Page 168 - My FlipBook

170 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

than a page and one-half of print. Neither does it contain anything of
importance. To render the cutting of teeth easier, RyfF advises that
infants should have little vs^ax candles given to them to chew and the
gums anointed w^ith butter, duck's fat, hare's brains, and the like. The
tooth of a wolf may be hung around the neck of the child, so that it may
gnaw at it. It is also recommended that the head of the child should be
bathed with an infusion of chamomile. M
From what has been said, one may see very clearly that the aforesaid
book is, from the scientific point of view, entirely valueless, because
the best part of it is merely copied from the work of Giovanni d'Arcoli.
However, the author has the indisputable merit of having endeavored
to diffuse the knowledge of useful precepts of dental hygiene. His book,
besides, we repeat, has great historical value, for from it dates the
beginning of odontologic literature, properly so called.
On this point we believe it is necessary to correct an error into which
Dr. Geist-Jacobi has fallen. At the beginning of his very valuable article
on Walter Hermann RyfF^ he says: " In the fifth century of the Christian
era, the iatrosophist Adamantius of Alexandria published an exclusively
odontalgic work, of which, however, we only know the title." The
same he repeats in his History of Dental Art (pp. 55 and 56), without,
however, giving us any proof of his statement. "Of the odontologic
treatise of Adamantius," he says, "unfortunately the title alone is known
to us, and even that has reached us indirectly, that is, by means of ^tius;
it is of the following tenor."
Now, whoever takes the trouble to translate these Greek words will
easily perceive that they do not constitute one title, but two distinct ones
(which even Dr. Geist-Jacobi has had to unite by the conjunction and).
These, however, are nothing more than the titles of two chapters of the
Tetrabihlos of ^Etius, as anyone may see for himself by turning over the
pages of this work either in the Greek original, or in the beautiful Latin
translation of Giano Cornario (Venice, 1553). In this great composition
of ^.tius dental diseases are treated of in Chapters XXVII to XXXV of
Sermo IV, Tetrabihlos II; and the two Greek titles above referred to
are the titles of Chapters XXVII and XXXI.
In the translation of Giano Cornario they read as follows:
Cura dentniDi a calido tiiorho doloroso ajjectorum, ex Adafiiantio sophista
(cure of teeth affected by warm, painful disease, according to Adaman-
ruis the sophist).
Cura dentium a siccitate dolore ajjectoriirn, ex Adamautio sophista
(cure of teeth affected by pain from dryness, according to Adamantius
the sophist).

' " I lie first (Kiital Ixjok. in tlic (jeniiaii language" (see Giornale di Coirispondenza
|)(i dcnrisfi, loc. cir.).