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DENTAL ART AMONG Till- KTRLSCANS 69

that the Ktriiscans, although they had leanucl the dental art from the
Egyptians and Phoenicians, had subsequenth carried it to a nuicli hij^her
degree of perfection than it had arrived at in Eg\ pt or in lMi(enicia. An
analogous fact has come to pass in our own times. Dental art in
America, which emanated troiii the French and English schools, soon
took on so vigorous a development as indisputably to ac(]uire Hrst rank.
Before describing in detail the dental appliances found up to now in
Etruscan tombs, we will consider a question touching verv closeh' upon
the argument which we are treating and w hich has already been discussed
in Professor Deneffe's book, alread\' cited.
How is it that the 'dental appliances of the Phoenicians, Cireeks,
Etruscans, and Romans should ha\'e come down to us, notwithstanding
cremation ^
In the first place, if one reflects that the teeth offer an altogether special
resistance to the action of fire, and if one also remembers that gold was the
substance emplo\'ed for the construction of the appliances in (juestion,
and that this metal does not melt save at a very high temperature, it no
longer appears marvellous if, in many cases at least, the dental appliances
should have been able to resist the cremating process.
In the second place, the cremation may possibly sometimes have been
incomplete—that is to sa^, the skeleton ma\- not have been altogether
reduced to ashes; therefore, among the residuum of this incomplete com-
bustion, a piece of a jaw may easily have remained, and incidentally
also its prosthetic appliance.
But besides all this, it must be considered that the custom of burning
corpses was not at all general among ancient people. Indeed, cremation
was not in use either among the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews,
or the Chinese; the Greeks only resorted to it in exceptional cases. The
most ancient tombs of the Etruscans show that at the epoch of their
settling in Italy, cremation was in general use among them. But little
by little, as they entered into comrriercial relations with the Egyptian,
the Phoenician, and the Greek peoples, who did not burn their dead, the
custom of burial substituted that-of cremation. Toward the end of the
sixth century before Christ there were to be found in southern Etruria,
one beside the other, tombs for the burial of corpses and others for
cremation.
One sometimes finds in one and the same tomb a cinerarium (urn for
conserving ashes) and skeletons enclosed in sarcophagi or resting on
mortuary couches.
At Tarquinii and Orvieto burial generally prevails.
In the fifth century B.C., the epoch in which the Eaw of the Twelve
Tables was promulgated, burial and cremation were equally in use
among the Romans. In the second century of the Christian era burial