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HISTORY OF DENTAL SUEGERY 25

turv, is credited with beiug the first one who mentions the use of sheets of
gold for filling the teeth, but is not given credit for having been the first
to employ it for that purpose.
The author also observes that people who will place salt upon tlieir tongue
every morning and liold it there until it dissolves will not have lioUow
teeth. He speaks of teeth being "on edge,'' sometimes by exterior and sonu;-
times by interior causes. As exterior causes he names sour foods taken into
the mouth like sauerkraut, sour apples, pears and other sour fruits; and as
interior causes the rising of bitter or sour moistures from the stomach, and
the gases that enter the mouth and lodge between the teeth and tipon the
gums. As a remedy for this difficulty he recommends the eating of nuts sucli
as walnuts, hazlenuts, almonds—or of rubbing these up and applying upon the
teeth. The chewing of the seeds of portulaca is also recommended, as is also
warm bread, toasted cheese, the yolk of an egg, a little salt, all rubbed together
and applied upon the teeth.
He refers to yellow and black teeth which, he says, are caused by the de-
posit of a slimy substance upon the teeth and gums which by some is
called ''weinstein" (tartar). He describes this condition to the use and eating
of honey and other over sweet and fat foods, and he observes that he "wlio
desires to retain white teeth must abstain from honey and from sleep after
heavy eating." The natural form and condition of the teeth can be retained
and restored by scraping and cleaning tliem, he continues, for which he recom-
mends the use of ptimice and other materials. For black teeth be recom-
mends scraping, and "the rubbing and coating with an ointment composed of
roses, gall apple and myrrh." Another remedy of his for cleaning such teeth
is the shells of unboiled eggs and brick dust pulverized into the finest jiowdcr,
w^hich just before using, is placed in a spoon and wine or vinegar poured
over it. The tooth is then rubbed with this mixture, after which the mouth
is rinsed with wine or luke warm water.
To cleanse blackened teeth, restore loose ones and to create a sweet odor
of the mouth, he prescribes the following powder : "Take burnt alum, cream
of tartar, red coral, pumice, and charcoal made from rosenwry and cypress
stems, sandal wood and sarcocolla, make all into a powder and mb the teeth
with it."
The German author describes a condition of the teeth under the name of
"dorinitatio," as a similar sensation to the "going asleep"' of hands or feet,
which he says is the result of taking into the mouth very cold things, such as
snow, ice or cold water. The remedy suggested is a mouth wash composed of