resumed.

_What are the symptoms of chronic indigestion?_

These, although familiar, are not so easily distinguished and are very
often attributed to the wrong cause. There are usually general
symptoms such as indisposition, disturbed sleep, grinding of the
teeth, fretfulness, languor, loss of weight and anæmia. There are
besides local symptoms: flatulence, abdominal pain, abdominal
distention, constipation, or looseness of the bowels with mucus in the
stools, foul breath, coated tongue, loss of appetite, or an abnormal
capricious appetite. Such symptoms are often wrongly ascribed to
intestinal worms.

_What are the common causes of chronic indigestion?_

This is generally the result of a bad system of feeding, either the
prolonged use of improper food or of improper methods of feeding.

Examples of bad methods of feeding are, coaxing or forcing to eat,
rapid eating with insufficient mastication eating between meals,
allowing a child to have his own way in selecting his food, as when he
lives largely upon a single article of diet. Things to be considered
under the head of improper food are, indulgence in sweets, desserts,
etc., the use of imperfectly cooked foods, especially cereals and
vegetables, and of raw or stale fruits.

_Is it not true that a diet or a special article of food which does
not make a child ill is proof that such a diet or such a food is
proper for a child?_