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ever applied to reducing the sensibility of the nerves so as to
allow of the reception of a plug, until the practice was adopt-
ed by Mr. Harrington. I consider from its easy application,
and almost certain good effect, that it is a discovery of
great consequence, and places the name of Mr. Harrington
amongst the foremost of those whose labours and discoveries
have contributed to the advancement and perfection of this
part of medical science.

Of the Instruments required in Plugging the Teeth.

There are two kinds of instruments used in this operation,
and required, in order to perform it in a proper manner.
The first are those with which we clean out the cavity which
is formed by the progress of the caries, of all putrid foreign
or dead matter. These consist of small bent instruments,
made of steel, with pearl, ivory, bone or wooden handles, or
many of them to fit one handle with which to scrape out
the cavity ; others are a kind of hard drills, having the ends,
instead of terminating flat, like the common drill, terminat-
ing in a small bur or chevy, as it is termed by mechanics ;
this bur may be cut so as to have four or six edges, and with
this we may drill the tooth, and take away all the dead and
inflamed matter, and shape the cavity so that it will receive
and retain a plug. Every operator should have a considera-
ble variety of these instruments, so as to adapt them to eve-
ry case. The instruments he rquires for forcing in the me-
tallic substance should be made of steel or iron, having their
points blunt, and attenuated to different sizes, and bent in dif-
ferent shapes as well as straight, so as to fit them to the size
and situation of the different cavities which are to be filled.
He may likewise have a handle, to which he can fit different
pieces of iron or steel wire, and which he can readily adapt