Page 233 - My FlipBook

77/ A SKrENTEENTH CKNTLR)- 2U)

nothing more than a most accurarc compilarion of all rliar is to he touiul
on the subject of dental affections in earlier works, especialU honi rlu-
medical point of view; the surgical part of dental therapeutics is treated
in a much less complete manner, and prosthesis is entirel\- excluded from
the plan of the work, which, however, is fulh in accordance with the title
of the book.
Under the generic name of gout,' or podagra, are meant, sa\s the
author (Chapter 1), all the affections produced b\- diseased humors,
falling "by drops" into the articular cavities and the parts surrounding
them. Strictly speaking, however, only gout in the feet is named poJagra,
whilst when the disease is seated in other parts of the body it is indicated
by other names, gout in the hands being called chiragra; in the fingers
dactilagra; in the knee, gonagra; in the elbow? pechiagra; in the shoulder,
omagra; in the spinal column, rachisagra, and so on. When the seat of
the evil is in the teeth or in their articulations, by analogy it is denominated
odontagra, or odontalgia, an affection which Paul of ^gina was the
first to consider as being of a gouty nature (Chapter II).
After having spoken of the sensibility of the teeth (Chapter III), of t^h
various kinds of dental pains (Chapter IV), of the different causes, external
and internal, which produce them (Chapters Vto VII), of the signs which
make know^n their special nature in each case (Chapters V'lll to X),
and of the prognosis (Chapter XI), the author occupies himself very
minutely, throughout the rest of the book, with all that concerns means
of cure, dedicating to this subject sixty-seven chapters and a long appendix.
If, after the publication of Strobelberger's book, all previous works
treating of dental affections had been entireh' lost, it would be of inesti-
mable value for the history of dentistry, the author having gathered
together in an almost complete manner—citing faithfully the respective
authors—all that had been written about dental diseases before him.
On the other hand, the book contains almost nothing original; therefore,
rather than analyze minutely its contents—which would inxohe a long
repetition of things already noted—we limit ourselves mereh to a tew
observations.
Strobelberger, like Heurnius, is of opinion that for the cure of dental
pains it is necessary to have recourse to doctors rather than to doitispices,
or tooth drawers (Chapter XII); however, he does not consider the calling
of the latter absoluteh' useless; indeed, he expressly advises (page 174)
that they should be applied to for the instrumental extraction of the teeth,
it not being possible for such operations to be carried out well and with-
out danger except by those who, through great practice, have accjuired
the necessary skill in the use of the relative instruments. He refers to

' In Latin, gutta, that is, drop.