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THE ARABIANS 125

simply shaken the tooth without eoiiipleting its extraction; wliich accord-
ing to him was due to the douhle reason that hv shaking the tooth a
resolution of the morbid matter stagnating under it is provoked, and the
action of the medicaments that are afterward made use of is thus favored.
Among the eradicating remedies, the author enumerates white arsenic,
orpiment, coloquintida, tith\ maiius, the fat of frogs, and others. He
remarks, however, that before using them it is advantageous to detach
the gum all around.
Against the supposed worms in carious teeth, he praises fumigations
made with the seeds of the hyoscvamus, garlic, or onion.
Arsenic is used by him not only for the above-mentioned purpose,
but also for the cure of Hstulas and foul ulcers of the gums.
When a tooth has become abnormally long, Avicenna makes use of
the hie to reduce it to a proper size; and in performing such an operation,
he holds the tooth firmly between the fingers, or with a pair of pincers
suited for the purpose. As a consecutive treatment, he prescribes frictions
with alum, laurel berries, and aristolochia.*
Abulcasis. Among the Arabian authors, he who has the greatest
importance in regard to dental art is undoubtedly Abulcasis (Abul-
Casem-chalaf-ben-Abbas). Whilst Avicenna was one of the greatest
physicians, Abulcasis was one of the greatest surgeons; and very justly
he has been called the genius of Arabian surgery.
Abulcasis had his birthplace in Alzahra, a small Spanish village, five
miles from Cordova; from this he derived the name of Alzaravius, by which
he is also known. Historians are not agreed upon the date of his birth.
According to the most probable opinion, he was born about the year
1050 and died in 1122 at Cordova, a city which, on account of its cele-
brated school, was then a most important centre of scientific and literar\'
culture.
Among the works of Abulcasis, the one which brought him the greatest
fame was the treatise De Chiriirgia. It is divided into three books, in
the first of which he speaks of all the diseases which can be treated
by cauterization; in the second are described all the operations which
are performed by cutting, perforating, or extracting (wherefore, obstetrics
is also included in this book); in the third, lasth', the author treats, region
by region, of fractures and luxations.
Chapters XIX, XX, and XXI of the first book have reference to dis-
eases of the teeth and gums. As these chapters are very short, we are
pleased to give here an almost literal translation of them:
"When in the lower part of the gums, or in the palate, there appears
a little tumor, which afterward becomes purulent and opens and changes

' Avicennae opera in re medica, Venetiis, 1564.