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2 HISTOKY OF DENTAL SUEGEKY —

greater care in tlie pre^^ervation of the dead liunian body, and tliereby developed
the einbahner's art. With tlie lUitVilding of this knowledge it would not seem
unreasonable to assume that a eoneeption of causes of diseases and remedies
for tlie same was also developed.
We are told that in China, Confucius; in Persia, Zoroaster; in India,
Brahma, and tlie early Egyptian writers as well, treated particularly upon
medicine, but nothing very definite is known al)Out their works. Moses
(Genesis 50:"-i) makes the first reference to physicians, about 1G;39 B. C.
"Joseph commanded the servants and physicians to embalm his father, and the
physicians embalmed Israel." Tliese physicians were Egyptians. With the
Israelites, as well as early Grecians, their jjriests and poets were also their
physicians. At a later period the soldiers or heroes, such as Telamon, Teucer,
Achilles, Chiron, Aesculapius and Podalirius, were also physicians. The three
last named left behind them some reputation as medical men._ It must bo
rcmenUsered, however, tliat all these men might really be classed only as
surgeons, and that their renown as such was based chiefly on their skill and
expertness in extracting darts.
Aesculapius, the god of medicine, is presumeil to have been the son of
Apollo. He was taught the art of healing and, the story runs, was so suc-
cessful in restoring life that Jupiter became enraged at liis success and, to
gratify jealous anger, destroyed liim with a thunder holt. Cicero mentions
rhree deities of this name. Tlie first, son of Apollo, who invented the probe
and bandages for wounds: the second, the brotlier of Mercury, who was
killed by lightning; and tiie tliird, tlie son of Arsippus and Arsinoe, who was
tlie first to teach tooth drawing and blood-letting. The instrument this last
mentioned god employed for tooth drawing is .supposed to lie the same that
was later exhibited in the temple at Delphos. It was said to have been made
of lead, and this would indicate tliat no great force was to be used in tootli
extraction. If this legendary story is accepted as a statement of fact, we are
forced to conclude that loosening of the teeth from what is now called pyorrhea
was a malady not unknown to the Greeks a thousand years liefore the
Christian era.
The Papyrus of Ebers, which it is claimed, dates hack to 3700 B. C, while
mentioning diseases of teeth and gums and giving a numlier of prescriptions
for the treatment of dental diseases, nowhere mentions prosthetics. It is
stated with a great deal of assurance by many Egyptologists, that in their re-
search among the skulls of ancient Egyptians and of mummies, even in those
of kings, no evidence has been found suggesting dental prosthesis: and yet it