ITS SURGICAL AND MECHANICAL TREATMENT. 89 



generally adopted, of securing the plate in its 

 position by means of processes given off from the 

 plate, and carried round the teeth. These pro- 

 cesses we call " collars." 



M. De la Barre describes a very ingenious appa- 

 ratus contrived by him to supply, for a special case, 

 the whole of the hard and soft palate, but as it 

 was designed for an exceptional case, it is unneces- 

 sary to repeat his description of it here. 



The first Englishman who distinguished himself 

 as a maker of obturators was a Mr. Snell, a surgeon 

 of London, who published in the year 1828 a most 

 interesting book on the subject, which I recommend 

 to any who may be interested in this matter, as 

 well worthy their attention. 



This gentleman appears to have been singularly 

 successful in his attempts to remedy this lesion. I 

 find that he first obtained a correct model of the 

 mouth upon which to work up the plate. I pause 

 to say that Mr. Snell is the first author who 

 pointedly speaks of commencing his treatment by 

 obtaining a correct model of the defective parts. 

 Upon the plate so worked up, he fitted, when the 

 vomer was deficient, a piece of ivory to the superior 

 or convex surface, which was filed up to a shape 

 which represented this bone ; when the soft palate 

 was fissured, he attached to the posterior margin of 

 the gold plate a curtain of india-rubber, which 

 was made at once both stiff and flexible by a gold 

 spring attached to it. The construction of such an 



