Chap. 49.] EEMEDIES FOR TOOTH-ACHE. 339 
excellent remedy is a wolf s head, reduced to ashes : it is a 
well-known fact, too, that there are bones generally found in 
the excrements of that animal ; these bones, attached to the 
body as an amulet, are productive of advantageous effects. Por 
the cure of tooth-ache, hare's rennet is injected into the ear : 
the head also of that animal, reduced to ashes, is used in the 
form of a dentifrice, and, with the addition of nard, is a correc- 
tive of bad breath. Some persons, however, think it a better 
plan to mix the ashes of a mouse's head with the dentifrice. 
In the side of the hare there is a bone found, similar to a 
needle in appearance : for the cure of tooth-ache it is recom- 
mended to scarify the gums with this bone. The pastern-bone 
of an ox, ignited and applied to loose teeth which ache, has 
the effect of strengthening them in the sockets ; the same bone, 
reduced to ashes, and mixed with myrrh, is also used as a denti- 
frice. The ashes of burnt pig's feet are productive of a similar 
effect, as also the calcined bones of the cotyloid cavities in which 
the hip-bones move. It is a well-known fact, that, introduced 
into the throat of beasts of burden, these bones are a cure for 
worms, and that, in a calcined state, they are good for strength- 
ening the teeth. 
When the teeth have been loosened by a blow, they are 
strengthened by using asses* milk, or else ashes of the burnt 
teeth of that animal, or a horse's lichen, reduced to powder, 
and injected into the ear with oil. By lichen*^ I do not mean 
the hippomanes, a noxious substance which I purposely forbear 
to enlarge upon, but an excrescence which forms upon the 
knees of horses, and just above the hoofs. In the heart^^ of 
this animal there is also found a bone which bears a close 
resemblance to the eye-teeth of a dog : if the gums are scarified 
with this bone, or with a tooth taken from the jaw-bone of a 
dead horse, corresponding in place with the tooth affected, the 
pain will be removed, they say. Anaxilaiis assures us that if 
the liquid which exudes from a mare when covered, is ignited 
on the wick of a lamp, it will give out a most marvellous 
representation*' of horses' heads ; and the same with reference 
See B. xxi. c. 105. ^5 gee B. viii. c. 66. 
See B. xi. c. 70. Ajasson remarks that this bone is only found in 
animals that have undergone much fatigue, and that it results from the 
consolidation of certain tendinous fibres which form the ligament of the heart. 
Capitum visus " seems to be a more probable reading than " capi- 
z 2 
