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388 DENTAL MEDICINE.

we have to deal, an oil which is in itself an antiseptic, or an oil
holding the antiseptic drug in solution in effective proportions^
may be introduced into the cavity and so agitated as best to bring
it in contact with all of its parts. This will, on account of its
sparing solubility, remain in position very much longer than the
watery forms, and the essential oils are very much more diffusible
than the fixed oils, or, indeed, any other of the simple forms of
the antiseptics with which I am yet acquainted. At the same
time a sufficient amount for very extended work is contained in
small compass. These are of especial value in such positions as
the roots of teeth. In this position any but the most irritating of
the antiseptic essential oils may be used to good advantage, and
may be relied upon for many days together. In the choice of the
essential oils it is by no means necessary that the most powerful
of them be selected. It should be remembered in making the
choice that the more powerful antiseptics are the more irritating
as a rule. It is, therefore, often best to choose antiseptics of very
moderate range, especially where it is only required to preserve a
condition of asepsis. For instance, when a very foul root canal
is opened, such an antiseptic as the oil of cassia is indicated.
After appropriate cleaning, and especially in case cleaning is to
be deferred for fear of forcing poisonous material through the
apical foramen, it may be used in full strength ; in which form it
may be relied upon as a disinfectant as well. But afterward^
when it is only a matter of holding an aseptic condition during
the healing of the parts, an antiseptic of shorter range, that is not
so liable to injure the tissues, is to be preferred. For this purpose
the eucalypti extract in substance is a very useful agent. Its
range of actual inhibition is very short, but its injurious effects on
the tissues are also very slight, so that the healing process may go
on in its presence without hindrance. Furthermore, this oil has
a very extended range of restraining influence beyond its range of
actual inhibition that is undoubtedly of much use. This oil may
be exchanged for terpinol where a little more stimulating effect is
regarded as beneficial. The oil of cloves and the oil of cinnamon
seem to occupy a middle ground, and may be made useful in a
large class of cases if the others are in any wise distasteful to the