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62 PATHOLOGY OF THE HABD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.

Fouchard wrote in French in 1728 and a translation was
made into German by Augustine Duddei in 1733. Second and
third editions were published in French in 1746 and 1786. In
none of these is there any statement regarding the cause of den-
tal caries that is as definite in conception as the one quoted
above. This seems to be true of all of the writings of that time.
Fouchard mentions filling carious cavities with gold, but con-
demns the practice apparently because of the expense, and
because certain persons of evil disposition deceived the people
by using tin so prepared as to appear like gold. As filling
materials, he preferred lead or tin leaf (foil).
John Hunter, writing in English (1778), expresses very
clearly a different view, in which he says : ' ' The most common
disease to which the teeth are exposed is such a decay as would
appear to deserve the name of mortification," with which he
expresses some dissatisfaction as being an incomplete explana-
tion of the diseased process. This, with other writings by the
same author, shows that in considering the diseases of the teeth
he was following closely the lines of thought of his time of what
we now know as necrosis of bones.
Fox (1806) expresses a similar view, which, with slight mod-
ification, was repeated by Bell (1825), who proposed the term
' dental gangrene ' to take the place of the more common terms
' '
"decay" or "caries."
This seems to have been the most common view of medical
men of that time, and, with slight modifications, was repeated
by most writers. All of these men regarded caries of the teeth
as being a result of inflammation and as beginning within the
dentin instead of upon the surface of the enamel. Koeker of
Philadelphia (1830) speaks of decay penetrating the enamel
from within outward, saying that it "had thus formed a natural
outlet for the bony abscess."
Robertson (1835) expresses a different view, which, in its
main features, agrees substantially with the earlier views of the
anonymous author quoted above. But Robertson is more explicit
in the detail. According to this view, caries of the teeth resulted
from the action of an acid generated by the decomposition of
food particles or fluids, which lodged at particular points about
the teeth and dissolved out the calcium salts of which the teeth
are composed. These points of lodgment were shown to be the
points at which caries made its beginning, as in pits and deep
grooves in the occlusal surfaces, between the teeth (proximal
surfaces) or about the margins of the gums.