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THIRTKENTH TO FIFTEENTH CENTL'R/ES \A:\

of the healing art had not made an\ progress from the time of Ahiilcasis
to that of Gli\ de ChauHac (about two centuries and one-half), and that
this most famous surgeon did not contribute an\ thing \vorth\- of note
to the development of dentistr\-.
On the anatom\ and physiology of the teeth (nn de Chauliac ex-
presses himself ver\- brieflw "Teeth are of the nature of bones, although
thev are possessed of sensibilit\', due to some nerves which the third pair
sends to their roots. The number of these latter ma\' xarv from one to
k" 1
four, accordinij to the different teeth. The uses of these ortjans are well
nown.
Worth\- of beino; recorded are tlie names which (Iu\ fereiit kinds of teeth- After having said that these latter are generally
thirt\-tw(), but sometimes onl\- twentv-eight, he adds, that the sixteen
teeth of each jaw are divided into: tJeiix duelles, deux quadruples, deux
canines, huiet maschelieres' et deux caisseaux (in the barbarous Latin:
duo duales, duo quadruph, duo canini, octo rnolares et duo caysales^. So
that the two middle incisors were then called duales; the lateral incisors
were called quadruph, because, together with the middle ones, the\' formed
a series of four teeth. Gu\' gives the name of caysales (caisseaux) to the
last two molars; but joubert, one of the translators and commentators
of Guv de Chauliac, tells us that the molars in general were called in
Languedoc caisseaux: " Les cmq molaires sont appelees en Languedoc
caisseaux, parce qu'elles servent a casser les choses dures, comme les
noix et semblables." In regard to the canines of the upper jaw, we
learn that they were called oeilleres (eye teeth), because their root was
believed to reach near the e\e.^
According to Guy de Chauliac, les de?7ts sont engendrces non seulement
en Venfance, ains aux autres ages.^ And this passage was commented bv
joubert in the following note, which we reproduce textuallv:
"En Languedoc, pres de Pezenas \ a une gentil femme, nomme
Mademoiselle de Lobatiere, des long temps vieille edentee, a laquelle
(comme tesmoignent beaucoup de gens tres-dignes de fb\) en\iron I'an
70 de son age, sont sorties cinq ou six dents nouvelles. Le concdiateur
tesmoigne avoir veu, a qui les dents perdues devant Tan 60 ont ete derechef
engendrees, moindre toutes fois que les premieres et plus foibles."'' (In
Languedoc, near Pezenas, there is a lad\ named Mademoiselle de Loba-
tiere, who having been for a long time old and toothless (accordmg to

' Nicaise, La Grande Chirurgie de Gii\' de Chauliac, Second C'liapitre: De FAnatomic
de la face et de ses parties, p. 47.
^ Here, as elsewhere, is preserved the old orthotiraphv of the text.
^ Nicaise, p. 711.
* Teeth may be produced not onK in infanc\-, but also at a later age.
' Nicaise, p. 205.