THE MOUTH, AND ITS TREATMENT. 279 



out giving pain ; the gums are also free from 

 inflammation and without pain. 



March 16th. — The teeth are perfectly firm, and 

 the attack quite subdued. 



I have selected this case as one very charac- 

 teristic of a group. 



The following will serve to illustrate cases, the 

 result of constitutional causes only. 



December 6th, 1859. — I was consulted by a 

 gentleman who was sufiering severe pain in the 

 upper right-hand wisdom tooth, which, upon 

 examination, I found very loose and tender when 

 touched. As it had no antagonizing tooth, the 

 jaws could be closed without increasing the pain. 

 An extra glass of wine taken after dinner for the 

 purpose of overcoming the pain, served only, as 

 we should expect, greatly to aggravate it. Taking 

 into consideration the uselessness of the tooth, I 

 wished to extract it, but to this my patient would 

 not consent. There was no local exciting cause 

 to be discovered. The individual was, however, 

 the victim of gout. I, therefore, prescribed the 

 iodide of potassium with the bicarbonate of potash, 

 intending to combine colchicum with it should the 

 iodide prove insufficient alone. The second dose 

 brought perfect relief, but at the same time un- 

 mistakeable evidences that iodine could be very 

 ill tolerated. A greatly-increased flow of saliva 

 showed that ptyahsm was at hand. The medicine 

 was discontinued after the second dose, having 



