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198 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

into the aperture of the palate, can be made to turn round from below,
by means of a small pair of pincers, so as to fix the obturator.
In the last chapter of Book XVIII, first dentition and the treatment
required during this period are spoken of. The cutting of teeth, says
Pare, is accompanied by pain, itching, and pricking of the gums; often,
as well by diarrhea, fever, epileptic convulsions, which sometimes end
fatally. The symptoms by which it may be known that teeth are about
to come forth are as follows: The wet-nurse feels the mouth of the
suckling infant to be hotter than usual; the gums are swollen; the child
is restless, crying often and sleeping but little; it emits a quantity of
saliva from the mouth, and frequently puts its fingers in its mouth, trying
to rub its gums, and soothe, in this way, the pain and itching which it
feels. It is then necessary to treat the nurse as if she had fever, and the
infant should be suckled less than usual; some cooling and thirst quench-
ing drinks should be given to it—for a child in such conditions suffers
from intense thirst; the nurse should often rub the gums of the little patient
with softening and soothing substances, as, for example, oil of sweet

Fig. 65

Fare's palatine obturator without sponge.

almonds, fresh butter, honey, or mucilage made from the seeds of the
fleawort or of the quince; the brains of a hare (these may be roasted or
boiled) have not only a very soothing action, but also, according to a very
ancient belief shared by Pare, possess the occult property of aiding the
cutting of the teeth. But oftentimes, neither these nor other remedies
are of any use, because the gums are too hard and the teeth cannot cut
their way through at all; the tension of the gums then produces very violent
pain, fever, and other accidents, death even supervening in some cases.
The author, therefore, advises lancing the gums deeply, just above the
tooth which ought to appear, thus opening it a way, that it may more
easily come out. He relates that he has performed this operation on his
own children in the presence of many medical authorities.
Almost as if to show the high value of this operative procedure, Pare
tells the case of a child, the son of the Duke of Nevers, who died at the age
of about eight months without having cut any teeth. He, together with
other doctors, was invited to carry out an autopsy. No lesion whatever
was found sufficient to cause death, but the gums were very hard, thick.