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ger in our bosoms when least we expect it. The teeth form
a link in a series of organs, whose united healthy functions
are necessary to the health of the animal ;—a link which, if
struck, the whole chain vibrates—a link which, if weaken-
ed, the strength of the whole series is impaired.
We are not to contemn the diseases of the teeth because
they seem insignificant. Many persons are formed of a fibre
so fragile, as to be broken by the slightest shock ;—of a stam-
ina so delicate, as to be affected by the slightest impres-
sion. Disease in its steps at first is, at it were, soft and hesi-
tating, weak in its powers, and slow in its progress. (Nunc,
nunc, monstrum horrendum. Meda advertite.) But every
instance of indulgence and each succeeding advantage gain-
ed, confirms its steps, increases its powers, and hastens its
progress, and what but a moment ago seemed a thing too in-
significant to mention, now rises a monster that derides
human effort, and whose sting is the arrow of death.
Almost unappreciable are the beginnings of many fatal
diseases ; and could the grave reveal its secrets, I have not a
doubt, when I consider the number of diseases produced by
diseased teeth, but it would be found that thousands are
there, in whom the first fatal impulse was given by a diseased
state of these organs ; and could I raise my voice so as to be
heard by every medical man in America, I would say to him,
attend to your patients' teeth, and if they are diseased, direct
such remedies as shall restore them to health ; and if in
health, such means as will keep them so ; and know for your
satisfaction and pleasure, that you will always administer to
the well-being and best interests of your patients, and may
perhaps occasionally preserve a valuable lite.
The Indian lightly esteems the rills he bestrides upon the
mountains of the cloud-capt cordilleras ; how little does he