condition under which the food is eaten. Healthy stomach digestion
requires at least five hours for its completion, and the stomach should
have an hour for rest before another meal. If fresh food is taken before
that which preceded it is digested, the portion of food remaining in the
stomach is likely to undergo fermentation, thus rendering the whole mass
of food unfit for the nutrition of the body, besides fostering various
disturbances of digestion. It has been shown by recent observations that
the length of time required for food to pass through the entire
digestive process to which it is subjected in the mouth, stomach, and
small intestines, is from twelve to fourteen hours.

HYGIENE OF DIGESTION.--With the stomach and other digestive organs
in a state of perfect health, one is entirely unconscious of their
existence, save when of feeling of hunger calls attention to the fact
that food is required, or satiety warns us that a sufficient amount or
too much has been eaten. Perfect digestion can only be maintained by
careful observance of the rules of health in regard to habits of eating.

On the subject of Hygiene of Digestion, we again quote a few paragraphs
from Dr. Kellogg's work on Physiology, in which is given a concise
summary of the more important points relating to this:--

"The hygiene of digestion has to do with the quality and quantity of
food eaten, in the manner of eating it.

"_Hasty Eating._--If the food is eaten too rapidly, it will not be
properly divided, and when swallowed in coarse lumps, the digestive
fluids cannot readily act upon it. On account of the insufficient
mastication, the saliva will be deficient in quantity, and, as a
consequence, the starch will not be well digested, and the stomach will