Pamphlets Eeceived.

Yoice in Singers. Eead before the Ohio State Medical Society, June 4, 1885, by Carl H. Yon Klein, A.M., M.D., of Dayton, Ohio. Price 25 cents. Columbus, Ohio: Hann & Adair, printers.

Duty of the State Towards the Medical Profession. An address delivered before the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, Wednesday, June 24, 1885, by Conrad Greorge, M.D., Ann Arbor, Mich. Eeprinted from "The Physician and Surgeon," July, 1885.

Electric Light as an Aid to Diagnosis in Surgery, or Externally Affected Parts. By Addinell Hewson, A.M., M.D., of Philadelphia. Eeprinted from Transactions Pennsylvania State Medical Society,

1885.

Eecherches sur lès Propriétés Physiques et la Constitution Chimique des Dents, sur les Eapports du Coefficient de Eesistance, a l'État de Santé, ou de Maladie, avec les Modifications de la Nutrition. Étude de Pathologie Générale. Par le Dr. Y. Galippe, chef de laboratoire à la Faculté de Médecine, membre de la Société de Biologie. Paris: Librairie G. Masson, libraire de l'Académie de Médecine.

Note sur le Système Dentaire du Supplicié C Par le Dr. Y.

Galippe, chef de laboratoire à la Faculté de Médecine. (Communication faite a la Société de Biologie.) Paris: A. Parent, imprimeur de la Faculté de Médecine; A. Davy, successeur, 1884.

Observations sur le Système Dentaire des Fuégiens. Par le Dr. Hyades et le Dr. Galippe. (Communication faite a la Société de Biologie.) Extrait du Journal des Connaissances Médicales. Paris: A. Parent, imprimeur de la Faculté de Médecine; A. Davy, successeur, 1884.

OBITUARY.

J. P. HOLMES, D.D.S.

Died, at Macon, Georgia, September 2, 1885, of apoplexy, J. P. Holmes, D.D.S., in the forty-third year of his age.

Dr. Holmes was born July 18,1842, at Spring Eidge, Miss. He was the son of Dr. H. J. Holmes, a prominent physician in Mississippi, who died in 1875; was a graduate of the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, class of 1868; commenced practice in Hazlehurst, Miss., and in 1873 removed to Macon, Georgia. He subsequently united with his brother in the establishment of a dental depot at that place, and commenced the publication of the Dental Luminary, a quarterly journal, which is still continued. He was a member of the Southern

Dental Association and the Georgia Dental Society, and held office in each. He was a genial, kind-hearted man, and was highly esteemed. He leaves a wife and one child, a daughter.

WILLIAM A. NEWLAHD, D.D.S.

Died, at Buenos Ayres, South America, July 24,1885, of pericarditis, William A. Newland, D.D.S., in the forty-second year of his age.

Dr. Newland was formerly a resident of Philadelphia, and graduated at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, class of 1865. He went to South America soon after graduation, and had been for many years practicing his profession in Buenos Ayres, where he accumulated a handsome fortune. He was held in high esteem in that community. He is succeeded in practice by his brother, Dr. Geo. B. Newland.

HINTS AND QUERIES.

In drawing into alignment some outwardly projecting superior incisors, the palatal portion of the gums between those teeth and the plate became greatly swollen, and I have employed ordinary astringents thus far to little purpose. "Will some one kindly indicate the line of treatment in such a case?—E. F. W., Napier, New Zealand.

A Filling For Nerve Canals.—For the past year I have been experimenting on filling nerve canals with a mixture of pulverized animal charcoal and a small quantity of iodoform. My method of using it is as follows: Take pulverized animal charcoal, one drachm; iodoform, powdered, five grains; mix them thoroughly. Where a molar with devitalized nerve is to be filled, apply the rubber-dam; prepare the cavity thoroughly; cleanse the pulp cavity and canals, where the canals can readily be cleansed, or are large enough to admit a broach. If desirable, the largest canals may be partly filled at the foramen with tin-foil. Next, introduce enough of the carbo-animalis to completely fill the canals and pulp cavity. Over this fill with oxyphosphate; and lastly with a permanent filling material. The carbon is left perfectly dry in the center of the tooth. Out of about twenty-five molars which I have treated in this way, not one has yet given any trouble to the patient, to my knowledge. Where the tooth is not in a chronic ulcerated condition, and there is no soreness, I perform the entire operation atone sitting. The powder can best be introduced into upper molars by filling a small glass or rubber-tube and using a small stick as a plunger to force the powder up into place. I have never employed this method for "front » teeth, fearing discoloration, though I have not noticed any discoloration in the molars. I should like to have others try this method, and report results.—J. E. Davis, M.S., D.D.S.

Replantation Of A Tooth.-oii the 25th of January last a lady called at my office and insisted on having an upper lateral incisor extracted. It was badly ulcerated and causing her very severe suffering. After removing the tooth I proposed replanting. She consented, but owing to the lateness of the hour and the length of time it would require to prepare the tooth for replacement, I could not perform the operation that evening, hut made an appointment for the following morning. She was unable to call at the appointed hour, but came in the afternoon, just twenty-four hours from the time the tooth was extracted. In the meantime I had prepared the tooth, excised the diseased parts, and filled the root and two crown cavities with gold. I replaced the tooth, causing considerable pain, secured it in place in the usual manner, and dismissed the patient. I called at her home in the evening and found her suffering great pain; painted the gum with tincture of iodine, and gave her the third of a grain of morphine. She called at the office next morning and reported a good night's rest. The tooth was sore to the touch; gum swollen some, but no pain. Three days after I removed the bandage. There was very little soreness and no swelling.

I did not see the patient again for six months, she having moved to another town. Then the tooth was found to be as solidly in place as any of the other teeth. A physician who was present when she called was unable to tell which of the four incisors had been reimplanted. The color of the tooth remained perfect. —J. E. Raybtjrn, Fairbury, III.

Cocaine Again.—As the undersigned is credited with giving the history of the first case in which cocaine was used for obtunding sensitive dentine (see DenTal Cosmos, December, 1884), it may not be amiss for me to say that I have found the six per cent, aqueous solution a boon to my patients when used to obtund sensibility previous to lancing the gums, extracting teeth, or in placing the rubberdam or clamp. I have failed to obtain satisfactory results from the oleates, although I have given them an impartial trial. Let me add,—do not expect too quick returns. In waiting for effects, patience will be rewarded. In extracting, use the solution hypodermically, forcing it deeply into the tissues.—W. P. Horton, Jr.

To The Editor Of The Dental Cosmos:

Many of your readers will no doubt remember the case of the killing of Josiah Bacon, agent of the Goodyear Rubber Company, by Dr. Chalfant, in San Francisco, April 13, 1879. I inclose the following clipping from the Sacramento Bee of a late date:

"Governor Stoneman to-day issued a pardon to Dr. Samuel P. Chalfant, who killed Josiah Bacon, an agent of the Goodyear Rubber Company, in the Baldwin Hotel, San Francisco, several years ago, and who was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment at San Quentin. It will be remembered that shortly after Chalfant was imprisoned a woman named Perkins appeared on the scene and began efforts to secure his release. At one time the doctor escaped from the prison, through plans believed to have been matured by the woman. He was recaptured in Nevada, however, and returned to San Quentin. Mrs. Perkins never abated her efforts to secure his pardon, and how successfully she has labored is shown by the fact that his pardon was petitioned for by the entire jury before whom Chalfant was tried, the judge who sentenced him, the prosecuting attorney, and a large number of the leading citizens of San Francisco. It is understood that Mrs. Perkins will soon become Mrs. Chalfant."

This was not a case of "love's labor lost," for Mrs. Perkins seems to have succeeded admirably. I send this because I know that many, like myself, have wondered what had become of Dr. Chalfant.—J. R. Morgan, Kokoma, Ind., Sept. 7, 1885.

THE

DENTAL COSMOS.

Vol. XXVII. PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1885. No. 11.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

STUDIES OF THE PATHOLOGY OP ENAMEL OF HUMAN TEETH WITH SPECIAL EEFEEENOE TO THE ETIOLOGY OF OAEIES.

BY FRANK ABBOTT, M.D., NEW YORK, N. Y.

(Read before the American Dental Association, at Minneapolis, Minn., August 5, 1885.) One of the most important questions in dentistry has always been the pathology and etiology of caries. Thoughtful dentists have long agreed that there is a marked difference, not only of individuals, but also of races, in the liability of teeth to decay. Quite recently a prominent dentist of JSTew York directly accused civilization of being the most conspicuous factor in its production. It is an undeniable fact that, with advancing refinement of individuals and nations, decay of teeth is more prevalent. It seems to me, however, that even this recognized fact will not altogether explain the rapidly growing tendency toward this disease under all circumstances. It has many times occurred to me that there must be an anatomical substratum to fully explain the liability to caries in each single individual, aside from the acquired local causes to which caries has usually heretofore been attributed. Unquestionably, there are auxiliary agents in producing or fostering decay of teeth, such ascertain kinds of food, more especially sweets, which are too often retained in the fissures always found in the grinding surfaces of certain teeth, upon irregular teeth, uneven surfaces of the enamel, etc. But all these cannot fully explain the fact that the simple change in modes of living should manifest itself in the sudden and rapid destruction °f these organs. Strong, healthy individuals, upon being transferred from a country with comparatively simple habits of life into & country of high refinement, may soon become victims of caries of their teeth. Modern Germans and Irish, immigrating to America and enjoying luxuries (similar to those enjoyed by comparatively Vol. Xxvii—41.

civilized old Egyptians, in whose mummies we observe, not without some surprise, a pronounced tendency toward decay of the teeth), soon discover, to their great discomfort, at least, that their teeth are becoming diseased.

With these questions in mind, I undertook to examine a large number of teeth which had been ground into thin slabs, with the precaution of preserving their soft parts, especially their living matter, a method first introduced into microscopic technique by Dr. C. F. W. Bodecker. The results of my observations, though not exhaustive, are highly satisfactory, inasmuch as they explain, quite positively, the tendency of certain teeth to decay, the cause of which is in direct relation to and dependent upon imperfections in their anatomical structure. I claim, based upon these observations, that certain deficiencies in the minute structure of the enamel must be directly considered as playing a most important part in the etiology of caries.

Before entering upon the description of the anomalies of enamel which I have discovered, I wish to briefly recapitulate the description of the structure of this tissue, and its relation to dentine, as first discovered and published by Bodecker, in his essay entitled "The Distribution of Living Matter in Human Dentine, Cement, and Enamel." (dental Cosmos, 1878-1879). According to this observer, the enamel is composed of rods and fibers of a slightly wavy course, interlacing between which delicate interstices are left. In these interstices run delicate fibers of living matter, sending minute offshoots in a prevailingly vertical direction into the enamel-rods, thus producing the cross-lines long since known to exist in the enamelrods, but shown by him to be far more delicate and numerous than ever described before. The square pieces of the enamel-rods are again subdivided into minute fields; they are separated from each other by delicate light interstices, and in all probability contain fibrillar of living matter. Thus the enamel is raised to the dignity of a living tissue, in place of the former conception of its being a mere calcareous deposit. At the place of junction of the enamel with the dentine a direct connection is often seen between the enamel and dentine fibers. More commonly dentinal fibers run into the enamel varying distances, without a direct union between them and the enamelfibres; as the latter do not generally reach the surface of the dentine, but terminate above its level, at different heights, while the zone close above their terminations is occupied by a delicate irregular network. In many places the dentinal canaliculi, upon entering the enamel, suddenly become enlarged and form spindle or pearshaped cavities of varying diameters. They invariably contain protoplasm which is in direct connection with the terminations of