Page 190 - My FlipBook

182 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

causes the tooth to adhere to the socket and gum very hrmly, as if it were
glued."
"As the part of the tooth which comes out of the gum projects from
the aperture of the folhcle Hke a gem from its bezel, so—says Eustachius
—some believe that the crown of a temporary tooth is a mere appendix,
and that the follicle comes out of its concavity through a dividing line
which they imagine to exist between this supposed appendix and the
remaining part of the tooth. But assuredly those who assert such thmgs
show that they have studied the anatomy of the teeth so carelessly that,
by this one error, they make manifest their great ignorance together with
their great temerity/ The line which is observed on the tooth on the
part corresponding to the adhesion of the gingival margin and of the dental
ligament is very superficial, and after having scraped it away, there does
not remain any trace of a division. But apart from this everyone can
very easily observe, even in infants, or in kids, that the tooth when ossified
does not present any line of division and that the still mucous follicle
envelops it freely, and may be easily separated from the tooth; which
would not be the case, if the follicle issued from between the tooth and
its supposed appendix."
Thus, Eustachius declares entirely false the opinion already expressed
by Celsus, that the permanent tooth grows from the root of the milk tooth.
He affirms clearly and decisively that between the external and the radical
part of a milk tooth no real division exists, and that the ossification of the
tooth, beginning from the crown, proceeds without any interruption right
down to the end of the root. If it were true, says he, that in children only
the imaginary epiphysis or appendix falls, and that the new tooth is sub-
stantially represented by the remaining part of the first, it could never
happen, as instead it often does, that the new tooth appears before the
first one falls. Besides, between the lower part of the first tooth and the
upper part of the second no correspondence exists either in size or shape,
as ought necessarily to be the case if the two parts were joined together.
This is not all; the lower part of the temporary tooth is perforated, and
receives in its interior bloodvessels and nerves, whilst the upper part ot
the permanent tooth is quite massive and imperforated. How, then,
could this second tooth transmit bloodvessels and nerves into the cavity
of the first .^ Again, how could the continuity of these bloodvessels
and nerves with their respective branches be possible, if an imperforate
body, such as the crown of the permanent tooth, were really interposed ?
But what is the use of so many arguments.? exclaimed Eustachius.

' This sharp reproof and accusation of ij^norance are made for the benefit of the immortal
anatomist Andreas Vesalius, to the number of whose adversaries Eustachius likewise
belonged. What unjust fury of party passion!