Owing to its tendency toward unsightly redness and malformation, the
nose is very apt to be looked at from a comic point of view. Wits and
caricaturists fix on it habitually for their nefarious purposes, as if
it were a sort of facial clown. Indeed, ninety-nine persons in a
hundred, if questioned regarding the functions of the nose, would know
no answer but this: that it is sometimes ornamental, and is remotely
connected with the “almost useless” sense of smell.
We have seen, however, that besides being ornamental _per se_, the nose
plays a most important æsthetic—as well as utilitarian—_rôle_ in giving
sonority and variety to human speech; and that it is, further, of great
use as an apparatus for warming, moistening, and filtering the air
before it enters the lungs. Hence the importance of nose-breathing.
Professor Reclam states that city people at the age of thirty usually
have _a whole gramme of calcareous dust in their lungs_, which they can
never again get rid of, and which may at any time engender dangerous
disease. This is one of the bad results of mouth-breathing, but by no
means the only one. “The continued irritation from dry, cold, and
unfiltered air upon the mucous membrane of the upper air tract soon
results,” says Dr. T. R. French, “in the establishment of catarrhal
inflammation, the parts most affected being the tongue, pharynx, and
larynx.... The habit of breathing through the mouth interferes with
general nutrition. The subjects of this habit are usually anæmic, spare,
and dyspeptic.”
That mouth-breathing at night leaves a disagreeable taste in the mouth
and leads to snoring, thus interfering with refreshing sleep, has
already been stated. It also injures the teeth and gums by exposing them
all night to the dry air. And in the daytime it compels one to keep the
mouth wide open, which imparts a rustic if not semi-idiotic expression
to the face. Moreover, think of the filthy dust you swallow in walking
along the street with your mouth open. However, it is useless to advise
people on such matters. An attempt is made for a day or two to reform,
and then—the whole matter is forgotten. These points are therefore noted
here not with any missionary intentions, but merely for their scientific
interest.