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altogether analogous on rlu- right and on thr U-t'r, and nianitist th tin selves
svmmetricalh' on teeth havintr the same conHiruration, the same structure,
and the same consistence.
Before speaking of the treatment of caries,' Fauchard alhides to the
fallaciousness of the man\ remedies against toothaclie which were largel\
sold at his time h\- charlatans and impostors of everv kind.
"Some pretend to cure toothache with an eHxir or some special essence;
others with plasters; others by means of prayers and signing with the cross;
others with specifics for killing the worms that are supposed to gnaw the
tooth and so cause pain; others pretend to he so clever that thev can cure
the most inveterate toothache h\- mereU" touching the tooth with a finger
dipped into or washed with some rare and mysterious H(|uid; otliers
finalh' promise to cure ever\" kind ot toothache b\' scarif\ ing the ears with
the lancet or cauterizing them with a red-hot iron."
"I am well aware," adds Fauchard, "that it can be alleged in favor of
this last prejudice that the celebrated Italian doctor Valsalva indicates
with great precision the point in which the actual cautery is to be applied
to the ear, in order to calm toothache. He also deternnnes the size of
the iron and the manner of apphing it. The authority of so celebrated
an author, whose opinion is certainh' worthy of respect, should mduce me
to believe that there may perhaps be some cases in which it is possible
to use this remedy with success; nevertheless, I cannot persuade myself
that such treatment can be useful in common cases of toothache.
"At Nantes, a city of Brittany, I knew^ a Turk, a watchmaker b\
profession, w ho was renowned for this mode of curmg toothache. But
I also know^ that, in spite of the pretended cures, the greater number of
those who put themselves into his hands were obliged finally to have
recourse to me, in order to find relief for their sufferings. I afterward
saw several other persons use the same remed\' with no better success.
"There are, besides, an infinity of other remedies vaunted as eflScacious
against toothache, but the greater number of them are so ridiculous and
extravagant that it w'ould be both tiresome and useless to speak of them.
We will, nevertheless, give one more mentioned by M. de Brantome."*
The author here quotes a passage of this writer, wherein he says that,
having been suffering from toothache for tw^o days, the apothecary
of Elizabeth of France, wife of Philip II of Spain, brought him a most
singular herb, which when held in the hollow^ of the hand had the virtue
of making the pain cease immediately; and in this way he was, in fact,
effectually cured.
And here Fauchard expresses himself of the same opinion as Urbain
Hemard, who believes the cure of toothache h\ means of words, or h\ the

' " Dames illustres, vie d'Elizabeth, p. 179.
Chap, ix, p. 154.