THE TEETH AS A MEANS OF IDENTIFICATION. 163 



(g) Kich cream color shading to yellowish at cervical border, (h) 

 Upper laterals both everted at mesial border : right lower central 

 crowded inward, (t) First right upper bicuspid and second left lower 

 molar missing; first upper molar broken off and roots remaining. (;') 



1, gold filling; 2, large amalgam filling; 3, cement filling. (k) 1, 

 deep decay; 2, shallow decay. 



(I) Dead tooth and chronic ab- 

 scess and fistula. (m) 1, gold 

 teeth crown; 2, porcelain crown. 

 (n) 1, third molar peg-shaped; 



2, both lower bicuspids of tricuspid 

 form; 3, whitish spot on labial 

 face. 



The history of life insurance 

 litigation demonstrates the value 

 of imperishable physical data for 

 the purpose of identification, and 

 these data the teeth furnish. It 

 is more than probable that much 

 expensive litigation and unfair de- 

 cisions would have been avoided if 

 these data had been heretofore 

 utilized. In the celebrated Hill- 

 mon case, which dragged its slow 

 length for twenty years through 

 the United States courts of the 

 west, casts of the alleged corpse 



of Hillmon were placed in evidence which showed that the denture was 

 perfect and regular, while the teeth of Hillmon himself were said to 

 be irregular and some were absent. It was a case in which the body was 

 so disfigured by decomposition that evidence in regard to the teeth was 

 of the utmost importance. If a chart of Hillmon 's own teeth could 

 have been produced which showed some of his dental peculiarities 

 (missing teeth, irregularities, fillings, etc.) a comparison with the 

 teeth of the corpse would have been of advantage so that the case 

 would have been sooner settled and much tedious and expensive litiga- 

 tion avoided. 



The data are so accessible and so important, that we feel justified 

 in urging the matter upon the attention of those who have charge of 

 the classes of which physical records are required. The dental data 

 should be employed as supplementary to other systems of signs for 

 identification, and would thus be of value in the records of soldiers and 

 criminals as well as for insurance companies. 



FiG.i. 



BELOW. 



Upper jaw above; lower jaw 



