Vol. XXII. No. 12.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE ITEWS. 



187 



grief is nervous exertion ; joy is nervous exertion ; 

 low spirits are nervous exertion. Whenever de- 

 spondency^appears, or so-called nervous disorder, it is 

 nothing else but the result of want of nourishment. 

 A noted physician asserts "that nervous diseases 

 are the consequence of continued waste of nervous 

 action and incomplete nutrition, and require noth- 

 ing but judicious dietetic treatment. All nervous 

 disorders and so-called lunacy can be greatly affected 

 by diet. Healthy and judicious food moulds the 

 character and nourishes the brain." 



This feeding of the body, this strengthening of 

 the mind, is largely due to a complete and perfect 

 " denture," a good set of teeth, the value of which 

 may not be computed if the work of dividing and 

 masticating the food be considered only. But to 

 this consideration is to be added their importance 

 in assisting articulation, in preserving the breath 

 sweet and pure when inhaled into the lungs, in 

 giving proper symmetry to the features. Indeed, 

 the mouth and teeth may well be considered the 

 most important of the facial features. 



Taste, speech, song, mastication, and insaliva- 

 tion, also the avenue for air in inhalation and 

 expiration, is the work performed by the mouth ; 

 and the ill or good health of the teeth have much 

 to do with each of these important processes. 



If the natural teeth become impaired or destroyed, 

 the dentist is called upon to magically supply the 

 loss or to repair the waste. Owing to the vast 

 importance to the health of the patient, to his 

 personal comfort, and to his personal appearance, 

 more and more importance is being attached to the 

 study and practice of this branch of the healing 

 art. The general tendency of the profession is 

 toward conservatism, — in all c.ises to try to aid 

 nature to repair the waste and preserve the vitality 

 of the teeth, and to maintain their usefulness. 



Teeth decay, and fillings waste ; but by capping 

 the structure with a crown, the perishable matter 

 may be solidified and saved where there is no 

 inherent and incurable tendency to disease in the 

 attachments and surroundings. 



There are some eminent practitioners who make 

 a progress to their ' ' field of Waterloo ' ' on some 

 new procedures, as the spoon excavators and V- 

 shaped cavities. In the lecture-room, at conven- 

 tions, at anniversary meetings of the dental soci- 

 eties, in the midst of exhibitions of blowpipes, 

 electric motors, pneumatic mallets, reversible tilting 

 melting-cups, die-making for crown work, siphon 

 tongue-holders, dental speculum, and rubber-dam 

 holder with double buckle, the veteran will hold 

 on with his hobby of spoon excavators and V- 

 shaped cavities. 



Practitioners also now implai.t into the jaws of 

 their patients, where the natural tooth may have 

 been removed for a number of years, other teeth, 

 and have them become firmly fixed, and used as 

 actively as the natural teeth, and with no incon- 

 venience whatever. From okservatiou it would 

 seem that nature adopts the artificial tooth, and 

 sends her repair in such a manner as to make true 

 bone-tissue in cases of such implantation ; and the 

 question arises. If one tooth, or three or four teeth, 

 can be successfully planted, why may not full sets 

 of natural teeth be implanted? There are daring 

 innovators who are experimenting on this mode of 

 operation, hoping for successful issue. 



Where the teeth are all gone, or where they are 

 largely decayed, an artificial plate is, however, still 

 a necessity. To preserve the taste, gold plate — 

 which should be twenty carats fine, that food may 

 not oxidize the surface — is the best metal known to 

 the trade. The rugae of the palate can be preserved ; 

 and as the organs of taste lie in the tongue, the 

 rough surface being protected, the taste is not im- 

 paired. 



However, it is being more fully understood that 

 to sacrifice a healthy root when it can be saved by 

 crowning it with porcelain or gold, and accept the 

 constant annoyance of an artificial plate, is very 

 unwise. For no matter how excellent the work- 

 manship, nor how superior the material used by 

 which the accomplished dentist shall give such 

 expression to his artificial work that it may deceive 

 the eye of the critic or of friendship, imitating the 

 exact shades of the pearly teeth ortheir rosy setting, 

 yet not a bonbon can be eaten or a meal enjoyed 

 without the immediate cleansing of the artificial 

 plate, or annoyance ensues. 



It is said that teeth of ivory and wood are found 

 in the tombs of Egypt, some of which were fastened 

 to gold plates ; and in the mouths of embalmed 

 mummies have been found teeth well filled with 

 gold, and in as good condition as if the work were 

 wrought by recent practitioners. 



It is only recently, however, that the art has 

 reached that perfection of finish vhich imitates 

 nature so closely as to defy inspection, and to 

 become so painless in its administration, that, when 

 tears rush to the eyes of the fair patients, it is, one 

 can assume, not from pain, but from the inability 

 to talk back to the dentist, that there is weeping. 

 For science has been a true benefaction to den- 

 tistry, and the old horrors attending the extraction 

 of teeth are happily of the past. A more intimate 

 knowledge of teeth and the nerve-cells and structure 

 of the tooth is a source of study to learned micros- 

 copists constantly ; and, with the aid of anaesthetics, 

 operations are rapidly becoming painless. 



lowA City, Iowa. 



— • — 



[Specially compiled for The Popular Science ^ews.] 



MONTHLY SUMMARY OF MEDICAL 



PROGRESS. 



BY W. S. WELLS, M.D. 



In the Deulsch Med. Woch. Dr. Lauenstine dis- 

 cusses operations to increase the usefulness of the 

 thumbless hand, observing that "when the thumb 

 is lost, the human hand is reduced to a mere claw, 

 which is of little use either for taking large objects 

 into its palm, or for seizing smaller objects with its 

 finger-tips." 



His attention was called to the subject by a case 

 of extensive injury to the hand in which the frac- 

 tured little finger healed with a twist toward the 

 thumb. He operated on a sailor in the hospital 

 who had lost the left thumb as far as the metacar- 

 pns. After severing the metacarpal bones of the 

 index and little fingers with a chain-saw intro- 

 duced through a very short incision along the 

 dorsal surface, he bent these fingers at the first 

 interphalangeal joint, and, forcibly rotating them 

 toward the palm and toward each other, fixed them 

 in this position by means of a suitable splint. 

 Recovery followed without complications, and the 

 index and little fingers were in such a position, that, 

 when bent, their tips met, and the patient could 

 hold with considerable firmness small objects be- 

 tween them. 



The rotation of the little finger was more suc- 

 cessful than that of the index, but this was due to 

 the hardening of the tissues resulting from the 

 sailor's work. A hand in which the metacarpus of 

 the thumb was lost, would give better results, as 

 the index finger could be better rotated. 



Dr. Lauenstine thinks that this operation, by its 

 simplicity, demands further trial. It does not suit 

 all cases, he allows, but only those in which the 

 subject proposes to do light work, such as tailoring, 

 watchmaking, goldsmith's work, and especially 

 writing. 



The exploring needle, in the diagnosis of bone 

 disease, has been used for years by Dr. A. M. 



Vance, particularly for determining the condition 

 of bones entering into the anatomy of joints. Not 

 only has no harm followed its use, but much relief. 

 In a case of hip-joint disease he was able to deter- 

 mine that the femoral head was completely softened 

 and breaking down, and the propriety of an excis- 

 ion was determined by the use of the exploring 

 needle alone, as the other evidences of disease were 

 rather slight. The needle is not likely to be forced 

 into healthy bone; but in diseased bone not only 

 does the needle enter without resistance, but a 

 sense of grating and again of freedom of the 

 needle's point is felt, and these are signs which 

 give the surgeon reason for believing the bone to 

 be diseased. Sometimes the first evidence of com- 

 plete disintegration and the presence of pus is 

 discovered in this way. The early diagnosis in 

 these cases is of the utmost importance in deter- 

 mining treatment, particularly in hip-joint disease, 

 since, if discovered in the early stage, we can re- 

 move dead bone, before the disease has spread so 

 much as to contra-indicate interference. Even if 

 an operation is not advisable, relief of pain is ac- 

 complished by the escape of confined fluids in the 

 surrounding tissues. Dr. Vance has found the use 

 of the exploring needle to afford much relief in 

 inflammation of the knee-joint. 



A NEW use for ether during ansesthesia is sug- 

 gested by Dr. Hare of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania. When the breathing suddenly ceases in 

 ansesthesia, it is customary to use cold water by 

 slapping the patient with wet towels, and often 

 dangerous delay occurs before the water arrives. 



The ether may always be at hand. The doctor 

 has found in many instances, both in man and the 

 lower animals, that the free use of ether, poured 

 upon the abdomen causes so great a shock by the 

 cold produced by its evaporation as to induce a deep 

 inspiration, which is often followed by the normal 

 respiratory movements. 



Dr. Svonnikoff, in the Meditsinskoe Obozrenie, 

 mentions a case of argyria, or silver-poisoning, 

 following constant applications of lunar caustic to 

 the throat. 



The patient was a woman who was accustomed 

 to apply with a brush a fifty per cent solution of 

 nitrate of silver, herself making the application to 

 her throat for syphilitic disease whenever the 

 throat became painful. Not only the throat, but 

 the chest and back, became stained a deep-gray 

 color; and the discoloration was even more marked 

 on the face. 



Cocaine in hydrophobia has recently been used 

 by Dr. Fubiui of Palermo (British Med. Jour.) as 

 a special application to the fauces, and gave marked 

 relief to the characteristic spasms of the throat. 



The man had been bitten on the hand by a mad 

 dog six months before. Three companions, also 

 bitten at the same time, had their wounds promptly 

 cauterized ; but the patient thought his too trfling 

 to require attention. The spasms of the larynx and 

 pharynx were extremely severe and painful ; and 

 the patient, though suffering from burning thirst, 

 could not bear the sight of liquids. Dr. Fubini 

 brushed the pharynx with a one-in-twenty solution 

 of hydrochlorate of cocaine, with the result that 

 the spasm almost immediately ceased, and the man 

 was able to drink without the least difliculty. 



A LATE issue of the Canada Medical Record con- 

 tains an editorial on the abuse of the use of milk. 

 It claims that the abuse consists in using milk as a 

 beverage instead of as a food. Milk is especially 

 contra-indicated in cases of acute rheumatism. In 

 several cases of this disease referred to, all bad 



