ANCIENT AND MODERN DENTISTRY 501 



As the days of Hippocrates, whom we now regard as the 

 father of medicine, drew near, we find much writing on the 

 subject of the teeth. Thus about 400 B.C. Hippocrates recom- 

 mended that black and unhealthy gums should be treated with 

 a mixture of dill, aniseed, and myrrh dissolved in pure white 

 wine ; we have in this mouthwash the progenitor of the familiar 

 tincture of myrrh and borax to be seen in every chemist's shop. 

 Hippocrates advised that the mouth should be rinsed with this 

 lotion after each meal and also before food. 



The use of chalk, which is even to-day the main ingredient 

 of most tooth-powders, was known to Hippocrates, who recom- 

 mended that it should be used mixed with the " head of a hare " 

 and " the intestines of a mouse " ! What influence the last 

 two ingredients could have been supposed to produce is hard 

 to imagine ! 



Hippocrates evidently also understood the principle of what 

 is now called " counter-irritation," for in certain cases of tooth- 

 ache he recommended the use of a mouthwash containing pepper 

 and castoreum, an acrid substance prepared from some glands 

 of the beaver. Modern dentists frequently apply to the gums 

 near tender teeth small plasters containing capsicum, a sort of 

 pepper which is very efficacious in allaying certain forms of 

 inflammation. 



In the case of a man named Melisandrus, who was suffering 

 from pain and swelling of the gums, Hippocrates recommended 

 the use of alum as a mouthwash and also that the patient should 

 be bled in the arm. 



Many people have thought that the making of dental crowns 

 and "bridges" was introduced to mankind by our American 

 cousins, but in various museums of ancient Greece and Rome 

 are to be seen excellent examples of gold bridges and artificial 

 teeth such as were probably used by the plutocracy, if not by 

 the aristocracy, of those early days. 



Aristotle, who lived about 350 b.c, wrote much on the sub- 

 ject of the teeth, and even discussed the relative advantages 

 of extracting the teeth with forceps as compared with the 

 unaided finger and thumb. Galen, another famous Greek 

 physician, who lived about 100 B.C., was the first man to give 

 the teeth their present names of "incisors," "canines," and 

 "grinders," or "molars." Galen was also the first man to 

 describe what is popularly called the " nerve " of a tooth and 



