Page 482 - My FlipBook
P. 482
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478
out the fear of contradiction from those who, like me, have tried
them, and who may perhaps use them again, they are so seldom
to be depended upon that I was obliged to abandon many
of them : the reader may then suppose that before having
done so, I submitted them to numberless trials, for the sole
purpose of ascertaining the use of each. In the mean time
the oxide of manganese is then an ingredient, a substance
which might be well used in an emergency for the fabrica-
tion of incorruptible teeth ; and if I admitted it into two of
my formulas, it was to prove that my aim was directed to all
the useful substances in the manufacture in which we are
engaged.
The oxide of manganese mixed with those of titanium
and gold, produces the most natural tints, but it is necessary,
where they may be seen by the formularies, No. 17 and 18,
to employ them in larger proportions.
§ viii. Of the Oxide of Gold.
The oxide of gold is, perhaps, of all the oxides, that in
which the colouring principle is the strongest and most ac-
tive: it is used in very small proportions, and frequently
colours too much the paste and enamel into which it enters.
To perfectly understand what I have here just said, about
the inconvenience attached to the use of this oxide, it is prop-
er to recollect that our teeth, although they appear to be of
a stony and inert substance, are, notwithstanding, not the
less animated with the principle of life.
The circulation of the blood takes place in the interior of
our teeth, as in other parts of the body, by means of ramifi-
cations, which penetrate all their bony substance ; inasmuch,
if a tooth is broken, the blood may be seen oozing from the
middle of the bone.
478
out the fear of contradiction from those who, like me, have tried
them, and who may perhaps use them again, they are so seldom
to be depended upon that I was obliged to abandon many
of them : the reader may then suppose that before having
done so, I submitted them to numberless trials, for the sole
purpose of ascertaining the use of each. In the mean time
the oxide of manganese is then an ingredient, a substance
which might be well used in an emergency for the fabrica-
tion of incorruptible teeth ; and if I admitted it into two of
my formulas, it was to prove that my aim was directed to all
the useful substances in the manufacture in which we are
engaged.
The oxide of manganese mixed with those of titanium
and gold, produces the most natural tints, but it is necessary,
where they may be seen by the formularies, No. 17 and 18,
to employ them in larger proportions.
§ viii. Of the Oxide of Gold.
The oxide of gold is, perhaps, of all the oxides, that in
which the colouring principle is the strongest and most ac-
tive: it is used in very small proportions, and frequently
colours too much the paste and enamel into which it enters.
To perfectly understand what I have here just said, about
the inconvenience attached to the use of this oxide, it is prop-
er to recollect that our teeth, although they appear to be of
a stony and inert substance, are, notwithstanding, not the
less animated with the principle of life.
The circulation of the blood takes place in the interior of
our teeth, as in other parts of the body, by means of ramifi-
cations, which penetrate all their bony substance ; inasmuch,
if a tooth is broken, the blood may be seen oozing from the
middle of the bone.
