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112 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY

of a stvle. The same effect may be obtained, says Galen, by the appH-
cation of blue vitriol mixed with very strong vinegar.
To prevent a carious tooth from producing pain or fetor, he advises
the carious hollow to be filled up with black veratrum mixed to a paste
with honey.
To restore to blackened teeth their whiteness, Galen advises them to
be rubbed with special medicaments, one of which is made up of dried
figs, burnt and pounded, with spikenard and honey. He gives, besides
the receipts of many dentifrice powders and tinctures designed both to
strengthen the teeth and gums and as preservatives against the diseases
of these parts. Such powders and tinctures do not offer any interest to
us, since they do not much differ from those recommended by other
authors whom we have previously quoted.
When one or more teeth, in consequence of a trauma, or from other
cause, become loose and project above the level of the others, Galen
removes the whole exuberant part by means of a small iron file. In per-
forming this operation, after having covered the gums with a soft piece
of cloth, he holds the tooth to be filed steady with the fingers of the left
hand, using the file in such a way as not to give the tooth any shock.
Besides, he does not complete the operation at one sitting, but rather
mterrupts it as soon as the patient feels any pain, and continues it after
one or two days. In the meanwhile, he makes use of remedies suited
to strengthen the loosened teeth, and bids the patient remain silent and
nourish himself with liquid or soft food.
When the teeth, without the action of external causes, become loosened,
Galen holds that this is due to a relaxation of the dental nerve in conse-
quence of an excessive abundance of humors. In such cases he counsels
the use of desiccative remedies.
Galen, like ancient authors in general, is not very favorable to the
extraction of teeth with the forceps. Even he seems convinced that a
tooth may be made to fall out, without pain, by means of the application
of certain remedies, to which we have already alluded. However, in
one of the Galenic books' we find the precept already given by Celsus,
that before extracting a tooth the gums must be detached all around;
from which one may argue that, at least in certain cases, instrumental
extraction was considered inevitable. Galen even alludes to the pain
which sometimes remains after the extraction of a tooth, and is of the
opinion that this depends upon an inflammatory condition of the stump
of the dental nerve.
In (lalin are found recorded many means of cure, recommended by
celebrated doctors of ancient times. Klsewhere we have already spoken

' Mfdicus, chap. xix.