480 General Notices. 



is now exhibiting in Percy Street, London. There is nothing new in the 

 principle, and the only difference between this cast-iron stove and those in 

 common use for warming workshops, halls, &c. is, that the front, and the 

 door or opening for the fuel, instead of being perpendicular, are inclined at 

 an angle of probably 30°. By this means, when the fire is lighted, a draft 

 created, and the door removed, the fire is seen somewhat in the same man- 

 ner as in a common fireplace. Instead of a hinged door, M. Fonzi employs 

 a lid, which when the fire is lighted he removes for the day. For particular 

 cases, and especially where a chimney smokes, these stoves may be substi- 

 tuted for the common open fireplace, with the advantage of showing the 

 fire, so gratifying to popular English feeling ; but as, whenever the fire 

 becomes low, the draft must cease, and the smoke and dust l'ise into the 

 apartment, they are never likely to come into general use. 



A Domestic Improvement, of a different nature, is about to be commenced 

 by M. Fonzi, which we shall hail with more satisfaction than his stove, and 

 in which we do not doubt that he will be much more successful. M. Fonzi 

 is the original inventor of the terro-metallic teeth * lately introduced to 

 London from Paris, and, for every quality required in artificial teeth, found 

 greatly superior to any of the kind hitherto in use. These teeth are now 

 sold, even by the cheapest dentists, at two and three guineas each. It is 

 M. Fonzi' s intention to reduce the price to 5s. or 7s., by which means they 

 may come into universal use, and the humblest female may thus mend her 

 charms in this department as readily as she now does in the article of hair. 

 This we think will be a very great improvement, and M. Fonzi will deserve 

 immortal honour for the attempt to bring it about. We do not believe 

 there is a class of men in the country who so soon make fortunes as den- 

 tists in full employment ; and the reason is, because there are so few in the 

 trade that it is held as a mystery. It is supposed to be something too high 

 for a mechanic, and yet too low for a regularly educated medical man. As 

 society advances all mysteries will be revealed, the principle of the division 

 of labour will be applied in this case as in every other, and the business of 

 the dentist will resolve itself into that of the surgeon dentist, the mechanic 

 dentist, and the tooth manufacturer. The latter requires no more skill 

 than a china manufacturer ; nor the mechanic dentist than a barber, cer- 

 tainly not a tithe of the science of a carpenter and joiner. The raw mate- 

 rial of the terro-metallic teeth is the same as that which is burnt into china, 

 with the addition of a metallic oxide, so that its cost and its manufacture 

 into teeth can be no great object, and the wages of the operator or mechanic 

 dentist in fitting in the teeth when once there is such a general demand as 

 we contemplate, will not exceed those of a journeyman peruke-maker. In 

 the mean time, before this business is brought to its lowest level, there will 

 be money to be made by it, and we would point it out to parents as a very 

 desirable business for their sons. In Paris, ladies sometimes exercise the 

 profession, and very properly so when they confine their practice to their 

 own sex. The inhabitants of Australia very soon lose their teeth, and a 

 mechanical dentist must be a good business with a view to emigration 

 thither. M. Fonzi styles himself " surgeon-dentist to the Imperial Court 

 of Russia, and his Majesty the King of Spain." He will render no small 

 service to the cause of civilisation and refinement, if he brings one more of 

 those enjoyments, hitherto attainable exclusively by the rich, within the 

 means of the poor. We hope a few knowing gardeners and mechanics will 



* See Rapport fait a PAthenee des Arts, &c, sur PExamen des divers 

 Procedes employes par M. Dubois -Foucon, et par M. Fonzi, pour la fabri- 

 cation des dents artificielles, lu et adopte dans Passemblee generate du, 

 13 Novembre, 1809. 



