Page 336 - My FlipBook

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From himself I learned that he had long been afflicted
with this disease, which had not only made inroads on his
health, but also on his imagination, having been subject to
torment during the day, and interrupted repose during the
night, as he in his own words described in a most unaccount-
able way, frequently starting from sleep, with the sensation
of loud smacks on his face, as if from sharp irons, sometimes
feeling as if they were cold, and sometimes hot ; always ap-
pearing to have been inflicted by some one who had vanished
on his waking. With difficulty repressing the smile, which
already agitated my lip, at the tale of terror so gravely
told by the truly grotesquely attired invalid, I begged him
to be seated, and after unloading his head of its encumbering
coverings, I soon saw the stump of the second bicuspis,
pressing on the exterior periosteum or covering membrane of
the first molaris, or large grinding-tooth, which, having ex-
cited inflammation, had become loosened in its tri-fanged sock-
et, so as to occasion its descent to an insolated state of contact
with teeth of the the lower jaw, in the grinding mechanism of
mastication. The irritating pressure of the stump on the
membrane of the molaris, (or perhaps when in full propor*
tion before its fracture, which he said had been done by one
of his kind friends, anxious to relieve him from pain,) had
commenced the calamity which, with its attendant excruci-
ations and the then state of excitement, admitted no hope of
cure short of extraction. The tooth though formidable from
size, was easily and safely removed, just as the medical at-
tendant again entered the room, and relief of course afford-
ed to a certain extent ; but not completed till the expulsion
of the stump some few days after, when every disagreeable
sensation subsiding, health was established in the usual
course, along with the conviction that two teeth, with much
intermediate misery, owing to original bad management had