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the face, neck, and various parts of the body ; several ofwhich
became painful and extensive ulcers ; a considerable degree of
fever, apparently hectic, was excited ; a copious and fetid
discharge flowed from the mouth and throat, which impeded
sleep, and the soreness of the fauces prevented a sufficiency
of nourishment from being swallowed. An antisceptic course
of bark and other tonics were first tried and persevered in,
till found to be of no service whatever, and calomel pills, in
alterative proportion were then had recourse to in their
stead. This plan was found to soften every symptom, and
totally to eradicate many ; but the bowels were soon affected
with severe pain and purging, and the calomel was exchanged
for strong mercurial ointment, which, from the present debil-
ity of the patient soon produced a like effect, and an effect
that could not be corrected by opium. The venomous taint
or putrescent tendency, though occasionally driven back, as
often rallied, and at length prevailed ; and the patient fell a
victim to it, in the greatest distress and misery. The person
from whom the tooth had been taken, had, in the mean time,
continued in perfect health ; and upon a minute inspection,
as well of the sexual organs as of the mouth, evinced not the
slightest syphilitic affection." Many similar cases could be
produced, but enough in this one case is told to prove that the
performance of this operation is mt>st fearfully pregnant with
bad and fatal consequences. This mode of replacing lost
teeth is one which cannot be too much deprecated nor too
pertinaciously avoided. It is a truth that the blood of one
person, in apparent health, will prove a poison to another ; as
I have witnessed in cases when a physician has suffered his
lancet to become bloody, and, without cleaning it, to bleed
another person. I have known two cases of this kind, when
the persons barely escaped with their lives ; and how much
more, when a warm, living tooth from one person's jaw has