EED, WHITE, GOLDEIv AXD SILVER HUES. XXV 



for what were already formed will not be in tlie least 

 tinged. Tiiis is diiferent in all other bones; for we 

 know that any part of a bone which is already formed 

 is capable of being dyed with madder, though not so 

 fast as the part that is forming. Therefore, as we know 

 that all other bones are vascular, and are thence sus- 

 ceptible of the dye, we may readily suppose tiiat the 

 teeth are not susceptible of it after being once formed. 

 But we shall carry this a step further: If you feed a 

 pig with madder for some time, and then leave it off 

 for a time before killing it, you vvill find the appear- 

 ances as above", Avith tliis addition, that all the parts of 

 the teeth wliich w^ere formed after leaving off feeding 

 w^ith the madder will be white. Here, then, in some 

 teeth we shall have white, then red, and then white 

 again; and so we shall have the red and white colors 

 alternately through the whole tooth.* 



"This experiment shows tliat a tooth, once tinged, 

 does not lose its color. Now, as all other bones that 



*In the conchiding- part of Moore's " Lalla Rookli " ("The 

 Light of the Harem"), the Enchantress says of an herb with the 

 unmusical name of " Haschischat ed dab:" 



" The visions, that oft to worldly eyes 

 The glitter of mines unfold, 

 Inhabit the mountain-herb, that dyes 

 The tooth of the fawn like gold." 



A reference note to the above is as follows : " An herb on 

 Mount Libauus, which is said to communicate a yellow golden 

 hue to the teeth of the goats and other animals that graze upon 

 it. Nisbuhr thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern 

 alchemists look to as a means of making gold. ' Most of those 

 alchemical enthusiasts thiuk themselves sure of success if they 

 could but find out the herb which gilds the teeth and gives a yel- 

 low color to the flesh of the she-p that eat it. Even the oil of this 

 plant must be of a golden color. It is called Hasduschat ed dab.' 

 Father Jerome Dandini, however, asserts that the teeth of the 



