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cay, and of constitutional and local causes which affect their
living powers and organization internally. But to conceive
of a latent cause which acts upon the substance of the bone
of the tooth, without relation either to its nerve or blood-
vessels, or lining membrane on the inside, or to any delete-
rious influence on the outside, is a stretch of conception
which I can hardly form ; still I will not deny but what it may
be. If so, why are not the fangs as often affected as the
crowns of the teeth. The only answer I can make, is, that
those who advocate the first idea, as a common principle,
have either mistaken themselves in their statements, or they
have mistaken the subject in its true pathology. It would
far exceed the limits of this work to enter into all the rela-
tions of this very important and interesting subject ; but I
must. again assert, that it is to external causes we must revert
to explain satisfactorily the reason of most instances of de-
cayed teeth.

The First General Cause of External Caries

We proceed to notice, is a vitiated state of the saliva or
liquor of the mouth. When I consider that lead, tin, copper,
&c. are very soon dissolved in the liquor of the mouth ; that
even silver should be eroded and dissolved, as is sometimes
the case with silver springs and plates when put in the mouth,
and this is most commonly the case ; that even gold, which is
scarcely acted upon by aqua fortis (nitric acid) should be-
come tarnished in the mouth, and that the firmest and best
ivory is there subject to decay, I am not at a loss to conceive
that under some states of the saliva, it is capable of act-
ing upon the teeth with the most pernicious influence, and
causing a rapid decay of these organs.
I will now enumerate some of the causes which affect the