inflamed, constituting the disease of dental periostitis. It is then a question of only a very short time when the tooth shall, from the degeneration and absorption of the tissue of the socket, begin to loosen and project beyond the line of the other teeth, and either fall out or require removal.

It is customary, when the recession of the gums from this or another cause begins to take place, to apply tincture of myrrh to the parts to stimulate the circulation and remove their tendency to flabbiness. The astringent and other qualities of myrrh are doubtless very beneficial for the purpose, but it may well be questioned if, when the disease has proceeded so far as to involve the periosteum, anything can be done to check it. The best that can be hoped for is to palliate and retard the encroachment of the disease. With this end in view, we give, at the end of this chapter, three formula which will be found useful for such treatment.

The part of wisdom is to look by our practice to the prevention of the disease, rather than to endeavoring to stay its ravages after it has once attacked. What we would suggest as a universal practice, in view of the fact that we are not addressing our advice solely to the pampered children of fortune, or to those who, without being such, possess ample means and leisure, but to the millions who are hurried through life, who must neglect the brushing of the teeth on many occasions, or who, brushing them, do so inadequately: what we would suggest, we would say, in view of all these conditions, is the adoption of a simple practice long followed by the Irish. Clean the teeth and gums occasionally with common salt, rubbed without violence into the gums above and below with a piece of soft muslin. Under the regimen of an occasional cleaning of the teeth and gums with this substance, all deposits injurious to them, whether micro-organic or otherwise, are utterly destroyed.

Do not forget, in cleaning the teeth, no matter with what

you may clean them, whether as an instrument or a cleansing substance, that they should be cleaned inside as well as outside. The deposit of tartar is frequently very much greater inside than outside of the teeth, and, even in case there is no abnormal deposit of tartar, the teeth are not properly cared for to insure their lasting if their inside surfaces are neglected. In using a brush, do not forget that the circulation of the gums should be gently stimulated by it. For this reason it is best always to use a moderately stiff brush, not one that is uncompromisingly hard. We have in America the best dentists of the world. When

a child is getting its second teeth, and they are not coming in with perfect regularity, take the child at once to a first-rate dentist for advice and treatment. Thus you may insure it comfort throughout life, and perhaps guarantee it against a deformity easily preventable.

Many are the varieties of dentifrice,-powders, pastes, and lotions. Some of these are extremely injurious to the substance of the tooth. The "street-fakir " who removes the tartar instantaneously from the small boy's teeth, and leaves in its place a white, glistening surface for the admiration of the gaping crowd, has really removed, with some corrosive substance, a goodly portion of the enamel of the tooth, which can never be restored. Dentifrice is very commonly made of some powdered bark, mixed with pulverized charcoal and some acidulous salt, such as cream of tartar. Orris-root is perhaps one of the ingredients that are most largely used. Pulverized charcoal, although very antiseptic and purifying, is rather too harsh a substance, even in that finely-divided state, to be used habitually on the teeth. Tooth-powders and tooth-pastes seek to combine the polishing effect of finely-divided substances with antiseptic qualities. Tooth-washes are simply for antiseptic purposes and for rendering the mouth and breath fragrant. In case one has a good dentist, the very best way is to refer all matters concerning the

treatment of one's teeth, including cleansing substances for them, to his judgment, as the one best situated to know the requirements of one's individual case.

The following is a good prescription for tooth-powder :

Precipitated chalk,

Ground orris-root,

Oil of roses,

.

1 ounce.

1 ounce.

1 drop.

Brush the teeth with a moderately stiff tooth-brush dipped in this, which is

a simple but effective and harmless tooth-powder.

The following is an excellent tooth-wash :

To be applied every day to the teeth with a stiff brush.

4 ounces.

Apply to the gums every other day with a piece of raw cotton, being careful not to get any of the mixture down the throat, and rinse out the mouth at once with water.

Use twice daily by moistening with it a piece of raw cotton, or applying it with the end of the finger over the gums inside and outside.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE

THE CONSTRUCTION AND CARE OF THE EYE.

HE eye is, metaphorically as well as otherwise, the most abused organ in the world. In the old nautical novel, which presumably portrays life as it was at sea a hundred years or so ago, the old salt always affectionately shivered his messmate's timbers and damned his eyes; nor, as to the eyes, has the practice altogether ceased to the present day on both land and sea. So far as we are aware, no language but English is so reckless in the matter, and, as for the actual precautionary care bestowed upon the eye, different peoples, nations, and individuals are pretty much alike in incautiously squandering the treasure of its sight.

The time could not be more opportune than now to say a warning word about the usage to which the eye is subjected at present in this country. We live in the land of the practical plumber, as if a man could be a plumber at all unless he were practical. We live in the land of the undertaker, willing to undertake anything, whether or not it be within the sphere of his knowledge on the subject. The land swarms with opticians practicing as oculists, and of journeymen-workmen and street-fakirs practicing as both. The public is being exploited in the interest of the sale of eye-glasses, while reputable and skillful oculists, than whom there are none better in the world than here, lose the practice whose possession it would be much more to the advantage of the public to have, than theirs to secure. Sensational advertisements flaunt in the public prints with diagrams for self-testing of the eye, to which attention is directed by some such legend as, "Are you astigmatic? If so, go to Tom, Dick, or Harry [as the case may be], and be fitted with glasses."

First of all, the public does not know that there are regular astigmatism and irregular astigmatism; and when we say that there is regular astigmatism, we say in effect that the best natural eye is astigmatic. The best natural eye is, we repeat, regularly astigmatic; the condition is consequent upon an organic defect of the eye, and, therefore, to tell the public generally that persons had better beware lest they be astigmatic gives them pretty much the same kind of mental disturbance as that experienced by the very little boy when told by a slightly bigger companion that he has a bone in his leg.

The major axis of the eye subtends a flatter arc (the horizontal curve of the eye) than the arc subtended by the minor axis (the vertical curve of the eye). Hence, when we focus a vertical line with the sight, a similar line horizontally placed with reference to it is somewhat out of focus, and vice versâ. Hence, also, when we look at parallel vertical lines, they seem farther apart than do the same lines when placed horizontally. It follows from this fact that the same lines, turned slowly around in front of us, will present all apparent gradations of distance apart, between their apparent distance apart when held vertically and their apparent distance apart when held horizontally.

If the law should protect the public, as it is now beginning to do, from the tampering with certain medical matters of men not medically educated, it would also seem that the quackery of treating the eye by any one but trained oculists should be legally prevented. A whole population of midgets has lately sprung up, looking like little goggle-eyed sea-monsters, who, from the very fact of their enormous numbers, prove the impossibility of their having all been under the care of trained oculists, and that the advertising nets have not been cast in vain into the vasty deep of human credulity.

Enough for the present on this branch of our topic has been