the old conjurors pretended that they possessed secrets for loosening hollow teeth, and extracting them without pain; an old gossiping person, who calls himself a physician, in a late number of the New Monthly Magazine, was fool enough to try helleboraster, milk thistle, henbane, and ashes of earth worms for this purpose! We need not say he was disappointed.

The cause of decay in the teeth is still unknown, though it is conjectured that it may arise from taking too hot or too cold food and drink, or from the undue use of acids. Sugar and sweet things were, at one time, denounced as the common cause of bad teeth and tooth-ache, but this is now believed to be a vulgar error. Those who are in the habit of using elixir of vitriol, will, if they are not careful to drink it through a quill, or a glass tube, soon find their teeth much injured. Hollow teeth are, likewise, often caused by dentifrices and tooth-powders.

When tooth-ache evidently arises from a decayed or hollow tooth, and the patient is unwilling to have it extracted, the first thing to be done is to ease the excruciating pain, which, as Burns says, bears the bell of all misery and rankest plagues. One of the most powerful remedies for this, is exciting some strong emotion of the mind, such as terror, hope, wonder, and the like, the great engines, by the way, used by Prince Hohenlohe, Mr. Baldwin, and other miracle-workers. If you have faith in the remedy,

the cure is certain. The notorious Valentine Greatrakes cured the tooth-ache by simply stroking the cheek; others, by blowing upon the patient; others, by a magnet held to the tooth; and any body, who can obtain belief and confidence, may cure it by saying, "Begone," or any other authoritative word.

When a patient is not sufficiently credulous to be cured by this sort of quackery, recourse may be had to opiates. A bit of opium, or some cotton-wool soaked in laudanum, may, with this view, be plugged into the hollow of the tooth. Camphor, dissolved in oil of turpentine, is also a favourite remedy, in the form of the following →

LOTION FOR TOOTH-ACHE.

Put two drachms of camphor

into an ounce of the oil of turpentine,

and let it dissolve; when it will be fit for use.

Cajeput oil is another valuable remedy for allaying the pain, when put into the hollow of the tooth. The most effectual, however, of all the remedies for destroying the sensibility of the nerve, is the putting of a red hot wire into the hollow, which will destroy the nerve, and prevent the return of the pain....

Pain in any other part of the body eases toothache, chiefly, as it should seem, by affecting the mind, and distracting or withdrawing attention. A box on the ear, a blow on the shin, or on the elbow, has, in this way, often given immediate relief. It is

in this way, that any thing which smarts the mouth relieves the pain, such as hot water, tobacco smoke, or brandy, held in the mouth, or, what is still better, the

MUCILAGE FOR TOOTH-ACHE.

Take one drachm of the powdered leaves of pyrethrum,

and a sufficient quantity of gum arabic mucilage: Make a mass, divide it into twelve portions, and take one into the mouth, and let it lie till dissolved, as occasion requires.

If an external application is preferred, the following may be rubbed on the outside of the jaw.

LINIMENT FOR TOOTH-ACHE.

Take an ounce of spirit of camphor;
three drachms of liquid ammonia;

ten drops of essential oil of bergamot : Mix them in a phial for use.

A blister placed behind the ear, or burning the lap of the ear with a cloth dipped in boiling water, will often remove the pain entirely. The return of the pain, when the nerve is not destroyed, is best prevented by stopping the hollow of the teeth with melted sealing-wax, or with some metal, such as lead or gold. This, however, is best done by a dentist. It has lately been proposed, and is worth trial, to fill the hollow with some of the cements used by

stone masons, which harden under water. The cement could be put into the hollow in the form of a soft paste, and no water will ever dissolve it.*

3. ON THE BREATH.

Intimately connected with the beauty of the mouth, is the purity of the breath, which we shall now briefly notice.

One great cause of bad breath arises from a superabundance of what chemists call the phosphate of lime, existing in the fluids of the mouth, and forming crusts on the teeth, but too well known by the name of tartar. The tartar, besides being of a very bad smell itself, affords a lodgment for particles of food, which not only corrupt, but unite with the phosphate of lime in the saliva, and tend much to increase the disagreeable smell, which the warm air passing out of the mouth in breathing takes up and carries with it. In by far the greater number of instances of bad breath, this is the chief cause.

We wish that a remedy were as easily come by, as an explanation; but to devise an effectual one often baffles our best skill. In all cases of bad breath, it will be important to examine the teeth, to remove those which are hollow, and may, therefore, lodge a quantity of the phosphate of lime, and to clean

* Oracle of Health, vol. i. p. 111.

regularly those which are sound with the tooth-brush, page 296. This, however, will only be a temporary expedient, and will not go to the source of the evil, namely, the superabundance of phosphate of lime in the saliva, which must be remedied, if possible, constitutionally. For this purpose, we recommend the following

REMEDY FOR BAD BREATH.

Take from five to ten drops of muriatic acid, in an ale glassful of barley water, and add

a little lemon juice and lemon peel to flavour: Mix for a draught, to be taken three times a day, for a month or six weeks at least, and, if effectual, it may be continued occasionally.

Another medicine of this kind, which has often proved beneficial when the stomach has been wrong, and the bowels costive, is, the

Take one drachm of sulphate of magnesia,

two drachms of tincture of calumba,

an ounce and a half of infusion of roses :

Make a draught, to be taken every morning, or every other morning, an hour before breakfast, for at least a month.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BREATH.

This subject will be best understood, after we have