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162 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

tie the blood-covered thread around the neck of the child. It was held,
besides—and this prejudice has left even until now some traces—that the
putting of the milk teeth, when they fall out, into the nest of a mouse
assures the cutting of new teeth.
We must here mention, with regard to the origin of dentistry among
the Germans, a very important fact related by Joseph Linderer,^ a fact
which shows that even among the ancient Germans recourse was had to
the application of artificial teeth.
We here reproduce the very words of the said author, translated
literally:
"Being by chance a few years ago at Dresden and visiting the Museum
of Antiquities, my attention was attracted, in the last room, to two osseous
pieces, which with other objects were enclosed in a glass case, with the
written inscriptions : Comh-shaped osseous pieces, found in ancient
German urns. As soon as I had observed them, I saw at once that
they were artificial teeth ; but as I had to be contented with examining
them through the glass of the case, it was not possible for me to decide
whether these pieces were really of bone, as they seemed to be, or of another
substance. Taking into account their antiquity, their whiteness is very
notable. Every piece is composed, if I remember rightly, of five teeth,
that is, of a canine and four incisors ; the chief difference of these pieces
from the prosthetic pieces in ivory still in use (the author is writing in
1848) consists in this, that the pieces of which I speak have not at all a
broad base, designed to rest on the gums, the base having instead the
same thickness as the rest. The five teeth are well separated from one
another. Besides, the canine makes the proper angle with the incisors,
and at each side of the piece is found, in a convenient place, a hole, which
shows that these teeth were fastened to those of the subject by means of
a metallic or other kind of thread. As the above-described pieces are
white, we must infer that they were removed from the mouth of the
respective individuals before the body was burnt, and afterward put into
the urn with the ashes, just as they used to put in coins, bits of arrows,
and the like."
For many centuries dental surgery—which, however, was still in a very
primitive state—was practised in Germany, as in many other countries,
principally by barbers. These in certain places, and at certain periods,
formed corporate bodies, whose members were legally authorized to
extract teeth and to practise minor surgery in general. But besides barbers,
there were various kinds of individuals, unfurnished with any authoriza-
tion—tooth-drawers, charlatans, wandering story-tellers, necromancers,
Jews, and even hangmen—who invaded the field of medical practice,

' I l;iii(lhucli (Jcr ZahiilKilkundc, Berlin, 1848, ii, 406.