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202 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES
these rough changes/ In the mercurial treatment of syphihs,' he recom-
mends the patient, as soon as the action of the remedy manifests itself
in the oral cavity, to keep a piece of gold in his mouth, that the mercury,
on account of its particular affinity, may unite with the gold and the harm-
ful effects of this strange remedy on the mouth may be thus avoided.
A strange method of curing mercurial stomatitis!
JoHANN ScHENCK VON Grafenberg (1530 to 1598), a celebrated
doctor of Freyburg-in-Breisgau, has left us, in his Ohservattones medica,
a very rich and interesting collection of clinical cases. In this work he
refers to many observations upon dental diseases by earlier authors, which,
however, have already been noted by us in their time and place. Among
other things, Schenck von Grafenberg relates that Cardanus was able,
more than twenty times, to calm a violent toothache which tormented
him by lightly pressing the sick tooth between the thumb and index
finger of his left hand.
Peter Foreest (1522 to 1597), a very famous Dutch doctor of Alkmaar,
repeats the very old error—already in decisive terms denied by Andreas
Vesalius—that women have only twenty-eight teeth, whilst men usually
have thirty-two. To the two central incisors he gives the name of colii-
mellares. Sugar and all sweet things, says this author, are very harmful
to the teeth, and he gives as a proof the fact that apothecaries have, in
general, very bad teeth, on account of the frequency with which they
taste syrups and the like. Perhaps things are now changed, since I
am not aware that chemists in our days are to be distinguished by the
bad state of their teeth
In regard to toothache, Foreest records an important observation which
he had made on himself; an aching tooth which a surgeon had not suc-
ceeded in extracting, but which was simply loosened, ceased, without
anything else being done, from giving him pain, and in a short while
became firm again, and he continued to use this tooth for about five years.
However, on a renewal of the pain he was obliged at last to have it ex-
tracted. On the strength of this observation, the author believes that
in certain appropriate cases, recourse may be had to the luxation of a
tooth, rather than to its extraction to obtain a cessation of toothache.
This method of cure had already been advised by a still earlier writer,
that is, by Avicenna. When a subluxation produces the rupture of the
dental nerve, this, in its results is equivalent to a replantation.
Foreest is the first to speak of the violent inflammation of the gums
and of the whole mouth, caused by the application of artificial teeth of
ivory fixed in their place with gold wire. This cannot at all astonish
' Hieronymi Capivacci Patavini opera oiiinia, Vcnetiis, 1617, edir. sexta, lib. i, cap.
liii; dc affectibus dentium, p. 515.
^ Lib. ii, cap. v, de lue venerea, p. 712.
202 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES
these rough changes/ In the mercurial treatment of syphihs,' he recom-
mends the patient, as soon as the action of the remedy manifests itself
in the oral cavity, to keep a piece of gold in his mouth, that the mercury,
on account of its particular affinity, may unite with the gold and the harm-
ful effects of this strange remedy on the mouth may be thus avoided.
A strange method of curing mercurial stomatitis!
JoHANN ScHENCK VON Grafenberg (1530 to 1598), a celebrated
doctor of Freyburg-in-Breisgau, has left us, in his Ohservattones medica,
a very rich and interesting collection of clinical cases. In this work he
refers to many observations upon dental diseases by earlier authors, which,
however, have already been noted by us in their time and place. Among
other things, Schenck von Grafenberg relates that Cardanus was able,
more than twenty times, to calm a violent toothache which tormented
him by lightly pressing the sick tooth between the thumb and index
finger of his left hand.
Peter Foreest (1522 to 1597), a very famous Dutch doctor of Alkmaar,
repeats the very old error—already in decisive terms denied by Andreas
Vesalius—that women have only twenty-eight teeth, whilst men usually
have thirty-two. To the two central incisors he gives the name of colii-
mellares. Sugar and all sweet things, says this author, are very harmful
to the teeth, and he gives as a proof the fact that apothecaries have, in
general, very bad teeth, on account of the frequency with which they
taste syrups and the like. Perhaps things are now changed, since I
am not aware that chemists in our days are to be distinguished by the
bad state of their teeth
In regard to toothache, Foreest records an important observation which
he had made on himself; an aching tooth which a surgeon had not suc-
ceeded in extracting, but which was simply loosened, ceased, without
anything else being done, from giving him pain, and in a short while
became firm again, and he continued to use this tooth for about five years.
However, on a renewal of the pain he was obliged at last to have it ex-
tracted. On the strength of this observation, the author believes that
in certain appropriate cases, recourse may be had to the luxation of a
tooth, rather than to its extraction to obtain a cessation of toothache.
This method of cure had already been advised by a still earlier writer,
that is, by Avicenna. When a subluxation produces the rupture of the
dental nerve, this, in its results is equivalent to a replantation.
Foreest is the first to speak of the violent inflammation of the gums
and of the whole mouth, caused by the application of artificial teeth of
ivory fixed in their place with gold wire. This cannot at all astonish
' Hieronymi Capivacci Patavini opera oiiinia, Vcnetiis, 1617, edir. sexta, lib. i, cap.
liii; dc affectibus dentium, p. 515.
^ Lib. ii, cap. v, de lue venerea, p. 712.
