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THE ROMANS 103

and so torrli. As to the tar-tetcliccl clcductioiis of Geist-Jacohi, according
to wlioni the name jii\en to dentists In the Romans must ha\e been
that ot artiji'x ilftitiinn or nrtifrx iiicdiciis Jt'iit/iitn, these are h)unded,
above all, on imagination. It is extremeh improbable that such names
existed, Nvhen one considers that the\ are not met w ith, e\en once, in the
whole range ot Latin literature.
ScRiBONius Largus. Among the writers on Medicine in the early
period of the Empire, one of the most eminent was, without any doubt,
Scribonius Largus, ph\sician to the Kmperor Claudius, whom he accom-
panied to England in the \'ear 43.
Scribonius Largus, in his book Dc coinpositioiir tiiedicafitcutoriDii,
pronounces himself energetically against tlie dnision of Medicine into
single special branches. He declaims against the many who attributed to
themselves the name of doctors, simply because the}' knew how to cure
some diseases. According to him, the true doctor must be skilled in
curing all kinds of afl^'ections. This, in truth, was possible in those times,
but would be almost impossible nowadays, on account of the enormous
development of the healing art. The ideas, however, expressed by
Scribonius Largus have a certain historical importance, for thev show
that in his times the medical art had certainly the tendency to split up
into many special branches, among which there must certainly have been
dentistry, but that the necessity of such separation was not by any means
universally recognized; the great doctors of those da\s undertook the
cure of the diseases of the teeth, as well as those of an\' other part of
the body.
The tenth chapter of the book of Scribonius Largus treats of the cure
of odontalgia. The author begins by saying that it is the opinion of many
that the only true remedy against toothache is the forceps. With all this,
he adds, there are many medicaments, from which great benefit ma\ be
derived against these pains, without it always being necessary to have
recourse to extraction. Even when a tooth is affected with caries, says
the author, it is not always advisable to extract it; but it is much better,
in many cases, to cut away the diseased part with a scalpel adapted for
the purpose.
"Violent toothache may be calmed in various ways, viz., with mouth
washes, masticatories, fumigations, or by the direct application of fitting
medicaments. It is beneficial to rinse the mouth frequentl\ with a decoc-
tion of parietaria or of cypress berries, or to apply to the tooth the root or
the seeds of the hyoscyamus wrapped up in a cloth, and dipped from
time to time in boiling water, or to chew the portulaca (purslane), or to
keep for some time its juice in the mouth."
"Suitable also ajrainst toothache are fumip-ations made with the seeds
of the hyoscyamus scattered on burning charcoal; these must be followed