautiful black-and-white birds speculatively as they uttered their shrill, raucous cries, and fluttered about the thicket. ”

“ Then, with huge satisfaction, she began to devour it, making a smacking of the lips and working of the whole apparatus of eating, which proved that she intensely appreciated the uses of mastication, or else found a wonderful joy in it. "How much above an intelligent pig is she?" ”

“ So she said, 'Cat! cat! kill rat; rat won't gnaw rope,' &c. But the cat said to her, 'If you will go to yonder cow, and fetch [page 294] me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat.' So away went the old woman to the cow.
"But the cow said to her, 'If you will go to yonder haystack,* and fetch me a handful of hay, I'll give you the milk.' So away went the old woman to the haystack; and she brought the hay to the cow. ”

“ The stomacher is curiously studded with cowries, and their hair is also bedecked with them. They wear likewise ear-rings, necklaces, rings on the fingers and toes, and, we think, the nut or nose jewel. They pay little attention to cleanliness; their hair, once plaited, is not combed or opened perhaps for a month; their bodies or cloths are seldom washed; their arms are indeed so encased with ivory that it would be no easy matter to clean them. ”

“ It was an entertaining sight to see the dogs catch the large hunks of meat flung to them, which they often swallowed without masticating it, unless one or two bites could be exaggerated into an act of mastication. ”

“ No; as the wolves and lions and bears themselves slay all they feed on, so, in like manner, do you kill the cow or ox with a gripe of your jaws, or the pig with your teeth, or a hare or a lamb by falling upon and rending them there and then. ”

“ I have also frequently shot rabbits that were out feeding, by the aid of a herd of cows. It does not seem to be so much the actual cover as the scent of the animals; for a man of course can be seen over sheep, and under the legs of cattle. ”

“ Their throat is so wide that they can swallow beans, acorns, and even chesnuts whole; and it is said they can imitate various sounds, such as the bleating of a lamb, the hooting of an owl, the mewing of a cat, and even the neighing of a horse. ”