120 DISEASES CLASS I. 2. 4. 13. 



great caution lest any of the solution should touch the tongue or 

 gums. 



Much cold and much heat are equally injurious to the teeth, 

 which are endued with a fine sensation of this universal fluid, 

 The best method of preserving them is by the daily use of a 

 brush, which is not very hard, with warm water and fine char- 

 coal dust. A lump of charcoal should be put a second time into 

 the fire till it is red hot, as soon as it becomes cool the external 

 ashes should be blown off, and it should be immediately reduced 

 to fine powder in a mortar, and kept close stopped in a phial. It 

 takes away the bad smell from decayed teeth, by washing the 

 mouth with this powder diffused in water, immediately. The 

 putrid smell of decaying stumps of teeth may be destroyed for a 

 time by washing the mouth with a weak solution of alum in wa- 

 ter. If the calcareous crust upon the teeth adheres very firmly, 

 a fine powder of pumice-stone may be used occasionally, or a 

 tooth-instrument. 



Acid of sea-salt, much diluted, may be used; but this very 

 rarely, and with the greatest caution, as in cleaning sea-shells. 

 When the gums are spongy, they should be frequently pricked 

 witji a lancet. Should black spots in teeth be cut out? Does 

 the enamel grow again when it has been perforated or abraded? 



Otalgia. Ear-ach sometimes continues many days without ap- 

 parent inflammation, and is then frequently removed by filling 

 the ear with laudanum, or with ether; or even with warm oil, 

 or warm water. See Class II. 1.4. 8. This pain of the ear, 

 like hemicrania, is frequently the consequence of association with 

 a diseased tooth; in that case the ether should be applied to the 

 cheek over the suspected tooth; or a grain of opium and as much 

 camphor mixed together, and applied to the suspected tooth. In 

 this case the otalgia belongs to the fourth class of diseases. 



14. Pleurodyne chronica. Chronical pain of the side. Pains 

 of the membranous parts, which are not attended with fever, 

 have acquired the general name of rheumatic; which should, 

 nevertheless, be restricted to those pains which exist only when 

 the parts are in motion, and which have been left after inflam- 

 mation of them; as described in Class I. 1. 3. 12. The pain of 

 the side here mentioned affects many ladies, and may possibly 

 have been owing to the pressure of tight stays, which has weak- 

 ened the action of the vessels composing some membranous part, 

 as, like the cold head-ach, it it attended with present debility; 

 in one patient, a boy about ten years old, it was attended with 

 daily convulsions, and was supposed to have originated from 

 worms. The disease is very frequent, and generally withstands 

 the use of blisters on the part; but in some cases I have known 



