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254 EXPOSED PULPS.

able cases, the pulp, even after exposure, will, if
protected from the influence of foreign substances,
throw out a bony deposit, and even close up an orifice
of exposure, thus forming for itself a natural shield.
It is submitted that the capping operation is not the
best protection for facilitating this jn'ocess. It is
probable that, in some cases, the space between the
cap and the pulp, though it were large, would be
tilled with coagulable lymph ; and, even if it were

thus filled, a bony deposit might not be made
and if it were not, it could not fail ultimately
to prove injurious to the pulp. But if the space
should not be filled with lymph, the difficulty would
be equally as great, since the pulp would protrude
.
through into the vacuum beneath the cap, and neces-
sarily become diseased, since it would be irritated by
its contact with, and its pressure against, the sharp

edges of dentine at the orifice of the cavity ; and it
may remain thus diseased for a long time, or die at
once. Thus it is, no doubt, that the great majority
of failures occur, under this kind of treatment. In
order to obviate this difficulty, it has been suggested
that the space under the cap be filled with some
appropriate substance, as a thick solution of gutta-
percha and chloroform, or a small pledget of cotton
saturated with collodion.
The frequent failures which occur in capping