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22i HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGEEY

'"Cnule as were tlie above ideas respecting the use of lliis instrument, they
were iiniversall}' held at the date of Wootfenilale's writing. The removal of
'broken or jagged points' and the rounding off 'of edges of teeth that grow
irregular and prove troublesome to the cheeks or tongue,' arc ideas descend-
ed from C'elsus.
"Benjamin .lames (1814) sa^'s: ' 'Tiie sides of the upper teeth lie close
together,- while the crowns of the under teeth toiich onl}' at that point which
is most distant from the gum. For this reason noxious accumulation be-
tween tlie u])per teeth cannot be so easily removed a.'; between the lower teeth.
It is therefore in the power of the file to destroy the greater aj)tness of the
upper teeth to decay.' Here it is evident that, from saving already decayed
teeth, the idea has advanced to the prevention of such decay.''
Josiah F. Flagg, in 1822, Fitch, in 1829, and Spooner, in 183G, each gave
emphatic disapriroval of a too free use of the file, and especially condemned
as wholly unjustiliable the filing of sound teetii to prevent decay.

MATRICES AND SEPARATORS.
In a paper in the "Cosmos," (Vol. XXVII, p. 603, 1885) E. T. Darby says:
"Dr. Perry was one of the first to follow Dr. Jarvie in the use of separators,
whicli tlie latter gentleman introduced to the profession some ten years
ago. The new ones which are shown here are improved forms which Dr.
Perry has devised after much thought and many experiments."
In the "Cosmos," for April, 1871, (Vol. XIII, p. 169), Dr. Louis Jack, of
Philadelphia, describes in detail his method of filling proximal cavities in
bicuspids and molars with the help of matrices devised by himself. These
were of steel'and "made of a variety of shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. They
are formed of slightly wedge-shaped pieces of steel, and are hollowed out at
their thicker edge, which depression terminates at the thinner edge. At the
part of the dejtression designed to give siiapc to the buccal edge of the filling
the cut is geiuTally abru])t and deep; at the inner ])ortion it is more shallow
and more inclined. It will be observed that the depression widens as it passes
toward the tliinner edge to follow the usual form of proximal cavities. The

.58.
' A Treatise on the Management of the Human Teeth, Boston. 1S14, p.
- This seems to indicate a strangely defective knowleilge or observation of the
dental anatomy, the fact being that the necks of tlie upper teeth are separated about aa
much as those of the lower.—Editor.