Page 55 - My FlipBook

THE GREEKS 55

"In EgesistratLis the two last teeth were deca\e(l in the parts where
the\' touched one anotlier. The last had two tuherosities ahoxe the gum,
one on the deca\ed side, the other on the opposite side. In the part in
which the two teeth were \n contact with one another there were two
roots in each, large and similar, and corresponding to those of the con-
tiffuous tooth; on the other side there was onlv a halt root' and rounded."
Toward the end of the fourth book on Epidemics, we find repeated an
observation which we ha\e alread\ noted:
"The third upper tooth is found to be decayed more fre(juentl\- than
all the others. Sometimes a suppuration is produced all around it."-
In the fbllow'ing passage mention is made of a mouth wash against
toothache, the basis of w^hich is castoreum and pepper:
"In consequence of a violent toothache the wife of Aspasius had her
cheeks swollen up; but on making use of a mouth wash of castoreum and
pepper she found great relief."^
A little after w^e find the practice of bleeding mentioned; and contem-
porarily an allusion to the use of alum—with regard to a painful swelhng
of the gums, that is to say, a gingivitis:
"Melisandrus suffered severe pain and sw-elling of the gums; he was
bled in the arm. Eg\ptian alum, if used in this malady, arrests its
development."^
Toward the commencement of the sixth book the following observa-
tion is registered:
"Among those individuals whose heads are long-shaped, some have
thick necks, strong members and bones; others have strongly arched
palates, their teeth are disposed irregularh', crowding one on the other,
and thev are molested b\ headache and otorrhea."'
While we should be tempted to attribute the knowledge of the relations
between malformation of the skull, ogival palate, and bad arrangement
of the teeth to quite modern studies, w^e are obliged to admit, and to our
great surprise, that these relations w^ere already noted, twent\-four
centuries back, by the great physician of Cos.
In the seventh book on Epidemics, a case of scorbutus is described,
where incense and a decoction of lentils proved useful against the lesions
of the buccal cavit\':
"... Large tubercles, of the size of grapes, had formed on
the gums close to the teeth, black and livid, but not painful, except
w^hen the patient took food. For the mouth, incense powder mixed
with some other ingredients proved useful. The internal use of the
decoction of lentils also did o-ood to the ulcers of the mouth.""
o
^ Page
' That is a very short root. 1 138.
* Page
' De morbis vulgaribus, Hb. v, p. 1157. 1 157.
'" ' Ibid., vii, p. 1223.
De morbis vulgaribus, lib. vi, section i, p. 1164.