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136 PATHOLOGY OF THE HARD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.
up on the disk or stone in a clot of considerable firmness. The
degree of stickiness of this mass and the firmness of the clot
formed is perhaps the best index to the degree of ropiness of
the saliva. In some individuals this ropiness will be very marked
at each examination for months and years together, but will
differ in degree from time to time. This test, when applied to a
number of individuals, will give a very marked contrast between
those with thin, watery saliva and those with ropy saliva, and
will show all manner of gradations between the extremes. While
the degree of ropiness of the saliva is not a certain index to the
degree of susceptibility to dental caries in the person, it will
almost uniformly be found that caries occurring in the presence
of this condition will be more difficult of management than when
occurring in similar degree in persons with thin, watery saliva.
Proximal cavities, particularly, will more certainly spread
broadly bucco-lingually, and deposits on fillings will 'be more
likely to overstep the margins and cause recurrence of decay.
Therefore, decay is much more likely to recur after fillings have
been made.

GLUTINOUS DEPOSITS FROM THE SALIVA.
Another condition not frequently noted by writers, but one
to which my attention has been strongly drawn clinically, is the
tendency to slimy or glutinous coatings upon the teeth of some
persons, which, apparently, is a deposit from the saliva. These
deposits may be found especially upon the axial surfaces of the
teeth. They also tend to keep the mucous membranes slimy and
slippery to the touch. There is also a degree of viscosity clearly
discoverable by rubbing buccal surfaces of the teeth back and
forth a few times with the finger and then rubbing this material
between the finger and thumb. This seems, often, to be inde-
pendent of any considerable ropiness of the saliva. It seems to
be a deposit from the saliva of a material which it fails to hold
in solution. I have supposed this deposit to consist chiefly of
mucin, but I know of no examinations that certainly indicate its
nature. It is different entirely from the material forming the
gelatinoid plaques. It is apparently not formed under the influ-
ence of microorganisms, or, if so, it is through their influence on
the saliva as a body.
A very curious and possibly important discovery has been
made by the committee of the New York State Dental Society
on dental science, alluded to previously, which may be thus