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NITROUS OXIDE AS AN ANESTHETIC. M. Paul Bert has recently read a note before the Academie des Sciences of Paris on the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. The difficulties attending the production of anesthesia with a mixture of nitrous oxide and air under certain barometric pressure, are well known. pure gas anesthetizes, but tends to produce asphyxia if prolonged for a certain time; mixed with oxygen it does not asphyxiate, but neither does it anæsthetize. In spite of the danger of asphyxia, there has been a ratio of only three or four accidents per thousand cases in which it has been used by dentists. It cannot, then, be considered as a dangerous substance. It should not be employed intermittingly, as has been done in America. Instead of using first pure nitrous oxide and then pure air, M. Bert uses a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide in proportions very similar to those of the air which we breathe. The experiments were made on dogs. The animal first respired pure nitrous oxide for a minute, then the mixture for five or six minutes, and so on until complete anæsthesia occurred, which was prolonged for half an hour without bad effects. He thinks that further experiments are needed before it should be used on man, though it would seem that the results would not be less satisfactory.Revue des Sciences.

Professor See, of the Hotel Dieu, says that the new extract of lily-of-the-valley is one of the most important remedies in heart disease known. It is a powerful poison.

The greatest heat of the air in the sun probably never exceeds 145° Fah., nor the greatest cold 65° below zero. About 130° above and 40° below are the extremes for the United States, and very unusual.

THE QUERIST.

"Please give the history, or mention where the history can be found, of the 6 Webster-Parkman' murder. I am one of the younger members of the profession, and have often seen allusions to the affair, but do not know what it is or when and where it occurred.—L. O.”

Dr. George Parkman, of Boston, was murdered in 1849, about Christmas, by John White Webster, Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the Medical School of Harvard University. Webster was in debt to Parkman. The latter, who was a "close" man, called at the college to dun Webster. It is supposed that an altercation arose, during which Dr. Webster struck Parkman a fatal blow. If he had at once gone out and announced the killing, with his own story of the provocation, he would no doubt have got off with a verdict of manslaughter. But, finding the body on his hands, he lost all judgment, cut judgment, cut Parkman's corpse into pieces, and burned a large portion of it in his furnace. Parkman was missing for a long time, and, finally, suspicion turning towards Webster, portions of the incinerated bones were found in his laboratory; also a portion of the body covered with quick-lime, but destroyed beyond recognition. The one point in the testimony upon which, more than any other, the evidence of Webster's guilt seemed to turn, was the finding in his furnace a block of carved mineral teeth, which Dr. Nathan C. Keep and Dr. Lester Noble (who at that time assisted Dr. Keep) recognized as a piece of work they had constructed for Dr. Parkman in 1846. Webster was hung for the murder August 30th, 1850.-ED.

Is there any better local application in the so-called "Riggs' Disease" than acid sulph. aromat ?

“ DISCOURAGEd.'

AUGUST 15th, 1883.

VOL. I.-No. 8.

Published by GIDEON SIBLEY.

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ODD DENTAL IDEAS.

BY THOS. S. SOZINSKEY, M.D., PH.D.

It is well said by the illustrious Bacon, in one of his great works, "The Advancement of Learning," that the mind of man is far from being of the nature of a clear and equal glass, wherein the beams of things should reflect according to their true incidence; "it is rather like an enchanted glass full of superstition and imposture, if it be not delivered and reduced."

As seen in this "enchanted glass," the coming and going of the teeth is well calculated to furnish those unable to "deliver and reduce," the basis of much "superstition and imposture." A strange coming and going it is too, a wonderful provision of nature; and it does not seem less strange and wonderful the more it is contemplated and studied. Here is verily a source of “superstition and imposture," and of "folklore" rich in promise.

It would appear that "the cutting of the teeth" has always been regarded as a more or less painful process. The phrase itself is extremely suggestive of pain. Yet, in spite of the general belief to the contrary, it is certain, that in a fairly healthy child, with well-developed jaws and under proper management, there should be little or no suffering of any kind experienced in the coming of the teeth; but no doubt there are many cases in which local uneasiness and pain and

digestive and nervous disturbances are present. However, teething is a terrible bugbear to mothers; and it is one of those things which, because they must largely run a natural course, is but slightly amenable to remedies. Hence, as one would expect, remedies innumerable have been in vogue and many of them extraordinary enough. Times ago fresh butter and honey were highly esteemed. Dog's milk enjoyed popularity, as did the brain of a sucking pig as well as that of a hare. An especially efficacious agent

was fresh blood from the comb of a cock. In some parts of Scotland what is called a teethin bannock was formerly much, and is still considerably, used, resort being had to it at the appearance of the first symptoms of dentition. In his "Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northeast of Scotland," a work published in 1881, the Rev. Mr. McGregor gives this account of it: "It was baked of oat-meal and butter, or cream, sometimes with the addition of a ring, in presence of a few neighbors and without a word being spoken by the one baking it. When prepared, it was given to the child to play with till it was broken. A small piece was then put into the child's mouth, if it had not done so of its own accord. Each one present carried away a small portion." Necklaces and other amulets, blessed and unblessed, are not infrequently met with and are more or less esteemed by many. Bacon, with no indication of want of

faith in it, says, "Coral is in use as a help to the teeth of children.". Sir Thomas Browne, in his "Vulgar Errors," says, that it (coral) "is used in children to make an easier passage for y teeth; and for yt intent is worn about their necks." This famous author did not discover just how it acted, but whether as an amulet "against fascination is not beyond doubt.". Even before the days of Pliny it was in use. It is especially popular still, I believe, among Germans, by whom it is often joined with little silver bells. In his "Notes on the Folk-lore of Northern Counties of England and the Border," published in 1875, Mr. Wm. Henderson says, "A necklace of beads turned from the root of the peony is worn by children to prevent convulsions and assist the cutting of the teeth." Like the coral necklace this one must act on the charm principle. Either could serve the purpose only in the same way (through the effect on the mind) as a red string worn around the neck serves to prevent scarlet fever, or a chestnut carried in the pocket, rheumatism. One might discover some virtue, in at least some instances, in an ivory ring, or the like, for the teething infant to bite, but coral strung to the neck can affect, not the infant but the mother. pleasing superstition! I will not say an unkind word about it. Nor would I brush away any comforting superstition, of a harmless character, from the mind of a mother, if I could. In fact we are all superstitious to a degree, and considerable of the joys of life springs therefrom. No less an authority than Goethe says, that superstition is really part and parcel of

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our nature-" "Der Aberglaube gehort zum Wessen des Menschen;" and the same great man characterizes it as the poetic part of life-" Der Aberglaube ist die Poesie des Lebens."

The use of the lancet, according to many, including more than a few doctors, is called for by the cutting tooth; but

there are some who regard it as fatal. Again and again have I heard mothers attribute the deaths of children to lancing of the gums. Everybody, be it remembered, has more or less of the philosophic spirit, but everybody is not by any means a logician. It is safe to say that lancing of the gums will not destroy life; while, on the other hand, a judicious and skillful use of the lancet may prevent much suffering and save many lives.

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The advent into the world of an infant with teeth is usually a stirring event in the family and all around it. This is not an extraordinarily rare occurrence. his celebrated "Histoire Naturelle,'' that remarkable 18th century naturalist, Buffon, says, "On voit assez souvent des infans naitre avec des dents assez grandes pour dechirer le sein de leur nourrice." Yes, that, the tearing of the breast of the nurse, is the first and most palpable effect of these peculiar teeth-an effect which commonly calls for their speedy removal. In that rich store-house of curious information, Pliny's "Historia Naturalis," referring to the presence of teeth at birth, it is said, "Such was the case with Manius Curius who from this circumstance received the name of Dentatus; and also with Cneius Papirius Carbo, both of them distinguished men." It is said that Louis XIV was born with two teeth in his jaw; and the readers of Shakspeare are reminded, by the young Duke of York, that Richard III began his eventful career with a number; says he :—

Supper

That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old; 'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth." Children born with teeth are generally held to be destined to cut some important figure in life. I see accounts in the papers of the day of the case of a child born in the State of New York with an upper set who, his Italian parents have been led to believe, will grow up to spend their savings, which they had hoped would

put' them in a comfortable way of living in their native land. It seems that a showman wishes to exhibit the boy.

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Pliny remarks, "It is a matter beyond doubt that in young children the front teeth are produced at the seventh month.” If Mr. Pliny had stated this to be generally the case he could find plenty of modern authorities to back him in his opinion; but it is a matter beyond doubt" that dentition frequently begins in the fourth month and not infrequently is delayed until after the child is a year old. idea is widely entertained even among medical men that early dentition portends an early death. This may be put down as an erroneous idea. The better the bony system of a child is the sooner should the teeth appear. It is usually the case that when the teeth are late in appearing the head will be found poorly "closed" for the age. There is a curious saying, of pretty wide currency, which reads thus: "Soon teeth, soon toes.' As the reader will observe, the early appearance of the teeth would appear to be popularly held to be of pregnant import. I may hint that anyone who wishes to fathom this will have to find out a little about when to wean babies and what connection there generally is between weaning a baby and the prospect of another. Schiller somewhere remarks that a deep meaning lies in ancient customs-" Ein tiefer Sinn wohnt in den alten Brauchen." Evidently our proverb is like one of the ancient customs.

Again I turn to Pliny's work and I find it stated that the first of the teeth to appear are "nearly always those in the upper jaw." Our old Roman friend is doubtless considerably at sea here. The lower incisors generally come first. When the upper teeth appear first, a notion prevails extensively, that the child will not survive infancy. This is referred to by Henderson, but he gives no explanation. What ground there is for it I do not

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know, so I must leave each of my philosophical readers to discover for himself. With the casting of the teeth are bound up several interesting superstitions. many, probably, of my intelligent readers, I have thrown my primary teeth, one by one, over my left shoulder, where they might be completely lost, with faith that in so doing good ones would appear in their stead! Agreeable but preposterous idea! Fob the child of it, how. ever, and his life would be rendered by so much more barren. Doubt will blight the most pleasure-giving beliefs and alas! as Goethe says, it increases with wisdom, -" mit dem Wissen wachs't Zweifel.” In some parts of England it is customary for the child to go into a dark corner and cast the tooth that is shed into it, repeating at the same time this couplet :

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"Mouse! here I give thee a tooth of bone, But give thou me an iron one.".

A more common way of disposing of the tooth than this, is to throw it with a little salt into the fire, at the same time saying, "Fire, fire burn bone

God send my tooth again."

This practice, which may have a tinge of fire-worship in it, is resorted to, I gather, for three reasons: first, because it would be unlucky not to do so; second, because the coming tooth would otherwise be a dog's or some other animal's; and third, because the individual would have otherwise to seek for it post mortem. Mr. Henderson tells of a girl who knew “a certain master Simmons who had a very large pig's tooth in his upper jaw, the sad consequence of his mother having by accident thrown one of his cast-teeth into the hog trough." It appears that among the Japanese it is a customary practice to throw the tooth from the upper jaw on the roof of the house, and if from the lower, under the foundation. In Madagascar, the tooth is thrown. over the

house.