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86 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY

Chapter XII of the seventh book is, of all the work of Celsus, the one
which presents to us the greatest interest, since there the author treats of
the surgical operations required by the diseases of the dental apparatus.
He first speaks of the looseness of the teeth, caused by the weakness of
their roots, or by the flaccidity of the gums, and savs that in these cases
it is necessary to touch the gums lightly with a red-hot iron, then to smear
them with honey and wash them with mulse, and later on to strengthen
them by means of astringent substances.
"When a tooth aches, and it is thought well to extract it, because
medicaments are of no use, the gum must be detached all around, and
\^ then the tooth must be shaken until it is well loosened, it being very danger-
ous to draw a firm tooth, as this may sometimes give rise to a dislocation
of the lower jaw. And greater still is the danger in regard to the upper

Fig. 27

Dental and surgical instruments represented in a funeral marble ot the
Lateran Museum, Rome.

teeth, as this might cause a shock to the temples and eyes. After having
well loosened the tooth, it must be pulled out b\' the fingers, if this is
possible; or if not, with the forceps."
It is clear that this method of tooth drawing—so excessively cautious
^
{ and timid—must have been very torturing to the poor patients. A
thousand years and more after Celsus, Abulcasis still counsels the same
exaggerated precautions, and sa\s that the extraction of a tooth must
not be performed in a rapid and violent way after the manner of the
barbers. From this one may see that the operation spoken of was then
very often performed by certain unprofessional persons, who, being very
familiar with it, carried it out with great indifference and rapidity, thus
sparing the patients the long-protracted mart\ rdom which the erudite
doctors, followers of Celsus, thought necessarv to make them endure.
Very probably the same happened in the days of the wise Roman doctor.