Page 294 - My FlipBook

272 THIRD PERIOD-MODERN TIMES

touch of paper on which certain signs are written, or remedies held in the
hand, etc., to be merely the effect of the force of the imagination, and he
opines that the patient, having a vivid belief in the mysterious thing
proposed to him remains under the impression of an inward commotion,
by the effect of which it may well be that the morbid humor is deviated
from the painful part to other parts of the body. The effects of the various
passions on the bodily functions are, says Fauchard, very well known.
Thus, when under the influence of anger the wounded at times do not
feel any pain, and those who suffering from a tormenting toothache go
to a dentist to have the tooth drawn are sometimes seized by such great
fear as not to feel the pain any longer, and go away, only to return later
on renewal of their sufferings; although there have been cases where the
pain ceased altogether.
In spite of this explanation, of which we will not here discuss the value,
allowing it, however, as satisfactory enough, Fauchard continues by making
a most curious consideration, which as it is of a somewhat surprising
effect in a scientific work, we will not deprive our readers of it. He believes
it to be his duty to give the following warning, namely, that "the modes
of cure, by means of certain words, of certain signs, laying on of hands,
written charms, etc., savoring much of superstition and of diabolic
artifice, are prohibited by the Church as sinning against the first Com-
mandment, as much in him who practises them as him who consents
thereto."
After the above preliminaries, the author passes on to treat the impor-
tant subject of the mode of curing caries.^ According to him, when
caries has not yet attacked the internal cavity of the tooth at all, or only
in a very slight degree, there are four modes of curing it: the first consists
in the use of files or scrapers, the second in the application of lead, the
third in the use of oil of cinnamon or of cloves, and the fourth in the
application of the actual cautery. Fauchard expresses most energetically
his disapproval of the means of cure recommended by Dionis in cases
of caries of the triturating surfaces, which consisted in the cauterizing
of the decayed spot with a drop of oil of vitriol applied by means of a
miniature paint brush, declaring this to be both dangerous and hurtful
because of the destructive and corrosive action of the oil of vitriol and
because of the impossibility of limiting its action solely to the affected part
of the tooth.
The general method of cure fi)llowed by Fauchard is described b\- him
in these terms:
"When a tooth is but slightly decayed, it is sufficient to remove the
caries with the instruments of which I will speak hereafter, and to fill

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