270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1888. 



the hard palate be entirely free. In a man fifty six years of age 

 from whom I had removed a number of polypi the pad was the 

 seat of soreness and pain for a week after the operation. It consti- 

 tuted the only annoyance which followed upon an operation of 

 exceptional extent. In children who have been operated upon for 

 deflected septum the necks of the teeth are surrounded by a pur- 

 plish red line as long as the plug is worn in the nose. 



Absence of Ruga:. The rugte may disappear by pressure from 

 within, as from a usevus or a fibrous tumor, and from without, as 

 from the pressure from a plate for artificial teeth. The absorption 

 of the alveolar process after the extraction of teeth, as a rule, induce 

 the absorption of the rugte, but occasionull}' the rugje persist and 

 are found lying directly across the position of the former dental 

 arch. 



Medico-Legal Value of the JRugce. The persistence of the rug^ 

 after death leads to the conclusion that they may afford valual)le 

 signs by which the body can be identified, for during the processes 

 of decomposition the mucous membrane of the hard palate is 

 among the last to be lost. When the positions of the rug?e are re- 

 corded (as in the event of a patient having been recently under the 

 care of a dentist and the impression of the rugae having been taken 

 in plaster,) it is certainly true that the folds could be used in connec- 

 tion with the teeth, or even in the absence of these organs, in 

 identifying the subject. 



Congenital Syphilis. In congenital syphilis I have often observed 

 that while the roof of the mouth especially at the anterior part was 

 of a deep red color from inflammation that the rugje were milk white. 

 The folds become swollen and painful in acute inflammati(.n of the 

 roof of the mouth and infiltrated in cases of prolonged suppuration 

 from the alveolar processes. 



In the diagnosis of syphilis this appearance is of importance. 

 While the characters of the teeth as caused by scarlet fever may be 

 much the same as those produced by syphilis yet in the sequelaj of 

 the disease first named the hard palate yields no characters. In 

 syphilis more or less congestion if not inflammation appears to be 

 constantly present. 



The study presented in the foregoing pages is based entirely ujion 

 examinations made upon living subjects. Forms of mouths which 

 occurred to me as interesting were selected and casts of the ru 2,03 



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