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CHAPTER II. ^

THE HEBREWS.

In the Hebrew literature, as principally represented by the Bible and
by the Talmud, there does not exist any book on medicine. Notwith-
standing the vicinity and the close relations of the Hebrews with Egypt,
medical science never reached the degree of development among this
people that it did in the land of the Pharaohs.
In the Bible we do not find the least trace of dental medicine or dental
surgery. Indeed, although the books of Moses contain a great number
of exceedingly wise hygienic precepts, there are not any that refer directly
to the teeth or to the mouth. We may therefore conclude, with a certain
degree of probability, that the Hebrews had in general good teeth and
that dental affections were very rare among them.
The word tooth or teeth occurs in the Bible more than fifty times,
but very few of the passages in which it is to be met with present any
interest so far as our subject is concerned.
That the Hebrews attached great importance to the integrity of the
dental apparatus is plainly seen from the following verses of the book
of Exodus (xxi: 23 to 27):
23. . . thou shalt give life for life,
^ 24. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid,
that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth or his maidservant's
tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
These legislative measures show clearly enough that among the Hebrews
the loss of a tooth was considered a lesion of great gravity, as they thought
it of sufficient importance to be named in the same category as the loss
of an eye, of a hand, or of a foot. If anyone caused the loss of an eye or
of a tooth to his servant, the punishment was the same in both cases; that
is, he was obliged to give him his libertw thus undergoing the loss of his
purchase money.
Beauty and whiteness of the teeth were also in great repute. Thus
we read m the vSong of Solomon (ly: 2):

' riu- iiunihtr varies according to the clittcrcnt translations. So, instead of the Latin
dentes elephantis, we find in I'.ntilish and in otlier lanmiajies the word ivory.