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214 HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGERY

men ; sometimes the fiiiid clilora-percha is forced through into the apical space
in injurious amount, and the shrinl^age by tlie loss of the chloroform permits
the infiltration of fluids around the gutta-percha cone. From the time of its
introduction to the profession, there have always been a few men who filled
root-canals witli oxychloride of zinc. A few also have used the phosphate
cements for this purpose. A considerable number use the preparation of
gutta-perclia known as Hill's stopping, obtaining the necessary plasticity by
use of "volatile eucalyjiti extract," supplemented by heat, churning it into
the apical portion of the canal first, and for the remainder candying in warm
Hill's stopping with a hot instrument. The plan is to procure the necessary
plasticity as much as possible by means of heat, using only so much of the
solvent as may l)e needful to surely carry the first portion to the apex. This
method takes more time, but if skillfully done is very thorough.
Dr. W. D. Miller, of Berlin, read a paper before the World's Columbian
Dental Congress, in 1893 ("Cosmos," Vol. XXXV, pp. 803-6), "Concern-
ing Methods Advocated for Obviating the Necessity of Extracting Devitalized
Tooth-Pulps." He said no better practice is likely ever to be found than to
remove pulp and fill to apex, so far as applied to incisors and cuspids, but
when extended to biscuspids and molars, "the labor and expense put it beyond
the reach of the great majority of the human race, and the method is not
always successful."
"The first systematic attempt to do away entirely with the necessity of
extracting the root ])ortions of the pulp," he continues, "appears to have been
made l)y Wetzel, who in 187-1 presented the view that arsenious acid care-
fully applied to tlie inflamed jiulp devitalized only the diseased tissue, and
that by amputating tlie coronal portion twenty-four hours later, the ends of
the root-stumps might be treateii as healthy, freshly exposed pulps."
Experience proves the expectation that such p(n-tions of pulp tissue will
remain alive is very seldom realized. As a mummifying agent Dr.
Miller first used bichloride of mercury 0.01 of a grain ; with boracic acid, 0.03
of a grain : or 0.03 of a grain of common salt instead of boracic acid. This
gave severe pain in about one-third of the cases, which led to the substitution
of bichloride, 0.0075 of a grain with thymol, 0.0075 of a grain. These were
used in the form of tablets, one of which was laid over the canals, moistened
with a little water and crushed, covered with a layer of tin or gold foil and the
amalgam or cement filling immediately inserted. He mentions several other
formulas that he had used.
Dr. Frank Abbott in the discussion said he cleansed canals as well as he