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11 1 1 RTEEN '111 TO IIFTEENTH CENTURIES ].').)

IS produced. In siicli casts ir nia\ he considered rhar the i:;unis are the
seat of the pain. Hut it none of these syinptonis are ohserxed, and if,
on comparing the gums of the aching spot with the other gingnal regions,
no difference is observed, this means that the cause of the pain exists
either in the substance of the tooth itself, or else in its nerve. In this
latter case the pain is usually very violent, and principalh localized in
the root of the tooth, but also extending along the jaw, and the tooth itself
is often, as it were, benumbed. When, however, the pain is not situated
either in the j^ums or in the dental nerve, but in the ver\ substance of the
tooth, this latter is ver\- often corroded (carious), and very often in the
hollow there exists a worm ; and this may be deduced from the fact
that during the intervals of calm the patient sometimes feels a peculiar
sensation, the movement of the worm in the diseased tooth; when, how^-
ever, these signs are w-anting, we shall find at anv rate that the whole
tooth is painful in the direction of its length, instead of the pain being
localized in the root of the tooth and radiating along the jaw.
When the cause of the pain resides in the gums the extraction of the
tooth is neither necessary nor beneficial, but is, on the contrary, always
harmful, since, in spite of the loss of the tooth, the cessation of the pain
is not obtained; when the pain is situated in the tooth itself, the removal
of the latter always makes the pain cease; lastly, when the dental nerve is
the seat of the evil, the removal of the tooth sometimes takes away the
pain, at other times it does not.
Among the many anti-odontalgic remedies, Arculanus enumerates
pepper mixed with tar, pepper w'ith asafetida, mustard seeds with asa-
fetida, and the like. When a tooth is to be cauterized, it is necessary
to protect the healthy teeth with bits of cloth dipped in rose w^ater or
else wnth some kind of paste. Sometimes it is useful to drill the tooth
with a small trephine so that the cautery may act more deepl} , thus
giving better results.
In regard to the filling of decayed teeth, Giovanni of Arcoli says that,
in the choice of the substances to be used, the rot?iplf\ion (constitution)
of the teeth must be taken into consideration ; and according as this is
cold or warm, it is necessary to perform the filling with substances which
are, by their own nature, warm or cold, thus acting in opposition to the
dyscrasia of the tooth:
" Eligantur caltda aiit frigida scLiiudiirn opportinntdtrui, ni coiiirnn unt
dyscrasia" dcjitis.''
As to the qualit\ of the complexion, this might be deduced, says the
author, from various signs, among which the color of the gums, these
being red in the warm and humid complexion, yellowish in the warm
and dry, brow^nish in the cold and dry, and whitish in the cold and humid
complexion. When, however, the complexion does not show^ any distinct