EARLY DESTRUCTION OF THE TEETH. 121 



previous decay; and these few mysterious exceptional 

 cases I have put down under the head of tic- 

 douloureux. We have often pain arising from in- 

 flammation of the periosteum of the fang of a 

 sound tooth, but inflammation of the periosteum 

 never occasions decay of the tooth. 



Is it not rather a singular circVimstance, that one 

 dentist should suppose caries to be the result of 

 inflammatory action, and another, the result of 

 chemical action, and yet that both should adopt the 

 same means for preventing or remedying the evil ? 

 It will, however, at once be perceived that the 

 treatment by the latter is in character, and perfectly 

 consistent with the views he entertains of the cause ; 

 but that the former, whose views are the very 

 opposite, should resort to the same means — that he 

 should perform the operations of filling and filing, 

 in order that inflammation might be prevented or 

 subdued — appears very inconsistent, and altogether 

 incomprehensible. What, let me ask, is the uni- 

 versally adopted mode for subduing inflammation in 

 all the other organs of the body? Is it not either 

 by taking blood from the vessels leading to the 

 inflamed part, or by the application of blisters, so 

 that the serous part of the blood may be withdrawn 

 from the contiguous vessels, or by the free adminis- 

 tration of active purgatives, or by the application of 

 warm or cold poultices, or by sudorific medicines ? 

 If so, why, then, are not the same remedial measures 

 adopted by those who contend that inflammatory 



