Page 93 - My FlipBook

THE ROMANS 95

"One can hardh' rehire wirhour lauirhinir, some rhinjis, which, howexer,
I will nor oniir, because rhe\- are fount! alreath writren. rhe\- sa\ rhar the
ox has a small stone in the head, which it spits out when it fears death;
but if its head be suddenly cut off, and the stone extracted, this, worn
b\ a child, helps it in wondrous manner to cut its teeth."'
In Book XXXI, Plin\- speaks of various waters— mineral, thermal,
etc.—especialh' from the medical pomt of view. It was alread}' known
in those da\s that those waters were most acti\"e agents. And in this
respect a fact which the author relates in Chapter \ 1 of Book XXV is
worth mentioning:
"When Caesar Germanicus moved his camp be\()nd the Rhine, there
was found, in the whole maritmie tract of the countr\', only one spring
of fresh water, the drinking of which, within two \ears, produced the
fall of teeth and a loosening of the knee-joints. The doctors called these
evils stomacace and scelot\ rbe."
Sea salt and nitre are of use, according to Pliny, against various maladies
of the teeth and mouth. He counsels the application of salt on lint to
the ulcers of the oral cavit\', and to rub it on the gums when the\' are
swollen. To prevent diseases of the teeth, it would be advantageous,
every morning before breaking one's fast, to keep a little salt under the
tongue until it is dissolved. Against the pain of the teeth it would be
beneficial to use common salt dissolved in vinegar, or nitre in wine.
"The rubbing of the blackened teeth wnth burnt nitre gives them back
their natural color.""
The prophylactic remedies against odontalgia believed in, at that period,
were sufficienth' numerous, and, among man\-' other such things, Pliny
informs us that in order not to be subject to toothache, it is sufficient
to wash the mouth three times a year w'ith the blood of the tortoise.''
Analogous virtue was also attributed to the brain of the shark, which
was boiled in oil, and this put by for washing the teeth with once a year.
Besides the man\- anti-odontal-gic remedies so far related, several others v
are found enumerated in Chapter XXVI of Book XXXII:
"The pain in the teeth is lessened by picking the gums with the bones
of the sea dragon. It is also very beneficial to pick the gums with the
sharp bone of the puffin.^ If the same be pounded together with white
hellebore, and the mixture thus obtained be rubbed on the diseased teeth,
the\- may be made to fall out without pain. The ashes, also, of salt
fish burnt in an earthen vase, with the addition of powdered marble,
is a remed\' against toothache. Frogs are also boiled in a hemina' of

' Lib. xxx, cap. xlvii. - Lib. xxxi, cap. xlv, xlvi. * Lib. xxxii, cap. xiv.
^ Trygon pastinaca, a large fish whose tail is armed with sharp and strong bones.
'A measure equal to 0.274 liter.