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THE R0M.1NS S9

part. If, however, the luxation is bilateral, the chin iiulints and |)r()-
jects forward; the lower teeth are farther in front than the up|Hr ones, and
,
the muscles of the temples are tighth' stretched. The reduction of the
kixation must he performed as (juickK as possible. 1 he jKitient ha\in<'
been made to sit down, an assistant holds the head rtrmlv from behind; or
else the patient is made to sit with his shoulders against a wall, with a
hard cushion between this and his head, whilst the assistant holds the
head against the cushion, and so keeps it stead\. Then the operator,
after wrapping his two thumbs in linen cloth or strips, that the\ ma\
not slip, introduces them into the patient's mouth and, a]")pl\ ing the other
fingers on the outside, hrnih' grasps the jaw. Then whilst lowering the
back part of the latter, he shakes the chin and pushes it upward and
backward, seeking to shut the mouth, and in this wa\- making the jaw
return to its natural position.
"The bone having been replaced, if the accident should have given
rise to pams in the e\es and neck, it will be well to draw blood from the V
arm. After the luxation has been reduced, the patient must be nourished
for some time on liquid food, and abstain, as much as possible, from
speaking."
Caius Plinius Secundus. After Celsus, a very celebrated writer
on medicine and natural science was Caius Plinius Secundus. Me
was born at Como in the year 23 of the Christian era, and flourished
from the days of Nero to those of Vespasian. Endowed with a liberal
education, he gave himself up to public life, filling many important posts,
among which, that of Governor of Spain under Nero and his successors.
In the year 79 after Christ, while he was in command of the Roman fleet
at Misenum, the tremendous eruption of Vesuvius took place, by which
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other neighboring cities were destro\ed.
Pliny, driven bv the desire to stud\- that marvellous and awful mitiuai
phenomenon, betook himself to Stabia, but was there suffocated b\ the
ashes and smoke erupted by Vesuvius.
In spite of the many places occupied by him, Plin\ found time to write
man\' works, and among: these the thirty-seven books on Natural History,
which have given him eternal fame.
It is not at all to be wondered at that this immense work contains
a great number of fables, superstitions, and errors of every kind. lo
sift the true from the false was not an easy thing, at a time when there
was almost no idea as to how natural phenomena were produced, and
when all scientific criticism was impossible, for the very simple reason
that true science did not exist.
To give an idea of the great absurdities which were believed in at that
epoch, and which were considered possible even b\- higher intellects such
as Pliny's, the following passages will suflRce: "In many mountains of