BETEL NUTS.
The natives of the Malay Peninsula and neigh boring islands are addicted to the habit of chewing betel nuts, the seeds of the Areca palm. The fruit is the size of a hen's egg. Inside the fibrous husk is the nut, which is sliced and wrapped in the leaves of a peppery plant. The saliva of the chewer turns red and flows freely, owing to the hot and bitter taste of the substance. The effect is at first stimulating, then stupefying to the senses. Moreover, the habit is one that cannot be thrown off. The teeth gradually turn black, and decay.
Often a victim of this practice is toothless at twenty-five years from it. Ceylon exports half a million dollars' worth of these nuts annually.
The gum-chewing habit seen so much in this country is less defensible among our intelligent people than the betel-chewing of the dark-skinned natives of the East Indies. They have less knowl edge of the proper care of a healthy body, and no higher standards to judge their habits by than those inherited from half-civilized parents