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374 HISTORY OF DEXTAL SURGERY —

of tliesc two works \\ns jniblislied in one volume under the title of "Natural
Tlistory and Diseases of the Human Teeth." Fox was a skillful practitioner,
and among the first to devote his attention exclusively to dentistry. He was at
one time a lecturer in Guy's Hospital, and his work was considered for a long
period the best jjractical hook on the subject in the English language. He
gives an accurate description of the development of the teeth, and is at vari-
ance with his great predecessor, Hunter, on the vascularity of the teeth and the
origin and i)athology of decay. He makes some valuable observations on the
diseases of the teeth and modes of practice. Part I of his work is a "History
of Formation and Stracture of the Teeth," with thirteen plates ; while Part II
is a "History and Treatment of Diseases of Teeth, Gums and Alveolar Pro-
cess," to which is added ten plates.
Following Fox, we have Fuller (ISIO), Murphy (1811), Downing (1815).
Hertz (181-5), L. S. Parmly (1818) —an American practicing in London
and Bew (1819). These writers held such extraordinary and widely differing
views as to the cause of caries that it is worth while to quote them.
Fuller considers it to be an original mischief, implanted during the forma-
tion of the teeth.
Murphy calls attention to the fact that no medicine has yet been discovered
that will prevent or cure caries, nor is the cause producing it positively ascer-
tained. Antral suppuration he attributes to worms, accounted for hy supposing
the ova of an insect have been deposited in the nostril, or drawn into the nose
and passing into the antrum.
Hertz observed that animals living chiefly on hot foods are most subject
to caries, and that increased circulation in the gums, whether due to salivation
or inflammatory fever, frequently produces decay.
Parmly, in 18'20, was the first to attribute caries to the action of external
corrosive agents, such as fermentation of particles of food. Bew, after com-
menting on the hardness and flinty character of the enamel, inconsistently
advances the idea that the destruction is due to lateral pressure.
Gerlieau, on "The Teeth" (1833) ; Snell, on "The Use and Construction
of Artilieial Palates (1824); Sigmond, a "Practical and Domestic Treatise"
(1835) ; and Andrew Clark, a "Practical Treastise for Preserving and Supply-
ing Loss of Teeth," with a notice of an artificial palate of his own invention
(1825), complete the list of English writers during this period.
To the French writers during the first quarter of the nineteenth centurv,
we owe more for the scientific progress of dentistry, and toward the close of
the period the field of literature assumes a broader expanse.