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THE DECAY OF THE TEETH. 129

term for tootli-decaj, or rather for a hollow tooth, is " miishi ba"
—mushi = worm, ba = tooth, therefore a worm-tooth.
In Chinese, a hollow tooth is cahed " chung choo," which has
exactly the same meaning.
The existence of tooth-worms was called in question hy Hol-
larius as early as 600. According to his idea, the worms are
nothing else than " particles of the henbane which fly ofi' during
the fumigations."
It is rather ditficult to understand how the lirst authorities in
the dental art should for so many centuries go on accepting burnt
particles of henbane or other vegetable substances for worms.
Peter Fauchard"^ (1728) also made futile eiibrts to discover the
worms. Pfatf ^ (1756) saw worms on the gums, " particularly in
the case of very common people who are in the habit of eating
decaying cheese," He was "not able, however, to observe that
such worms had produced toothache bv o-nawino;," although he
is willing to admit such a possibility.

Putrefaction as Cause of Decay.

Putrefaction was specified as the cause of decay by Pfaff**
(1756). " Remains of food which undergo putrefaction between
the teeth occasion decay of the teeth." At the present time even,
many designate decay simply as tooth-rot (Zahntaule) and regard
it as a process of putrefaction, overlooking the fact that an ex-
tracted tooth may 1 )e left an indefinite length of time in a jiutre-
fying mixture without showing any trace of decomposition.
Some years ago MajT and Stockwell attempted to establish
the putrefaction theory of decay on a new basis. Bacteria were
said to grow into the tubules and to destroy or absorb the basis-
substance, whereupon the lime-salts fall apart. ' In conformity
with this theory, the analysis of carious dentine sliould not reveal
a decrease, but rather an increase of lime or a loss of organic
substance. In reality, the very reverse is the case, so that this
theory soon had to be abandoned.