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102 FIRST PERIOD—ANTlOUITT
iudo-ino- h\ some indications to be found in Latin literature, it must be
admitted that the Roman dentists of antiquity constructed other kinds
of prosthesis besides the specimens we possess, and in particular movable
dentures. We are led to suppose this, not only from the above cited
epigram of Martial, but also from what we read in one of the satires of
Horace, who dates contemporarily with Augustus, and therefore anteriorly
to Martial. Speaking of two old witches who had been put to flight
by Priapus, Horace writes: "You would have laughed to see those two
old witches run toward the town, losing in their flight, Canidia, her false
teeth, Sagania, her false hair."^
Now, as Prof. Deneffe very rightly observes, the prosthetic appliances
of antiquity known to us are so firmly fixed to the natural teeth that no
race, however unbridled, could ever have made them fall out of the mouth.
It must, therefore, be admitted, as I have said, that the ancients con-
structed other kinds of dental appliances, of which no specimens have,
as vet, been discovered.
Neither in Celsus nor in Pliny, nor in any other Roman writers on
medicine, do w^e find any allusion to the art of dentistry. The doctors
of those days probably had no idea of the advantages which could be
derived from dental prosthesis in regard to digestion and consequently
to the health of the whole bodw They therefore must have considered
artificial teeth as something totally foreign to their art, and intended solely
to hide a physical defect. It is therefore not at all surprising that they
have not treated of this subject.
As the art of setting artificial teeth was exercised by persons not be-
longing to the medical profession, it is very probable that these persons
also undertook the extraction of teeth and the cure of dental pains.
Martial (Book X, Epigram LVI) names a certain Cascellius, who,
he says, "extracts or cures diseased teeth,"- and this is the first dentist
whose name has been sent down to us. In spite of this, nothing permits
us to affirm that there existed at that time a class of real dentists, viz.,
of persons dedicated to the exclusive cure of dental disease. There are
strong reasons for doubting this, especially when we consider that the
Latin language has no word corresponding to the word dentist. If
/
there had existed a true dental profession, there ought also to have existed
a name for indicating the individuals who exercised it. Therefore, it
must be considered highl\- probable that, although there undoubtedl}-
existed individuals who were especialK skilled in the cure of the diseases
of the teeth, such persons did not form a sj^ecial class; perhaps, among
those tf) whom recourse was had for the cure of dental diseases, some were
doctors, parriciilarl\ skilled in such diseases, others were perhaps barbers,

lloraf. S;it. viii, lih. i. ^ Eximir aut rcflcit dcnreni Cascellius segrum.