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because a vast majority of physicians and surgeons have
never made themselves acquainted with the diseases of the
teeth ; consequently they have imputed phthisis to other
causes, have seldom attended to the state of the teeth and
gums, or the effects of their diseases upon the lungs, and yet
conclusions drawn from well authenticated facts and the
most logical reasoning, justify the assertion, that diseased
teeth and gums do produce phthisis, and a few well authen-
ticated cases positively demonstrate the alarming fact. We
have only thus far considered the effects of diseased teeth on
the respired air, and through this medium on the lungs, but
we should also remember that the records of medicine, are
full of cases when disease in one part, is produced by some
irritation in another ; for instance, a wound upon the head
has been known to produce an abscess in the liver, and
worms in the bowels, are known to produce dropsy in the
brain, hydrocephalus ; and a wound in the foot, to produce
lock-jaw ; and a small tumour beneath the skin of the leg,
to produce epilepsy. If these apparently slight causes have
produced such alarming affections of the system, is it unfair
or unreasonable to suppose, that a diseased state of the
teeth, or their being in a state of putrefaction and con-
stant irritation and inflammation, should not, at times, pro-
duce the most fatal diseases in the general system and
in the lungs, as well as any other organ. I will con-
clude these observations in the language of Dr. Rush.
He says,* " When we consider how often the teeth, when de-
cayed, are exposed to irritation from hot and cold drinks and
aliments, from pressure by mortification, and from the cold
air, and how intricate the connection of the mouth is with the
whole system, I am disposed to believe they are often un-
suspected causes of general and particularly of nervous dis-

* Medical Inquiries, Vol. I. pages 349 to 353.