

PULPS AND SACS OF THE HUMAN TEETH. 21 



branch divided into three twigs, one for each secondary base 

 of the pulp, and from all of these, radiating perpendicular 

 ramuscules proceeded, as in the case of a pulp with a pri- 

 mary base. 



The arterial network, which was formed in the external 

 spongy membrane by the inosculation of these vessels with 

 those proceeding from the gums, transmitted small branches, 

 which ramified with such minuteness in the substance and 

 on the surface of that portion of the grey membrane to which 

 the granular matter adhered, that, when the latter was re- 

 moved, the former appeared to the naked eye a mass of 

 vermilion, but under a one-fourth of an inch lens exhibited a 

 network of the most minute injection. No injected vessel 

 could be seen in the granular substance.* The main dental 

 twig, after giving off all these branches, arrived at the base or 

 secondary bases of the pulp, and immediately divided into 

 many branches, which ramified in a contorted flattened 

 position, between the base or bases of the pulp and the mem- 

 brane of the sac. From these, smaller ramifications were 

 transmitted into the substance of the pulp, which ramified in 

 considerable numbers in the centre of its mass, but scarcely 

 at all near its surface or on its membrane, except in the neigh- 

 bourhood of, and at the point where, deposition of tooth- 



space left between it and the base of the latter ; but his description is in other 

 respects so correct and characteristic, that it is difficult to account for the 

 manner in which the first part of his chapter on the formation of the enamel 

 has been so much misunderstood. Dr. Blake (p. 34) (although he described 

 the granular body as the inner membrane of the tooth-sacs, and as possessing 

 " no vessels capable of conveying red blood ") supposed that Mr. Hunter meant 

 by "another pulpy substance," the sacs of the permanent teeth. Mr. Bell 

 also in a note, vol. ii. Palmer's ed. Hunter's Works, p. 43, states that after 

 most accurate observations, he had come to the conclusion that the " pulpy 

 substance" mentioned by Hunter is nothing more than the inner membrane 

 of the sac turgid with blood and earthy matter preparatory to the secretion 

 of the enamel. 



* Blake, Essay on the Structure and Fon/uUioti of the Teeth, p. 4. 



