ON GUTTA-PEECHA AS A PEEMANENT 

 STOPPING, 



Read August 3rd, 1857. 



By henry long JACOB, M.RC.S. 



{Presented hy Edwin Sebcombe, M.E.C.S.) 



The utility of gutta-percha as a temporary stopping 

 in certain cases has been long recognised by the 

 dental profession \ its insolubility and imperme- 

 ability to the fluids of the mouth, the protection it 

 affords against changes of temperature, combined 

 with the fact of its requiring little or no force for 

 its introduction, point it out as a most useful agent 

 for this purpose ; there have, however, hitherto been 

 certain objections or difficulties in the way of its 

 employment, which have militated against its general 

 use as a temporary stopping, and still more as a 

 permanent one. In its ordinary condition, and un- 

 mixed with any other material, its colour prevents 

 its being available for cavities which are in sight, 

 and in all cases it would be too elastic and yielding 

 to allow of ready manipulation, or of its being 

 made to adhere properly to the walls of the cavity. 

 There were, therefore, two things to be desired; 



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