INFLAMMATIONS. 105 



CCCCLXXXII. The acrid matter producing this disease 

 seems to be generated first in the hard substances of the teeth ; 

 and as it often appears first upon the external surface of these, 

 it might be suspected to arise from the application of external 

 matters to the teeth : but as the production of this acrimony is 

 often begun in the internal cavity of the teeth, where the 

 operation of external matters cannot be suspected, and as 

 even when it begins upon the external parts of the teeth, the 

 operation of the cause is at first in a small portion of the 

 teeth only, it is difficult to suppose that any matter externally 

 applied could act in such a partial manner ; so it is presumed 

 that the acrid matter occasioning the toothach is produced by 

 some vice originating in the substance of the tooth itself. 

 When it begins upon the external surface, it is on the ena- 

 mel ; but upon the internal surface, it must be in the bony 

 part. From what causes it arises in either of these substan- 

 ces, I do not at all know ; but I suspect that it often arises 

 from some more general fault in the fluids of the body. The 

 frequent use of mercury, especially when thrown much upon 

 the mouth, and the state of the fluids in scurvy, seem both of 

 them to give a disposition to a caries in the teeth ; and it is pos- 

 sible that some other acrimonious states of the fluids may have 

 the same effect. 



CCCCLXXXIII. A caries in some part of the teeth, whe- 

 ther arising upon their internal surface or upon their external, 

 proceeding so far as to reach the nerves in the cavity of the 

 teeth, is pretty manifestly the cause of toothach, and of the 

 first attacks of it ; but when the cavity of the teeth has been 

 opened, so that the external air or other matters can reach that 

 cavity, these are often the exciting causes of toothach, and serve 

 to prove in general, that acrid matters applied to the nerves oc- 

 casion the disease. 



CCCCLXXXIV. What is the nature of the matter pro- 

 duced in the caries of the teeth, I do not understand, nor have 

 I found any proper corrector of it ; but I presume it to be of 

 the putrid kind, as it often taints the breath with a fetid odour.- 



CCCCLXXXV. In the cure of this disease, a long experi- 

 ence has shown, that the extraction of the carious tooth proves 

 ic most effectual, and very often the only effectual remedy of 



