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SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE

     LIBRARY
ANNEX

Section
Form 113c No.
VV.D..S. G.O.
£923^1
PRINTING OFFICE 
<A
s
 
 
  Decay and Preservation
            OF THE

     TEETH,

As Connected with the Laws of Health,
       WITH FULL DESCRIPTION OF

LOW'S  NEW  METHOD,

     Teeth Without Plate.
BYDR.J.E.LQWr' ^/v^.
          CHICAGO: C/>,    \ '  *• V
                 ./r'r Si-   \   :■■■'
Thorp, West & Co., Printers, i58*& 160 Clark St.


             1883.      .^^0*^' «■■* '


    iccordingto 7 of Congress in the year \~
    .' the =u .hor. in ne office of the Librarian
      o* o,,"--;   at Washington. 

 
 
 
PREFACE.
   The object of this work, with the exception of a descrip-
 tion of Low's New Method (teeth without plate), is to bring
 before the reader the knowledge of those  means  by which
 the health and  vigor of the constitution may be promoted.
 In doing so I wish to state that  in  many instances a repeti-
 tion of statements have been made.  This has not been done,
 however, without the writer's knowledge, but  was intended
 to more fully bring before  the  mind the same result from
 various  standpoints, that the  impression upon  the mind
 might be more  indelible.  That  the  economy of health  has
 from the earliest history of civilization been too much neg-
 lected, is apparent; yet in all  classes of society thousands
 daily incur the risk of losing health and even life by gratify-
 ing their appetites, passions and desires, and many times, too,
 by over-indulgences ; and this from  their ignorance or mis-
 conception of natural laws, the means by which  all life is
 perpetuated in  its fullness.   That it is the use and not the
 abuse of  those things essential to man's existence and hap-
 piness, most people do not seem to comprehend.   If I have
 failed to make these facts visible to the general  reader, it is
 from a lack of  ability to do so; for I will assure you  the
 utmost effort has been exerted to plainly represent these con-
 ditions and that is what I claim for this work—the original
 manner  of  presenting   established  facts  in  a way to be
 understood.  As a  whole there are, however, many conclu-
 sions drawn which may or may not be new,  Let this be as
 it may. I  have carefully measured its correctness before pre-
senting them.   That I may not have made some mistakes, is
not a supposable case.   Remember " to err is human,' 
 
INDEX.
To Customers............................,.........   <^
Decay and Preservation of the teeth as connected with
    the laws of health..............................  18
No appreciation of the teeth...........................  13
Explanation of cut referred to on  pages 43 and 44.....  41
Cutting First Teeth and the care of them..............  43
The care of children.................................  46
What is Disease...................................  58
The conditions necessary to insure good teeth...........  55
Extraction of teeth..................................  61
Temperance proper........................,,.  . ,  .  64
Artificial Teeth on Plates and their effect on those who
    wear  them.....................................  85
Clippings.........................................105
The Fat Doctor and the Dyspeptic ...................110
How Artificial Teeth  are made.................. 130
Theories about Dental caries or decay of the teeth .....131
What is your name, or known by your works.   ........134
Restoring partial loss  of teeth without a plate . ,......140
Low's New Method and its  advantages................146
Facts about New Methods................v........148:
Strange but true......................................T 52j
Objections raised to Low's New Method...............1561
Cut of Lower Jaw before teeth are attached........  ... 159
              "  after    '■   "     ■•     ...........160
Explanation to Cuts....................164, 165 166, 167
References....................169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174
To the Public.......................................175
To Dentists.............................  ...........176 
 
INTRODUCTORY.
  In presenting this work to the public, I have tried to bring -
within its pages those points  of interest  that, in my judg-
ment, will be of most practical benefit to the general  public.
While I hope to obtain the approbation of all in the Dental and
Medical profession, it is proper to say that  this book has not
been written for their benefit or instruction.   There are ex-
tensive volumes written by able authors devoted exclusively-
to the  professions; but to  the general reader they are of
little use,  both  on account of their cost and their technical
character.  The object of this  book is to so  far divest the
subject of technicalities that any person of ordinary compre-
hension may read, understand, and profit thereby.  If I have
succeeded in arranging these few practical thoughts  so that
they  may be beneficial  to  my fellow-beings, I  shall feel '
well repaid for my efforts. I do not profess  all the knowledge -
upon  this subject, for we are all of us but  students, and the
best of us know too little of what is  yet to be learned.  All
I claim is that I have been a hard student for the last twenty-
five years, always willing to receive and give all the informa- -
tion possible from those  with  whom I have come in contact.
My main object and study has been to get at facts as  near as
possible, and thus    trace the  relations between causes and
effects.  What little I have acquired in this way I am willing
to impart to others, hoping that I shall receive at  least the-.
approbation of all intelligent and thinking people.

                               J".  EL  LO^WV 
 
                To Customers.
  Having been called upon as a dentist to assist in
the preservation of your  teeth, and believing you
desirous of knowing the conditions most necessary
for cai rying this into effect, I consider it  my duty
to point out some of the  most important,  not only
that you may know why your teeth decay, but that
through your  knowledge  you may be induced to
give them the  attention necessary,  that by our
united labor success may crown our  efforts, since
without this attention on your part the most skillful
operation  may prove a failure.
  Most people  seem to think that  if they  have
their teeth filled they have done  all that  is neces-
sary, and from this neglect the result upon the teeth
is too often charged to the inability of the dentist.
Admitting that  people are  many times  imposed
upon by men in the profession, who care nothing
for the preservation of the teeth, but only for the
money they receive, we do not dispute that in such
a case the charge might be just.   Notwithstanding
this fact there  are dentists who, after being trusted
with the responsibility  of preserving the teeth, feel
as much interested in  carrying this  into  effect as
yourself.   While they expect pay for their services,
they in return feel duty bound to give you value
received.  In most cases where imposition occurs,
the patients themselves are to blame.  Why ? Sim-
ply because they have patronized a dentist of whom 
                        10
 they knew nothing except his own statement, issued
 in a flaming  advertisement, offering great induce-
 ments, telling the great things he can do at such
 wonderfully low figures.   This is the best evidence
 of his inability to perform skillful operations ;  for a
 dentist capable and willing to do all in his power for
 the benefit of his customers will not be troubled any
 great length of time  to find ample employment at
 prices that will  pay him liberally for his services.
 There are cases, no doubt, where  the  thorough,
 conscientious dentist is  excusable for  doing work
 much cheaper than he can afford. If there is any
 excuse it would be in the case of a dentist without
'Jfiitends or money, just starting in his profession.
 A Jinan  with  starvation  staring him in the face is
 excusable for a certain  length of time; but if he
 has'the ability and  skill required to make  a first-
 class operator and  mechanical dentist combined,
 he is bound to command the respect of  the better
 class of people, who are willing to pay a reasonable
 price for (his  valuable services.  I feel it my duty
 to call attention to the great  injury resulting from
 the bungidng work of unqualified and unprincipled
 dentists., Very  many people  not only  lose  their
 teeth, but become the victims of diseases contracted
 by improper treatment.  Without mentioning these
 in detail, it is sufficient  to  say that hundreds of
 people are suffering from the  effect.   They have
 deranged stomachs, diseased gums, loose teeth, and
~a sympathetic combination of difficulties.  There 
11
are other  difficulties  arising from  over-doses  of
arsenic used  in  destroying  the  nerves of teeth,
causing facial paralysis  of the  nerves.  It would
be impossible for me to do this part of my  subject
justice should I  undertake to picture the  various
consequence? arising  from the  causes spoken of.
As we pass through all the various grades of life we
see people who are otherwise intelligent, sadly defi-
cient  in the proper appreciation of this subject.

  When we take into consideration the relations of
our teeth to the whole animal economy, connected
as they are, sympathetically, with the whole organr
ism, surrounded with the bones of the face, nerves*,
muscles, veins, arteries, ligaments, glands, and the
mucous membrane, we can very readily understand
why so many people suffer protracted derangements
of health, which receive  their origin in the dental.
organs.
  As  the  body is a unit, so to speak, knit together
by the closest bonds, pervaded by a system  of
blood-vessels  and nerves, directed by one intelli-
gence, and kept in continued relation of functions,
and expression by one all-pervading law of recipro-
cal relation and sympathy, and as diseases of other
parts of the body are capable of affecting the teeth,
is it not reasonable that  the morbid  conditions of
the  teeth  may produce  corresponding results ia
other  parts of the  body, involving the  whole system,
producing disease and even death ?   These facts 
12
 very seldom occur  to  the practicing  physician,
 whose duty it is to study causes and  effects.
   People groan  with aches and pains  in  various
 parts of the body, and visit the doctor, with disease
 of the gums, disease of the jaw, alveolar abscesses,
 with accumulation of tartar under the  gums, de-
 cayed and   broken  teeth, exposed   nerves,  and
 many other difficulties caused by neglect of giving
 these organs proper attention, each one of which
 is sufficient to derange the whole system. Medicine
 is given  to  relieve the  difficulty, while the real
 cause remains.   The relief is  merely temporary,
 and the disease returns in full force after the effect
 of the medicine is gone.   Dr. Castle, in his article
 ©n Dento-Neuralgia, in illustrating the sympathetic
 connection of the  whole nerve system, shows how
 often people suffer from diseases of the mouth in
 other and remote parts of the body.   He says :
   "I could cite  many cases in which patients for
 years have  been subjected to the most harassing
 and distressing   treatment:  narcotic,   stimulant,
 sedative, irritants and counter-irritants, nervines,
 carbonates, phosphates, acids, alkalies, tonics, iron^
 arsenic,  mercury,  quinine, phlebotomy, cupping
 and leeching, drastic alteratives and aperients, cold
 and  warm sulphur  vapors, Turkish  baths and  sea
 bathing, Sharon  and other springs, electricity, the
 knife, the excision of the nerve,  Homoeopathy,
 Hydropathy, Mesmerism,  Spiritualism and Clair-
voyance.  These  and all  sorts of quack  medicines 
i3
have, in their turn, promised to effect a certain cure.
If the wretched sufferers have had vital force enough
to endure  and withstand these dreadful assaults
upon their  poor, frail citadels of flesh and  blood,
so wonderfully made, and so resistingly combined
it has been to sink into a state of apathetic melan-
choly or hopeless despair.  In many instances the
tortured patient at last has been relieved and cured
of his misery by the removal or proper treatment
of diseased wisdom teeth, or fangs hidden beneath
the gums."
       No Appreciation of the Teeth.
  Some people have no appreciation of the value
-of their teeth, but leave them to decay  without an
effort to preserve them.  If spoken to by those
who have more knowledge upon this subject than
themselves, and  can appreciate the necessity  of
preserving their teeth, the reply is, " I am going to
let them decay  and have them extracted and get a
new set; " or, they do not believe  in having teeth
filled.   Some great aunt of theirs, or  some other
connection or acquaintance, had their  teeth filled
and the filling  all came out.  This was probably
done by some one who did not know the first prin-
ciples of filling teeth, and this is  a test case with
them and their generation.   Others are so afraid
■ of being hurt they would rather  have their teeth
extracted than  have them  filled if they could be 
14
made to last a lifetime.   Poor,  delicate creatures !:
they ought to live in a  tropical climate where no
efforts are required to live, move, and have a being ;
where nature furnishes food in  abundance, and no
effort would be needed to keep them  in  clothing.
Excuse me for making these harsh remarks ; for I
know there are people so constituted that it requires
a great effort to pass through an operation  of this
kind, but that is no excuse for not having it done.
You are well aware that there is  nothing worth
having among a civilized people, that  can be had
without a struggle and more or less  inconvenience
and pain.  The bright and glittering diamonds and
all our mineral wealth lies buried in the earth, and
our eyes would  never behold  the glittering gems
should we  fold our arms in dread of the terrible
task of finding where they are, and the labor of
bringing them to the surface.   This  life is a battle-
field, and he who would win the battle must be up
and doing.   Our pickets are on duty to give the
alarm of danger. Your pickets will be your knowl-
edge of the  conditions  that will give health and,
strength to  all the organs of your  body.  If you,
would  enjoy this life, you  must be ready  to act,
never shrinking from the duty you owe to yourself.
If you  have been  unfortunate enough to  inherit
diseases in all or part of your  organism, you  must
be ready and willing to do everything in your power
that will restore the diseased organs to health, or if
not restore,  at least arrest the entire destruction of
the organs affected. 
15
  There is no  great  reason why people should
dread the pain of filling their teeth.   It is by neg-
lecting them, as a general rule, until the cavity be-
comes quite large, that makes them so tender ; but
if attended to in proper time by a careful dentist,
there is no reason for dreading such an operation.
Then why  should you neglect these priceless gems
which are of so much importance as regards our
general health ?  for if we expect health and strength
we  cannot  neglect the mastication of our food.   If
you lose them, do you  expect  that your dentist is
going to outdo  Nature  herself?  If so, how sadly
■disappointed  you will  be  after it is too late.  No
one can better appreciate the benefit derived from
the use of  artificial teeth, where they have been so
unfortunate as to lose their natural ones, than my-
self, even though the wonderful substitute may be
so  beautifully and perfectly adapted to the mouth
as  to deceive,  many times,  the  critical observer.
This  we can appreciate and understand under the
circumstances spoken of,  when people can do no
better and are obliged to  resort to substituted
teeth ; but why persons of common sense can be
so  thoughtless as to  neglect their natural teeth, and
think nothing of exchanging  a  part of their being
for a mechanical substitute, is beyond my compre-
hension ; when, if they would  keep  their teeth in
proper order, but little effort would be required to
keep them a lifetime, as with the present knowledge
■all teeth can be saved.  Could you not afford to 
                       16
visit a dentist twice a year, if necessary, and per-
haps have two or three teeth filled to  save these
precious gems, even if it does cost you  some un-
pleasant sensations ?  In the end you will feel well
repaid for your efforts in trying to save your teeth.
If you will give this subject more of your attention.
you will see some of the  many objections  to  this
shiftless, easy, don't-care, negligent system.
  A French physician once said, in speaking of the
influence of the natural teeth as regards the expres-
sion and  general appearance of the face: "No
woman  can be ugly who has fine teeth.  In  one
sense this is true ; for certainly, teeth, if kept clean
and white, beautify the face more than any of the
other features.  Not only this, but the face is kept
in its natural shape, the lips round and full. Take
out the  teeth and the natural shape  of the lips can
never be fully restored  by the most skillful  and
artistic  dentist.  If you lose  these two attractions
of the face, however handsome you  may  be other-
wise, your  real beauty is  gone.  Dio  Lewis, in
speaking of the beauties of the teeth, says:
   "I really don't blame the girls for talking on the
street with their mouths wide  open; for, although
sometimes they may not speak quite so  plainly,
they do show  their teeth to advantage,  and espe-
cially when they give one of these little short open-
mouthed laughs, now so common among girls, in
which they open them so wide that you can see the
entire thirty-two teeth.  I do not blame them, for a 
                      17
mouthful of pearls is very beautiful.  I don't care
what the nose and eyes may be if the mouth shows
complete rows of brilliant gems that face is a  fine
one,—a sweet, wholesome one, which, no matter
how fine the eyes and nose, if the mouth shows de-
cayed, blackened teeth, that face cannot be a  fine
one,—it is not sweet and wholesome."
  I have sometimes been obliged to  believe the
American people have become  raving maniacs on
this subject, so often have I been  called  upon to
extract teeth that with a little repair would be as
good as ever, or  nearly so, and much better than
any artificial substitute, and  less expensive than a
respectable set of artificial teeth, to say nothing of
the painful operation of having them extracted.
4L
te//tf#ij 
THE  DECAY AND  PRESERVATION  OF
  THE TEETH, AS CONNECTED WITH
        THE  LAWS  OF  HEALTH.
  In presenting this subject I will try and answer
some of the many questions  so  often asked in re-
gard to the decay of the teeth. *
  Its magnitude is such that it  will be impossible
to do it justice in the short space I have, and more
especially should I dwell a sufficient length of time
upon any one branch to illustrate causes and effects.
I might speak of the various diseases of the maxil-
lary or jaw, caused by decayed and defective teeth,
or the various diseases  of the nerves which so
closely connect our teeth with the rest of the body,
and give them life; each one of which would fur-
nish material for a lecture.  But as our time is lim-
ited we must satisfy ourselves with what might be
termed a bird's-eye view  of this subject, reaching
as many points of interest as possible.
  This subject though seldom brought before the
public for investigation, is none the less important;
in fact, its necessity has increased on this account;
—important, not only on  account  of the suffering
and injury to general health, but life itself is endan-
gered to an alarming extent, and in some cases de- 
                       13
stroyed, while deformity of the face  is no uncom-
mon occurrence.
  Dentistry is claimed to be of ancient origin ; but
we have no evidence that the teeth decayed to the
extent that they do at the present day, or  that
humanity  suffered  seriously  from  these  causes.
Although dentistry is claimed  by many to be one
of the lost  arts, we think it can be safely said that
never has  man been so much afflicted with decay
and loss of teeth as at  the present time.
  It is said by  those  best qualified to judge that
decay and loss  of the teeth are more  prevalent in
this  country than elsewhere.   However this  may
be, there are now employed in  the  United States
between twelve and fifteen thousand dentists ; the
great object of which is, or should be, to preserve
the natural teeth.  They use annually three tons of
pure gold,  and as much more of less valuable metal
for this purpose.  Ingenious and skillful have been
the labors  of many of these  dentists.   Notwith-
standing this and the fact that so much money and
skill have been used in trying to arrest the whole-
sale destruction of these valuable organs, it is esti-
mated that twenty million teeth are extracted and^
three million sets of artificial teeth inserted annu-
ally in the  United States.   Not only this,  but each
rising generation increases the  demand for more
dentists, and teeth  decay faster  than  ever before.
Taking these facts into consideration, the first ques-
tion for investigation  is why  our  teeth decay 
20
■so much faster than in centuries past, and how shall
we stop the frightful progress of their decay.   This
is one of the most important parts of  our  subject,
and to which I shall first call your attention.
   In order to investigate  this  subject we   must
understand, as nearly as possible, the original form
or type of organized bodies and their relation to
natural laws.  Knowing the wisdom of the Creator
by His wonderful works, we affirm that  there  was
no imperfection in the different substances  when
first organized, and that each form of  matter per-
fectly harmonized with the law given.  Law and
order were in the infinite mind in the perfection of
all His works, from the smallest being that  exists,
to the boundless space about us, filled with count-
less  planets of such magnitude that we cannot com-
prehend their greatness, and to which the one upon
which  we  live is, in comparison, a mere  speck.
These  planets revolve upon their axes with  such
perfection that there is no variation.   The seasons
of the  year remain the same  as in the beginning.
What a lesson of perfection is the springtime, when
all nature is filled with new  life and  beauty.   The
fields are green with the little blades of grass shoot-
ing up from the cold and dreary  sleep of winter.
The trees are spreading out  their green foliage, the
warmth of  the sun is drawing sap from the ground
and  forcing new life into every extremity of their
branches.   Birds  are returning from  the  sunny
South, warbling  their sweet notes,  filling the air 
                       21
-with soft and heavenly music.   The air about us is
fragrant with the odor of new-born flowers ; thou-
sands  of varieties are before us,  tinged with  the
most beautiful and delicate colors.   All this is  but
self-convincing evidence of Nature's Laws and their
perfect harmony.
   All organized bodies are formed from those which
had not life at the time.   Hence we  find that no
animal or plant can receive nourishment from  liv-
ing organic matter, but from inorganic.   A change
must take place by natural decomposition or diges-
tion before living organisms can pass into organ-
ized substances.  These have a tendency to resolve
themselves, after vitality ceases, into their original
elements or former state.   "For dust  thou art,  and
unto dust shalt thou return," is the common lot of
all.   Physical law, then, is the established condition
of things,  whereby all organized  bodies maintain
their original form and beauty to their own physical
happiness and satisfaction during the period allotted
to them.  Then all variations from the original pat-
tern of organized bodies are the result of violation
or infringement of the law set in force in the  be-
ginning, to  produce after their kind, the effects of
climate  and circumstances being properly con-
sidered.  This  must  have  been the  case or there
could have ^been no original balance of power.
This being so, no organ in a  perfectly developed
body  could fail any faster than another, but all
would fail  at the same time and with equal  pace. 
22
 Then the cause of decay of the teeth is  the viola-
 tion of certain physical  laws or  conditions which
 keep the various organs in health.
   Let us examine the habits of the people of the
 present day, and see if we have any trouble in dis-
 covering the immediate  cause of the decay of the
 teeth.   In order to do this with any degree of sat-
 isfaction we  must commence  our observations at
 the  period of our existence when the  teeth are
 forming; for it is then our attention is most needed,
 as certain conditions at this time will determine the
 future  strength of our teeth.

            MORTALITY  OF CHILDREN.
  We find by a little  investigation, that about  half
 that die throughout the United States are children
 under ten years of age.   Why all this expenditure
 of life ?  Certainly we can charge no imperfection
 to the  Creator, for all his works are perfect.  And
 He never could  have intended that the law of one
 organ  should  so infringe on others as  to bring
 suffering and death upon innocent children.  Then
 it  is our own neglect,  or ignorance of  physi-
 cal laws in the  management of these  little  ones
that produces all  this destruction of life, as well
as our defective and decayed teeth.  The won-
 der is  that  so many live instead of so many die,
or why those that live have any teeth  at all.  When
we take into consideration the management of these
children  the  wonder increases.    They  are  mal- 
23
treated from  birth until death overtakes them and
relieves them of their suffering.  First, they are
bandaged so tight about the waist that they become
a  deformity  instead  of the  beautiful figure  that
Nature designed.  Their lungs and  other internal
organs are so pressed out of shape that they cannot
perform  their proper  functions; consequently the
full and natural circulation of the blood is impos-
sible.  The lungs become paralyzed and diseased
for want of proper use.  Free and natural respira-
tion being impossible, the breath resembles that of
the  kitten instead of the  human  being.   While
groaning under this  abuse,  medicine is adminis-
tered to  relieve their sufferings and  keep  them
quiet.   Others are over-fed, and  while crying with
pain the  process of feeding  is repeated until the
stomach is destroyed.  Not only this, but they are
smothered in  bed-clothes and  blankets, in close,
 unventilated rooms,  never allowed to breathe  a
 breath of  Heaven's pure air, or feel the warm and
genial rays of the  beautiful sunlight, which is in-
dispensable to health.  Others  are  neither naked
nor clothed, but about half of each, exposed to the
 cold and chilling blasts with neck and limbs bare,
 closing  the  pores of  the skin, producing colds,
coughs,  fevers, and  all the various  diseases  so
 prevalent.  Medicine must be resorted to in order
to check the disease.   Remember that all this de-
rangement of the  child's health  during the forma-
tion of the teeth, from whatever cause, produces 
24
an abnormal condition of the deposits, and destroys
the natural  growth.   Those  who  do escape  the
jaws of death after all this abuse, live lives of suf-
fering.  Poor, emaciated,  deformed  beings, little
do  they  know  concerning the  cause of all their
suffering.  The teeth  suffer  in  proportion  to  the
injury received, and no more. God does not agrieve
or afflict willingly, but our transgressions are visited
upon  us,  and not His wrath.  He  has established
throughout all His universe, that all violations of
law, whether they relate chiefly to the body or the
mind, shall receive their just punishment.  Thus it
is  that our once noble  frame  and great physical
strength  have  so  much degenerated, a.id we  are
doomed  to disease and decay.   Rushing through
life, fearless and thoughtless, we become a diseased
mass  of human beings, degenerated and toothless,
employing in the United States in the neighborhood
of  one  hundred  thousand doctors and  dentists.
Have  you ever thought what it costs to support this
great  army of doctors?  Say nothing of those who
accumulate great wealth, we may allow one thou-
sand dollars for each, and you have a low estimate
of the amount paid annually in the United  States.
This is not all.  Millions more for drugs and medi-
cines are expended annually to keep us in repair, after
having shipwrecked ourselves by indulging in  all
manner of foolish habits.   Our food has frequently
been of such a nature that  it has robbed the blood
of the wherewith  to  make good teeth.  Our teeth 
                       25
and general bony framework but illy compare with
the back-woods settlers who personated our grand-
fathers, who slept in log cabins where  the  ventila-
tion was free through the draft of the big fireplaces
and the openings between the logs.   They  were
independent of fine bolted flours and sweetmeats,
but relished rye and Indian bread, and other coarse
and natural foods which composed their bill of fare.

             HOT FOOD AND  DRINK.
   Our present habit of using hot food and drink is
one of the most destructive  to our teeth.  Proba-
bly the most conclusive evidence of this fact is that
animals fed on  their natural food never have de-
cayed teeth,  while those fed  upon hot slops have
decayed teeth  and diseased  gums, very  much  re-
sembling those we have in the human family. This
is the best evidence that hot food and teas were
never intended for us to use.   In fact no  drink  of
any kind is needed while eating, ?.nd is entirely un-
natural and  injurious to general health, as well  as
to the teeth ; and if we chew  our food as long as we
ought we will have no use for any more  moisture
than   Nature has prepared.  How ingenious are
these little saliva ducts, arranged in different parts
of the mouth for the purpose of supplying the right
quantity and quality of moisture to digest our food
easily. Not satisfied with this process of Nature,
which the All-Wise Creator has established as a
law,  our food, as soon as it has reached the mouth, 
                       26
is  rinsed down with  hot  teas  before it becomes
properly masticated or mixed with the saliva of the
mouth.  Consequently the whole process of diges-
tion is deranged.   Teeth were given us to masti-
cate our food properly, while the saliva of the mouth
moistens and prepares it for  the stomach.  If we
have no teeth, or through negligence we  do not use
them, but  rinse our food down,  the  stomach is
called upon  to perform  the labor of both organs.
The result  is it is over-taxed, and  soon becomes
weak ; so much so that it cannot perform its func-
tions of distributing the proper quality of nutriment
from the food to supply the blood with material to
give good teeth, as the teeth when fully and  per-
fectly developed, contain phosphate  of lime to the
extent of sixty-two per cent., and the enamel eighty-
five.  If less than this  to  the  proportion of the
whole tooth is formed, the  teeth become soft and
chalky, unable to stand the expansions  produced
by eating and drinking hot and cold  food.   This
abnormal condition of the secretion of the mouth
is  many times so  acrid  in its nature that these
frail teeth waste away like dewdrops in  sunshine.
How can we expect strong and healthy teeth if we
continue to violate the  laws and conditions  that
produce good health and strong and perfect teeth,
as they, like t^e rest of the body, are composed of
material brought into the blood through the digest-
ive organs,  and carried to the structures of the
teeth.  If the  stomach,  the organ  that  separates 
                       27
and distributes nutriment to the various organs to
keep them in health, is weak from over-exertion, or
if not supplied with proper material, as is often the
case, the result, frail teeth, is inevitable.

             THE AIR WE BREATHE.
  How wonderful are the works of Creation !   The
air  we breathe  is  filled with new life and strength,
and, however  perfect our habits may be otherwise,
we  cannot enjoy  good health unless we have pure
air  to breathe,  to purify the blood.  It is estimated
that an ordinary  sized person requires about forty
thousand  cubic  inches of oxygenized air every
twenty-four hours, to be used up in breathing. About
four-fifths of this is used in burning up the carbon
in the  blood, and is turned into carbonic acid; the
balance is used in giving to the blood  its  proper
color and  stimulant.  From this simple fact,  and
bearing in mind  also that only one-fifth the air we
breathe that passes from our lungs, if it was  pure
when it entered, is carbonic acid gas,  and contains
little or no oxygen or ozone, you can form an  idea
of the importance of free ventilation.  Then if we
sleep in poorly ventilated rooms,  we use up all
the oxygen in  the  air,  and  are compelled to
breathe the poisons  which have been  thrown off
from our bodies to purify the blood and keep the
various organs  in health. How many  of us  get the
required amount of oxygenized air ? We are in the
house nearly all day. In going to and from our homes 
                       28
about the city, we are literally poisoned, not only
by breathing over and over our own breath, but the
breaths of others;  crammed with  sixty to a hun-
dred persons into a street car or omnibus, with no
ventilation, and not air enough in the whole space
of the car for each person to draw a natural breath
without drawing into the lungs the poisoned breaths
of other persons;  to say nothing of the various
diseases of the occupants of a street car, combined
with the fumes of  whiskey and  tobacco.  Talk of
the inhumanity of shipping cattle crowded into a
railroad car; it does not compare with  that of a
crowded street car, for these cattle cars have spaces
where air can pass through, but street cars  have
not.  If they have, you open one of these  little
ventilators and see how the people will stare at you
for  daring to let in the cold air, as they call it.
And if some gentleman does not step up and shut
it, some lady will ask the conductor to please shut
the ventilator.  The fact is we keep  ourselves so
closely housed that fresh air is dreaded.

     BLOOD IMPURITIES  AFFECT THE  TEETH.
  This brings us  to the conclusion  that not only
the blood impurities produced by impure air  and
improper food, and an unclean skin, produce their
destructive effects upon  the teeth, but that many of
us inherit a still more destructive difficulty of the
blood, which is struggling for supremacy, and whose
indelible presence  is seen in the development of 
29
the teeth.  It is then one of our first duties to study
the laws that keep the various organs in health.
This is physical education.  It is  a  solemn truth,
and one  that should be familiar  to us  all, that  for
the most part we bring all our pain and suffering
upon  ourselves.   If not the effect of our own sin or
imprudence,  they are traceable to the neglect or
ignorance of our parents  or the guardians  of  our
youth, or they are entailed upon us by our parents  ;
they may have  inherited  them from  theirs.  They
are the  result  or penalty for the violation of  the
law which was established before  man existed.   I
have  I trust, shown, satisfactorily, why teeth decay.
I have shown that decay  of the teeth is an  indica-
tion of a diseased condition of some of the func-
tions  of the body ; for in health  the  conditions to
resist disease exist, each organ performing its own
individual labor.   You point to a person in perfect
health, each  and every organ performing its share
of  labor, and yet the person has decayed teeth.
My answer is that if perfect health is now enjoyed
by  such  a person, the fact  of  the  teeth being  de-
cayed is conclusive proof that this derangement of
functions existed during the formation of the teeth,
or  at some other time.  The body  may  recover,
but the teeth cannot.
   With  this lack of vitality of functions and  the
conditions that produce them, we  must expect  our
teeth to  decay.   The only remedy  for this great
trouble,  or at least the first principles, lie  at  the 
                       80
door and must be  the work of parents generally.
It is for them to understand the laws of health and
see that their children live  within  the  bounds.
They should know  what constitutes proper  food,
that which  contains all the earthy materials essen-
tial to the  perfect development of the bones  and
teeth, as well as being healthful and nutritious.   It
is a fact that the children of this country are  over-
fed as well  as fed upon improper food.  They are
allowed to  eat at all hours of  the day,  consulting
only their own depraved appetites, of pastries, con-
fectioneries, and all other delicacies of modern in-
vention, until  they  become confirmed dyspeptics.
It is astonishing how many children  die from the
effects of this imprudence, and how many  there
are in which not only the development of the teeth
is destroyed, but the whole body is deficient  in
physical strength.   The youth with rosy cheek and
glowing health  that might have  smiled upon  the
parents, disclosing teeth of pearly whiteness, sound
and strong, is instead an emaciated, sickly, uncom-
fortable, half-developed being, with a mouthful  of
decayed teeth.  Who is responsible ?  I need not
answer this question but leave it for your serious
consideration.   There is no other remedy for  the
relief of children of this and future generations but
for parents to wake up to the importance of the
subject that so deeply concerns the welfare of those
near  and dear to them.
   It is an acknowledged fact by all those who have 
31
given this  subject any study, that among people
who have been obliged to live almost entirely on
coarse food and unbolted flours, and who have dis-
pensed with pastries and sweetmeats,  the teeth are
fully developed, strong and perfect.  It is said that
a large portion of the  Scotch people who possess
great physical strengh, and who have fully and per-
fectly developed teeth, live almost entirely on un-
bolted flours, using  meat as a  luxury ;  while the
Irish, with their iron constitutions and sound teeth,
would prefer the Irish  potato to a piece  of pie or
cake.
  If we take  Professor  Johnson's analysis of wheat
in the kernel, and from our unbolted flours, we find
that we  lose one-half  of the nutriment and about
one-half of the bone forming material which is sep-
arated with the bran.   I might bring much  more
evidence to convince you of the truth  of this the-
ory, but  I trust this is  sufficient.

       SUNLIGHT INDISPENSIBLE  TO HEALTH.
  In connection with what has already been said in
regard to the laws of health and as to what invigor-
ates and strengthens the  body, other things being
equal, also invigorates and strengthens  the teeth.
Let me say sunlight  is one of the most  necessary
requisites of our  nature as  regards  our physical
strength and  happiness.   You who  have  raised
flowers or watched the germs of life at springtime,
can very easily conceive its  beneficial effects upon. 
                       32
vegetable as  well  as  upon  animal  life.  Plant
your flowers where  the  rays of the beautiful sun-
light never  reach them, and  see  if they become
thrifty and give out their  original fragrance  and
beauty.   Man is so constituted  that  a  certain
amount of sunlight  is indispensable to insure  him
health, without which life is  a  burden and we are
unable to see the many beautiful things  in Nature
about us.  It drives away ihe shadows of darkness
and fills our homes with pleasure and  happiness.
It is the source of all the energies in the world.  It
is the creator and  supporter of all life  that now
exists  upon  the earth.  Relatively speaking,  its
effects continue to create and  support all  life;  it
keeps us warm in winter as well  as  in summer, for
the coal  that is  continually being taken from the
bowels  of the earth and  carried  to the  various
cities and towns for this purpose, is simply its effect
and product by chemical changes upon vegetable
substances.  Thus we  might continue to speak  of
the many beautiful things in Nature that please the
eye, from the beautiful flowers to those things which
are necessary to sustain life; in fact the  mind can
not comprehend or  picture its  many blessings and
its wonderful effects.  Without its effects we could
not exist and never  would have existed; hence we
say it is a creative power.  Then if you would have
health  you must seek sunlight.  You cannot afford
to do without its effects by shutting yourself up  in
your houses with shades and shutters closed.   It is 
33
as essential as proper food, or air or water. Spend
a portion of your time  under its embraces, where
you can drink in its effects unadulterated.  Rise at
early dawn when the bright sunlight is diffusing its
beauteous  rays on the distant hilltops,  bringing
with  it new  life, strength  and joy to every living
thing upon the earth.   The birds are singing with
renewed energy, sweeter than ever. The tiny flower
buds  are  unfolding  their beautiful  and delicate
colors, and fragrance  fills the air, while all Nature
seems to greet the sunlight with unceasing praise.

                  WHAT TO DO.
   I must now advance one more step towards the
close of our  subject.   What  must we do under  ex-
isting circumstances  to prevent  our teeth from
further decay, and  make them serviceable ?  This
is a question that has hitherto baffled  the skill of
the most eminent dentists,  and one that cannot  be
answered satisfactorily to  all,  as  each individual
case  may  differ so much in  character, and  the
causes of decay are so  numerous.  Not only this,
but the success of an operation of filling the teeth
depends upon  so many conditions  that we must
speak in general terms. If a  tooth has become  de-
cayed to any extent, I believe in thoroughly and
properly cleaning  the cavity  and filling with pure
gold. This, if properly done, will effectually check
the further progress  of decay, under ordinary cir-
cumstances.  This, however,  or any other remedy 
34
that may be devised, is no guarantee that the same
decay around the filling may not occur as well as
other teeth in the mouth, should the  habits of the
patient be  such as to produce an abnormal condi-
tion  of the secretions of the mouth or disease of
the body.  In order  to prevent this the stomach
must  be  kept  in a healthy condition.  This  can
only be done by adopting strictly temperate habits.
Eat a moderate quantity of good, nutritious food,
three  times a day.   Use no tea, coffee, rum, opium
or tobacco.  If you  think you  must use it on ac-
count of  established habit, use discretion in regard
to strength and  temperature  and quantity.  Be
temperate in all things.  The teeth must be  kept
strictly clean.  To do this properly they must be
brushed  regularly after each meal,  being careful to
remove  all particles of food that  accumulate be-
tween them before it acidifies in process of decom-
position, changing the secretions of  the  mouth to
an acid, instead of remaining akaline as when in
its natural  state.  There are cases  of decay of the
teeth  where it may be advisable  to cut out and
polish.  The judgment of the operator must decide
this question.  It is an established fact that  this
process  will preserve teeth from  further decay, if
the operation is done in proper time and thoroughly
performed under favorable circumstances.  I  have
seen teeth that have stood this test for twenty years
without any further decay.  This will knock in the
head  the idea that many people  have that  filing 
35
the teeth causes them to decay.  How often patients
object to  having their teeth filed  on this account.
I do not advocate this process where the cavities
Tiave  become large and the original shape of the
tooth  may be greatly interfered with; but much
time and  suffering  may be saved by watching the
children's teeth and having each cavity thoroughly
operated upon in this manner when it first makes
its  appearance, if the locality of the decay is in a
place where it would be advisable.  As I said be-
fore, this must be left to the judgment of the opera-
tor.   If this does  not  prove successful, the tooth
can then  be filled; the  success, however, will de-
pend upon the same conditions spoken of, a proper
and  healthy condition of all the functions.

       DESTROYING  THE NERVES OF TEETH.
  I must  not pass  this part of my subject without
correcting the  erroneous idea that many people
have in regard to  having the nerves of their teeth
destroyed.  Hundreds of people have called upon
me and wanted the nerves of their teeth destroyed,
when in fact the nerves of the teeth were not ex-
posed.  They suppose that if the nerve is destroyed
that  will  be  a  guarantee against tooth-ache from
that tooth for all time to  come.   Never consent to
have the nerves of  your  teeth destroyed.   If your
dentist does not know how to reduce the inflamma-
tion and fill them without, patronize some one that
does.   I have not time here to mention the many 
                       38
injurious results that follow the destruction of these
little fibrous nerves.  The moment the nerve is de-
stroyed the tooth becomes a foreign substance to a
certain extent;  that is, where the vitality is entirely
destroyed.  It is the source of irritation, inflamma-
tion and ulceration, to say nothing of the injury the
nerves to the face receive in this poisoning process,
when  improperly performed.  Many people have
paid out hundreds of dollars for medicine and doc-
tor's bill, when the whole difficulty was the effect of
carrying  around these dead teeth in their heads,
improperly treated.
  It is no uncommon occurrence to be called upon
to treat necrosis of the alveolar process, disease of
the  periosteum, disease of the antrum, fistule open-
ing  where a continual discharge of fetid pus is pass-
ing, and many other difficulties  which I  have not
time  to mention, caused  by these dead teeth.  I
need not picture to you the appearance of a person
with an ulcerated tooth, to say nothing of the excru-
ciating  pain he suffers.  Think of a person with
his  face so  swollen that his eyes are closed, his lips
resembling the full-blooded African.  This is suffi-
cient  to  impress  upon you the fact that teeth do
ache after the nerves are destroyed.   If teeth would
have been better without nerves, the all-wise Crea-
tor  would  have made them so.  You would  not
think of having the nerves of your finger destroyed
simply because the finger was  inflamed  and pain-
ful, but you would  be rational and subdue the in- 
                        37
 flammation and produce as  natural a condition as
 possible.   This is  what dentists are going to do in
 the future with the teeth, and in order to be success-
 ful, the public must understand that this is the only
 proper way, instead of insisting on having some-
 thing done that will prove  an injury rather than a
 blessing.   It may  be  a necessity under some cir-
 cumstances to destroy the  nerve of a tooth, but
 every effort should first be  made to save the tooth
 alive.   We will admit that it requires more labor
 and more skill for the dentist; but if he is an
 honest  man he will do everything in  his power, if
 you are willing to pay him for his extra labor.
  Always have the  very best work that can be done,
 if it does cost more.  Remember that men of abili-
 ty and experience expect a  reasonable  compensa-
 tion for their labor.  First of all patronize a  con-
 scientious, reliable dentist. Give him to understand
 that your teeth are in his charge, and that you shall
 hold him responsible in the  future  for the loss  of
 any of them.  Be ready to follow his advice.  Visit
 his office two, three or four times a year  as the case
 may require.   Don't wait until you have tooth-ache
 before you think it necessary to have them attended
 to.  Show  a disposition to pay liberally for services
 which to you are of more value than gold.   The
 same rule in this respect holds good as in all others.
While a good, fair  price must be  paid for  good
 work, extortion should  not be tolerated in any case.
Of all the poor, cheap things within the reach of our 
                       38
imagination, poor, cheap dental operations  are  the
dearest.  The dentist who undervalues his services
shows proof beyond a doubt of his inability to do
work profitably for his patrons. Many of the oper-
ations performed on this idea of cheapness would
be dear if performed for nothing.

            THE TEETH TO THE FACE.
  I must not close without speaking of the influence
of the teeth as regards the general expression  and
appearance of the face.   This cannot be fully pic-
tured before  your imagination.  If regular, pure
and clean,  they contribute  more  to beautify  than
any of the other organs, by diffusing amiability over
the countenance.   The influence  which the  teeth
exercise over beauty justifies the pre-eminence over
all the other attractions of the  face, by softening
the features and bringing to perfection the  human
face divine. These ornaments are equally attractive
in both sexes. By these we can distinguish the clean
from the slovenly.  Let us  see  what Mr.  Pleasant
says, who has drawn the following picture from this
subject:
  "If the sculptor, the painter,  or the poet would
invest a production of his genius with those forms of
horror at which humanity shudders and recoils, he
perfectly comprehends the art of giving to his al-
legorical personage an array of teeth black  with
tartar, mutilated with gangrene, broken by violence,
•ot  wrested by  distortion.  Should envy  present 
39
 herself in the group, her parted lips would disclose
 but a single fang.  Should malice approach to per-
 secute his victim, his teeth would be  turned  away,
 as  if by the violence  of his  passion.   Thus  the
 wrinkled witch, the smoking gypsy, the fortune-tell-
 ing hag, and the free-booters of the seas, would lose
 the proper expression of their distinctive character,
 if supplied with regular and beautiful sets of teeth."
 Moore says, in speaking of the deficiency of these
 organs:
      " What pity, blooming girl,
      That lips so ready for a lover
      Should not beneath their ruby casket cover
         One tooth of  pearl;
      But like the rose beneath the church-yard stone
      Be doomed to blush o'er many amolderingbone."
  How little attention many of us give to these im--
 portant organs, the beauty  of which  in   perfecting
 the human face has attracted  the  attention of the
 sculptor, the painter and the poet, as well as the
 whole scientific world, for thousands of years, who
 have failed to picture any design  of perfection  in
 the human face, without giving prominence to these
 organs.
  The cheek may glow with the picture   of healthy
 and the freshness of the morning rose; the eye may
 sparkle with undaunted brilliancy.  The  hair may
hang in soft and golden ringlets about the form   of
the most beautiful, should she greet  you with a
smile  of lovliness  that  would captivate   the  most 
                       40
fastidious, if by her smile  teeth  should be  found
wanting or irregular, black or decayed,  all  would
be lost to the eye for the beautiful.
  Like music soft and sweet stealing over  our un-
conscious imagination, filling our soul with all that
is great and good, causing the bosom to heave with
passion, and the eye to shed  tears of joy,  bringing
nearer and nearer the  mystic  chord of angelic
sweetness; as if by magic  the harmony falls  upon
our ears and we are lost in admiration.  Then, if by
some unknown error, discord after discord falls up-
on our ear, the enchantment is gone.   And so it is
with the face, however  beautiful  and  attractive  it
may be; the harmony is lost when  the teeth are
wanting or imperfect. 
Explanation  to Cnt Referred  to on Pages
                 43 and 44.
  The following  cut shows the  temporary  teeth
erupted, ten in number, figure i being the center of
the mouth.  By carefully examining this cut, any
person can very readily tell when all the temporary
teeth are present.  Commence at No. i in the cut
and count until you reach five teeth, to figure 5 in
cut; then  you have all  of  the  temporary teeth,
that is by counting five each way from the center,
either in the upper or lower jaw.  At the terminus
of the number already counted, and directly under 
                       42
No. 5, with dotted  line numbered 2, lie  the  six-
year-old molars, so  called, just ready for eruption,
which make their  appearance at the  age of six
years, and are often taken for the first teeth by the
parents, and neglected until they become  painful,
then  they have  them  removed;  and this cut is
given so that any person can very readily tell what
teeth they are, and by so doing have them attended
to.   The process of  eruption is  shown in other
places in this cut, as dotted line No. 3.   These are
given simply to show  how important it is to care
for the first teeth until  they loosen  and can be re-
moved easily, as nature intended.  It can be seen
by this cut  how closely  connected are  the first
teeth roots and  the crowns of those about to be
•erupted of the  second teeth, andhow unnatural it
would be to interfere with these by extracting the
temporary when firm  in the jaw, and  before the
second are fully developed and ready to be erupted.
* 
Cutting  the  First Teeth  and  the  Care  of
                    Them.
  Of the first or temporary teeth there are twenty,
ten in each jaw.  They  are  erupted  about  as fol-
lows :   The first that make their appearance in the
mouth are the central incisors  or two front teeth,
as shown in cut No. i.
  These make their appearance from 5 to  8 months
after birth.
  The next are the lateral incisors (two in  number)*
from 7 to  10 months after birth.
  The next are  the canine or  eye teeth (two in num-
ber),  from 14 to 20 months after birth.
  The next are the first molar or double teeth (two
in number), from 12 to  16 months after birth.
  Second  molar of the  first set  (two in  number),
from 20 to 30 months after birth, ten in each jaw.
  During  the eruption  of these teeth  much pain
and suffering are common, and even the.  death  of
the child is no infrequent occurrence.   To say that
this trouble has existed from  the  first and was the
design of the Creator would be to impugn his wis-
dom.   Consequently we must look within ourselves:
for the solution of this question.
  These teeth  need the attention of a thorough,
competent dentist from  the  time they  first make
their appearance until they become loose  and drop
out to give room for the permanent set.   It seems 
44
very strange to many  why these teeth should re-
quire  any attention, being but  temporary  teeth.
There are many reasons why they should receive
this attention.  First, it is very necessary that these
teeth should remain in the mouth until  the second
teeth  are ready to occupy their place.  Again,  if
they decay, and  are not  filled, they  become  so
troublesome that  they  have to  be  removed, and
many times the permanent teeth  directly under are
injured  by their  removal.  If they are cared for
from the start there is no great expense attached to
keeping them in order, and all this pain and suffer-
ing that many children pass through would be
avoided, to say nothing of the sleepless nights of the
parents, and the injuries that the second teeth re-
ceive from ulceration and inflammation of the sur-
rounding  parts.   After the cavity becomes large
the nerve dies and the teeth ulcerate. This is not all.
Many children have died from diseases contracted
by neglecting to give the teeth proper attention.  It
is  wholly through neglect that but few of these
first teeth need extracting before the proper time,
or that ulceration  or toothache need occur.   There
are cases  where these  teeth  have to be removed
before they become loose to give room  to the per-
manent teeth that are coming  in irregularly ; and
many times this can be avoided if looked after by
a  competent dentist, sometimes by filing  away  a
portion of the temporary teeth,  and  at others by
changing their position, which can be done in many 
                       4a
instances where the teeth are firm and it is desira-
ble to leave them in the mouth still longer.
   At the age of six the six year  old  molars make
their appearance.   They are four in  number, two
on each jaw directly back of the temporary set, one
on each side, as marked  in  cut.  These teeth are
often taken by the parents to be the first teeth, and
little or no attention is given them until  nearly de-
stroyed with decay ; so much so that it is almost an
impossibility to preserve them, and they have to be
removed.  This, by many parents, is considered no
great loss.  But when we take into consideration
the fact that the whole shape of the face is changed by
contraction,in removing these teeth before the jaw
becomes fairly developed.  I  think it  is  a great
misfortune.   Who knows how  much  handsomer
and more beautiful our children might  have been
when grown to puberty, if nature had not been in-
terfered with  directly  or  indirectly.  I  have seen
many faces in which the general expression was in-
jured  by  extracting  these  teeth  in  childhood.
Many times the dentist is to blame for the loss of
these  teeth.   A thorough diagnosis  of the  case
should be the first thing, and then a thorough ex-
planation to the parent, giving advice to the best
of their ability, always aiming to preserve  all the
teeth possible for the benefit of the patient.
   At other times the  parents are to  blame.  The
"way for parents to approach a dentist is  to ask his
advice instead of advising him what to do.  It has 
                   /:■;..46. :.:j .>■ .       ,.;;  . .
become quite a common thing for people to advise
the dentist what  to  do, and  to  advise the doctor
what to do, and what medicine they want, when
they are ignorant as regards  their disease and the
effect of the medicine they  propose.  A doctor
who  understands his business  will  pay but little
attention to such advice until he has made a thor-
ough diagnosis of the case, and has determined
what it will be best to do under the circumstances..
              The Care of Children.
     This is a subject to which people generally  give
   very little attention.  Even women, who are to be-
   come the mothers of future generations are deplor-
   ably ignorant of the proper care of children.   You
   may think I am using strong language, but  my ob-
   servations have not been very flattering in this direc-
   tion.
     When we take into consideration the  number of
   deaths among children at the present time, we are
   more fully convinced of the  inability to  care for
:   them.  It is stated on good authority that of those
   that die annually in the United States one half are
   children under ten years of age.   Can we do  more
   than charge it to the want of proper care?  It  is
   not from  a lack of motherly love in most cases,
   but from ignorance of causes and effects, and  how
   can we expect any other result when we  take into
   consideration the fact  that their time in school 
                       47
days was occupied inall other  branches of study
except this one^ all-important to the, present as well
as future generations.
  : I believe the time is not far  distant when physi-
cal culture will forrn one of the first and most prom-
 inent parts of the studies of the  school  room  and
fireside.  More especially is there needed a change
in the development of girls who are, by the present
stage of society, prevented even from getting exer-
cise enough to enjoy  good health without being
called romps and all other vulgar  names that can
be thought of.  As well think of raising  good corn
^without plenty of sunlight, as healthy, fully-develop-
ed girls without both sunlight and plenty  of exercise.
   When our schools shall occupy a portion of their
time in teaching Anatomy and Physiology  and the
laws and conditions of health, we may  look for a
change for the better and not till then.  As long as
children grow up in ignorance of their own being,
as long as parents are either too  ignorant or  too
modest to talk to their daughters  upon a subject
 which should be fully understood  what more can
we expect?  If a little more good judgment and a
little less false modesty could  be  used, the world
would be a great deal better off, and  much suffer-
ing  and pain would be avoided, as well as many
valuable lives saved among  our children.
   It is  not my intention to treat upon all the  par-
ticulars connected with this subject but to throw
light enough upon it to keep the chain  of my re- 
                      48
marks clear; for the conditions that produce puny*
unhealthy, sickly children cause much of this pain
and suffering in cutting teeth; and this is too often
owing to ignorance and bad management on the
part of the parents.  To many, this may seem very
strong language, they supposing that her  mater-
nal instinct  would lead her to care  properly for
them.  This might be the case if we were living in
a primitive condition; but  in  our  present state of
habits it is nothing strange.  I have not the  least
doubt that we are descended from  races of people
that once lived on food in its crude state and chil-
dren were cared for by natural instinct.   Our men-
tal activity or reasoning faculties  have taken the
place of instinct until we have almost entirely lost
this aboriginal gift.  Whether our manner of cook-
ing our food and of living  is advantageous  is ex-
ceedingly doubtful.   I think it is not either physi-
cally or mentally so.
  Animals are wholly controlled by instinct in the
care  of their young; but what are  we  to do with
beings who have outgrown their instinctive  intuit-
iveness  and yet do not use their  reason?  They
would be far better off if they were  living in the age
of instinct, so far as   the physical vigor of their
progeny is concerned.   We have passed from  this
stage of our existence and growth, but the passage
must have been very gradual.
  At the present time, a great  deai of trouble is
generally experienced during the period of cutting 
49
teeth.  Why does this trouble exist?  Is it a nec-
essary result, and has it always existed, or is it ow-
ing to our habits of life?  Many mothers seem to
think that it is a natural result  and wonder why
they are tormented day and night, and are obliged
to resort to various soothing syrups and cordials to
benumb the sensibility of the child;  or in other
words, to  intoxicate this  little  being  with some
drug until its sense of feeling is lost.  It is safe to
say that every one of the cordials and elixirs adver-
tised as a boon to babies and  a  relief to mothers,
contain  opium in  greater or  less quantities,  and
hundreds  of children,  yes,  thousands  are being
killed, while  others are being injured  for  life.
Then again, could we realize the fact that we  are
creating  an appetite for strong drink, tobacco and
opium eating in after years ?  This early appetite
will almost always remain with  the child until he
is old enough to follow out the inclinations culti-
vated by his own mother.
  The smaller the amount of medicine administer-
ed the better, either while cutting teeth or at any
other time.  A little harmless medicine is all  that
is necessary.  If the mother  is sufficiently careful
about her diet while nursing the child.
  If anything more is  needed, always  employ  a
regular, thorough  and  competent physician who
knows what is needed, instead of dosing your child
by guess.  It is one of the greatest and most serious
drawbacks at the present day in the care, manage- 
                      50
ment and success of raising children, that our drug
stores are filled with compounds that would kill a
grown person if used to the extent that many chil-
dren are forced to  use them.  These compounds,
many times, are put up by men who know nothing
about the conditions they claim to be able to cure,
and care less.   It is simply a matter of dollars and
cents with them.  More money is  paid out in  this
way  than it would cost to call a physician, who
would see, by a little questioning about the diet or
management, that very little if any medicine was
needed.  You would learn this much and perhaps
save the life of your child, and the amount of money
you would expend in patent medicines.
  Nursing  is much more  favorable to the child's
health than otherwise when Nature provides suste-
nance.   Her  provisions are always  just.   As a
rule, any good, wholesome food  that agrees with
the mother, will not  injure the  child,  if not in-
dulged  in  to excess.   The excessive eating of the
present time is one of the greatest evils we have to
contend with, and causes more trouble than is gen-
erally supposed.  Our  present manner of cooking
is not only destructive to the child, but the mother,
as is shown by the present physical condition of
nine-tenths of the children.   Do not understand
me to say that this is the only cause, but that it is
one  of  the causes of so much disease, misery and
destruction in the human family.
   Wet nurses are dangerous experiments, when we 
51
reflect that medical and  physiological  authorities
agree that physical as well as  mental traits may be
transmitted to the infant through the breast of the
nurse.  Cow's  milk, fresh and  pure, diluted with
soft water and sweetened with loaf sugar, closely
resembles the mother's milk;  not slop-fed cows,
but  pasture-fed.   But no milk  except that of the
mother should be given unless absolutely necessary.
A prominent physician of New York, in speaking
upon this subject, says :
  " Is it not notorious that some infants are crying
a great portion of the time in consequence of pain?
And is it natural, or can there be any other cause
except the poison communicated through the me-
dium of the blood before and after their birth, or
the disease may proceed from  the  impurity of the
mother's milk occasioned by errors  in diet.  It is
self-evident that it is so, from the fact that animals
are free from these symptoms.   Can there  be any
other cause why so many children are  in distress
from  their birth  and  generally die young,  or con-
tinue weak and sickly all their lives ? There must
be a reform in  the habits, tastes and education of
modern females.   Many mothers  are as ignorant
when they have brought a child into the world, of
what is to be done, as the  infant itself."
  Combe says :   " The leading error in the rear-
ing of the young, I  must again repeat, is over-
feeding, an error serious ih itself, but which  may be
easily avoided by the parent's  yielding only to the 
52
 inclinations  of appetite, and  administering food
 slowly  and in small quantities at a time.  By no
 other means can the colics and bowel  complaints
 and irritability of the nervous system, so common
 in  infancy, be effectually  prevented, and strength
 and healthy nutrition be  secured.  Nature never
 meant the infant stomach  to be converted  into a
 receptacle for laxatives, narcotic  stimulants and
 astringents;  and  when  these  become  necessary
 we may  rest  assured  that  there  is  something
 faulty in  our management, however  perfect  it
 may  seem to  ourselves.   The only  exception  is
 where the child is defectively constituted, and then
 of course it may fail to thrive under the best meas-
 ures  that can be devised for  its relief."  Again,
 Combe says, in speaking upon this subject :  " One
 of the most  pernicious habits  in  which children
 can be indulged is that of almost incessant eating.
 Many mothers encourage it from the facility with
 which for a time the offer  of something nice pro-
 cures food."
  Even from infancy the child ought to be gradu-
 ally accustomed to eat only when hungry, and only
 when food is really required.  After ten years of
 age the interval of four hours between  meals will
 rarely be more than enough; and  to give biscuit,
 fruit or  bread in the meantime is just subtracting
 from  the digestive power  of the  stomach.   Like
 almost every organ of the body, the stomach re-
quires a period of  repose after the labors of  diges- 
53
tion, and accordingly in the healthy state  the  sen-
sation of appetite never returns till it has been for
some time empty.   To give food sooner, therefore,
is analogous to making a weary traveler  walk on
without the  refreshment of a halt.
  " It is no new or  uncertain doctrine  that  the
quality of the mother's milk is affected by her own
health and conduct, and  tnat in its turn it directly
affects the health of the nurseling.   Even medicines
given to the parent act upon the child through the
medium of  the  milk ; and a sudden fit of anger or
other violent  mentar emotion has not unfrequently
been  observed to change the quality of the fluid so
much as to  produce purging and gripe in the child.
Care  and anxiety in like  manner exert a most  per-
nicious influence, and not only diminish the quan-
tity but vitiate the quality of the milk."
  When we reflect that the object of digestion  is to
furnish materials for the  growth of the body and to
supply the  waste which  the system is constantly
undergoing, it must appear self-evident that if the
digestive  powers be  impaired by disease, by im-
proper quantity or quality of food, or by other
cause, the result must necessarily be the formation
of an imperfect chyle,  and if it  be  vitiated  the
blood also  must suffer.   If the blood be  diseased
so necessarily must be the organs  which  are  sup-
plied, and  if  the body be  thus disturbed can any
wonder be felt that it should no longer be able to
resist the action  of offending causes which full health
alone can withstand. 
54
  I must not forget to mention here the necessity
of bathing as a necessary means of producing the
result just spoken of to assist in keeping the blood
pure as well as to  promote health.  Water, in all
ages of the world, among all nations, civilized and
barbarous, has been held in the highest estimation
as a preventive  and cure of disease.  All distin-
guished philosophers, physicians  and theologians,
ancient  and modern, have spoken in the  highest
terms of its virtues.  Not only is it a promoter of
health on account of keeping the  pores of the skin
open so that  all the worn-out refuse of the body
can be easily  carried off, but we must concede to it
other virtues that help to invigorate the system and
to throw off disease.   That water  possesses a great
amount of  electricity there is no  longer a doubt.
Prof. Faraday,  in  his experiments demonstrating
these facts  some time since, showed that the quan-
tity of electricity set free by the decomposition of
ten drops of water is actually greater than  exists in
the most vivid flash  of lightning.  That the body
receives  beneficial  effects  there  is  no  doubt.
There are many theories, but just how this effect
is produced has  not yet been fully demonstrated.
Is it strange that the wonderful mechanism of man-
kind should become diseased as little  as we know
how to protect ourselves from the influences  that
surround us  and are always  ready  to attack us
when the-vitality of  the system is sufficiently re-
duced as not  to be able to resist diseases?   There 
55
are about seven millions of pores on the surface of
the human body and from twenty to forty ounces
of worn-out material pass off daily when the func-
tions of the body are in an active, healthy condi-
tion.
  Now then, our physical strength and endurance,
when grown up, depend much upon our having had
a fair show ; and if our parents  have  understood
the conditions necessary to our welfare and devel-
opment as children, then  we stand a much better
chance of being what nature designed us to be.
The Conditions  Necessary to Insure Good
                    Teeth.
  It is a great mystery to some people why we are
obliged to take so much care of our teeth  to keep
them clean and to keep them from decay. Many
times have patients expressed themselves like this :
"I do not see why our Creator did not  make  our
teeth to last as long as  we live, without so much
trouble and pain."  This  is the first  and most
natural inquiry that arises in our minds ; but upon
reflection we see at once that the Creator is not re-
sponsible for this unnatural condition of the teeth,
any more than he is for the weak and debilitated
condition of the system.  The  conditions of health
are with us, and if we are ignorant of natural laws
we must suffer the results.
  We have been informed  by a man who has been 
56
among the natives of tropical climates, where they
depend upon the hand of Nature for their food, and
everything necessary for their health and comfort
grows in abundance, and where they eat it without its
being materially changed, that such a thing as de-
cayed teeth among these people is unknown. Their
teeth are clean and white ; they require no brush-
ing.  Why ?   Simply because all  the conditions of
the system harmonize, and they are, comparatively
speaking, free from all the vices  known to civiliza-
tion.
  Among these  people  there are no deposits of
saliva, calculus  or  tartar  around the neck of the
teeth ; no diseases of the gums, because all  the
organs of the system  are in  health,  each one  per-
forming its  own work uninterrupted by artificial
habits, hot bread, hot teas, hot puddings, pies  and
tarts, and a  hundred  other articles too  numerous
to mention.
  How can we expect healthy mouths and perfect
teeth and long life, when we make stuffing machines
of ourselves, and drug stores of our stomachs ?
No wonder so many commit  suicide under this de-
pressing condition of the system.  Life is a burden,
and according to Prof. Faraday's version of suicide
it is very common at the present time, for he con-
veys the idea that all  who die under  one hundred
years of age may be charged  with  self-murder;
that  Providence intended man to live a century,
and would  allow him now to live to  that advanced 
                       67
age if he did not  kill  himself by eating unwhole-
some food, allowing himself to be  annoyed  by
trifles, giving license to passion, and exposing him-
self to accident.   You may say we have no proof
that man was intended to live to this advanced age.
Following  the theory  that the duration of life is
measured by the time of growth, with man  it gen-
erally takes twenty years to effect this growth. Ac-
cording to this  theory he should live five times
twenty, or one hundred years.  The camel  is eight
years in growing, and lives five times eight,  or forty
years.  The  horse is  five years in  reaching  its
growth, and lives five times five,  or twenty-five
years; and so with all other  animals.   Whatever
may be said of this theory, it proves itself  correct
in most cases; and for my part  I  never doubted
for a moment that man was intended to live a cen-
tury.   It is no uncommon thing to find American
Indians one hundred  years old, and even older;
that is, those who have not become associated with
the habits of civilized people.  Many white people
who have lived in the  back woods, away from ex-
citement and strife, and have been regular in their
habits, their food being of the coarsest kind, going
to bed early to rest and  refresh themselves from
their daily labors, furnish examples of  long and
healthy life.  One hour's  rest in the early part of
the night is worth three in the latter part.  They
rise early and greet the rising sun, and behold the
beauties of the morning. They breathe the bracing 
                      58
atmosphere.  These people are seldom sick, never
have tooth-ache, and, as a rule, their teeth remain
in their heads a iife-time, where there are no hered-
itary tendencies. They never commit suicide. They
live long and die happy.  They pass away like the
flower of a season.  It buds, blossoms, and has ful-
filled its mission.
  When we learn to live  as nature  requires, then
we can enjoy  life  in  its fullness;  but how many
in the present  age  can  see happiness?   This
world to them  is a  dark and gloomy place.  They
sigh  and groan with aches and pains.  They live
in anticipation of happiness,  but never  reach it.
They long for wealth,  and spend enough for food
that makes them miserable, and that they would be
better off without, that in a few years would make
them independent as far as money is concerned.
  When we learn that our highest aim should be
to know Nature's laws, and to live  by these laws,
then we can enjoy life.   Then  we will be a Chris-
tian people,  and not until then.
             What Is Disease?
  This work would not be complete or comprehen-
sive, after having so many times called attention to
certain conditions of disease, without an explana-
tion of this term.  Then, what is disease ?  All life
depends upon certain conditions either for its prop-
agation  or' continuation, and these surrounding; 
                      59
conditions play an important part in determining
the extent, fullness or duration of life as connected
with any and all organized beings.  Living bodies
are distinguished, as regards their structure, from
those of the inorganic world mainly by the fact that
they  are  organized ; that is, they are composed of
a number of different parts called organs, connect-
ed  together, and mutually  dependent upon each
other.  If any of  these  organs become affected
with disease all are more or less involved.   Now,
then, the influences surrounding all animal life  are
identical, and man is more subject to, and affected
more than animals, on account of his change from
natural food to unnatural, and to intemperate hab-
its of various kinds.   I say, outside of these all  life
has the same contending forces to battle against, and
outside of this nearly all diseases are caused by the
development  of cryptogamous  plants and  micro-
scopic animalcula.   To be more specific, the air
we breathe is full of minute germs that only need to
come in contact with the proper conditions  to  de-
velop themselves by millions  in a  single  night.
These germs contain  the  poisonous  seed and will
produce the diseases peculiar to their nature.  The
microscope has revealed the fact of the existence
of these poisons floating in the air, not only com-
ing in contact with the mucous membranes, being
inhaled by the process of respiration, but they fall
upon our food and are carried into  the stomach,
and in a short space of time, if our system is not in 
                      60
a vigorous and healthy condition and able to resist
their attacks, will spring into life, both animal and
vegetable ;  that many diseases are produced by the
irritation caused by the development of these mi-
croscopic  germs,  the  feeding  of  parasites,  the
depositing of spores, as well as the growth of veg-
etable matter which this  animal life feeds upon
there is no  longer a doubt.   Without entering into
a detailed account of the various forms  of germi-
nal matter  capable of producing as many diseases
when the  proper  conditions present  themselves,
suffices  to  say  that  Nature  is always making an
effort to resist the growth  of all  injurious and de-
structive agencies ; but when health does not exist,
hereditary  or otherwise, it has  not the  power,  as
all the secretions are in an abnormal condition and
not capable of effecting their destruction.
   An investigator who has given much time to this
subject, claims that nearly  all chronic  and most
acute diseases are produced by infinitissimal organ-
ic germs of vegetable and animal  life introduced
into the system through the lungs and skin, into the
stomach with the food, and in other ways.  Then,
life is a condition subject to certain laws, the viola-
tion of which is the signal for the attack  of another
force called disease, which destroys life, or has a
tendency to  destroy it.   The result depends  upon
 the degree of resistance it meets with.   Thus,  we
have a clear and comprehensive explanation of the
 term disease.   There  is  no  mistake   about  it. 
                      61
When a person is affected by disease there are two
conflicting forces at  work : one force is making an
effort to establish itself and perpetuate its own par-
ticular life and existence ; the other force is simply
the result of certain  conditions antagonistic to the
life spoken of, and many scientists argue that this
force is  simply the  effort of a lower form of life
trying to perpetuate its own individuality, the per-
petuation of which is destructive to the life attacked.
         The  Extraction  of Teeth.
  The extraction of teeth is of ancient origin a bar-
barous custom originating in ignorance and  does
not belong to a civilized and enlightened age, it  is
entirely unnatural and unnecessary.  Teeth  were
first extracted  because they  had become  painful
from disease and they did not know how to stop
pain or cure disease at that time, so  destroyed the
organ.  Teeth are extracted to-day  for the  same
reason, but there is no excuse  for  it.  It  is said
"where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise" but
that would not  apply in this case, so I  think  we
could reverse the saying and  make it applicable,
where  wisdom is bliss it is folly to be ignorant.   It
certainly shows no wisdom on the part of the per-
son having teeth extracted, and much less for the
dentist that  advises extraction unless the teeth were
loosened to  such an extent that they could not by
proper treatment be restored to their original use- 
                      62
fullness.   Now jf we should follow the same rule in
all diseases we would soon become a good speci-
men of physiological curiosity, fit only for a  mus-
eum.   How hard it is to turn  the  mind  from its
early education, however erronious or injurious it
might be.   Suppose, for instance, when a surgeon
was called to set a broken bone he  should ampu-
tate  instead, and advise a  cork leg or  arm.  Is
there any  perceptible difference, from wrenching a
firmly fitted tooth from  its  socket and afterwards
putting in a poor substitute, the best of which  are
poor compared with the natural  tooth.  The fact
is that less skill is needed to extract teeth than  to
preserve them, and the  average dentist  has not a
large stock on hand, so he extracts the teeth  of all
who call on him with diseased teeth.  Could  I but
draw a picture and bring to your view one half 01
the suffering, misery and death caused  by the ex-
tracting of teeth your surprise would  only be  ex
ceeded by the  amount of ignorance  accompanying
each individual case, could you but know their his-
tory.   Thousands of people have called upon  me
who have  been unfortunate enough to have  fallen
into the hands of these men who claim to be dent-
ists, and have been made  toothless  and  many  of
them invalids for life, that would have given  their
last dollar to have had the same teeth replaced  in
their heads again.  With all our boasted skill if we
can not cure the  diseases  of teeth and preserve
them for those who are looking to us for relief we 
                     63
have no professional  claims,  barbers and black-
smiths can wrench or tear from the socket a tooth,
and disfigure the human face, but the true dentist
must be able to cure  disease  and restore  natural
conditions and then and not  until then can we
claim to be a learned profession.
^mM 
            Temperance Proper.
  Webster's unabridged dictionary says the mean-
ing of the word intemperance, in a general sense,
is want of moderation, or due restraint; excess in
any kind of action or indulgence of appetite  or
passion which is injurious  to the  person or con-
trary to morality, such as intemperance in study or
labor, in eating or drinking,  or in any other grati-
fication.
  I am  aware that nearly all the arguments upon
intemperance  are confined  to discussing the evil
effects of alcohol.  I do not here  dispute any of
their claims in  this respect—far  from it; but  I
intend to discuss this subject frankly, in the broad-
est sense of the term.
  The genus homo, or man, endowed with reason is
highest in the  animal series.   Thus endowed, he is
supposed to be capable of judging what is best for
him to eat, drink and wear,  while animals in this
respect are governed by  instinct, and have suc-
ceeded admirably  in keeping themselves in the
enjoyment of health and physical perfection during
the time allotted them, when they  have not been
controlled by the man of reason.   But how has
man, with all his reason, succeeded in the enjoy-
ment of health, or in resisting disease and degener-
ation ?   His  endeavor in this respect has been a
failure.  And why ?  Simply  by being intemperate; 
                       65
not in any one  particular way, but excess marks
almost all his actions.  I will admit that there are
exceptions to this rule; but most of us have some
particular intemperate habit that is foremost.  We
are governed more by our perverted appetites than
by  our reason.  I need not draw a picture.  The
fatal effects of intemperance are familiar to us all.
They are imprinted  upon a  large  portion of our
people.  Any person of ordinary  intelligence can-
not fail to  see  that  our habits of excess are un-
dermining us as a nation.
  What  are some of the most destructive of our
intemperate habits ?   The use of ardent spirits has
caused a large share of misery, suffering and death.
I need not repeat the story of the  husband, father
or brother staggering home from the den of drunk-
enness, where he has allowed his appetite to  over-
ride his  reason—for  the  first  time, perhaps—and
from step to step continues  to  go  down, until dis-
grace,  disease, and finally death,  overtakes  him ;
or of the broken-hearted family,  in poverty, rags
and  despair, without money  or  friends.  This is
the surface-water of intemperance.   I  need not
produce  figures to convince you  of its dangerous
results.  Shall we draw a  curtain here, and say the
rest of our  intemperate habits are not  worthy of
our notice ? or  shall we  take a  rational  view  of
this subject?  If so, I will first speak of the intem-
perate use of tobacco ;  for, if we  use it at all, it is
intemperate. 
66
                   TOBACCO.
  Allow  me  here  to  draw  a line  of distinction
between the use of the two articles spoken of.   In
the first place, the use of wines and spiritous liquors,
as a valuable  medicine, is  uncontrovertible.   But
how  is it with tobacco ?  While  the intemperate
use of liquors may be contracted by its moderate
use for medical purposes, this cannot be claimed
for tobacco.  I  do not  propose to  dispute  its
medical properties ;  that it may be  used in some
cases as  a medicine with advantage, is doubtless
true ;  so may a large percentage  of poisonous
drugs.  Tobacco is a very active  narcotic poison,
and  never  should be  indulged in  by a healthy
person any more than cathartics or emetics.
  The increasing use  of this poisonous  weed is
alarming.  I say  poisonous.   Let us see whether
we are correct.  Dr. Alcott, who  made many  ex-
periments, gives the following results, which have
been confirmed by many others.  He says that by
the  ordinary  process  of  distillation,  an alkaline
principle, called by chemists nicotine, is  obtained.
A single drop is sufficient  to destroy the  life  of a
moderately sized dog, two  drops will destroy  the
largest and fiercest, and small birds perish at its
bare approach.
   There is another oil obtained  from tobacco by
distilling at a temperature about that of boiling
water.  It is  of  a dark-brown  color,  and has a 
                       67
-smell exactly like the old and strong tobacco  pipe.
A drop of  this introduced into  the system of the
cat causes death in five minutes.  Tihese experi-
ments have been repeatedly verified.
   Another writer says that  one  drop of oil of to-
bacco destroys a full-grown  cat  in five minutes;
two drops  on the tongue of a squirrel destroys its
life in one  minute.
   Mr. Barrow, the African  traveler, assures us that
the Hottentots  use  this plant to destroy snakes.
This is the most appropriate use  I have  yet seen
for this weed.   "A Hottentot," says  he, "applies
some of it  from  the short end of his wooden  pipe,
to the mouth  of the snake while darting out  its
tongue.  The  effect was  as instantaneous as an
electric shock.   With a momentary convulsive mo-
tion the snake half twisted  itself and never stirred
more."
   "The tea of twenty  or thirty grammes of tobac-
co," says Dr. Massevy,  " introduced into the human
body  for the purpose of relieving spasms, has been
known repeatedly to destroy life."   Dr. Beach says
that even when used in moderation, tobacco pro-
duces dyspepsia, headache, tremors, vertigo, and
epilepsy.   " It produces," he again says, " many of
those diseases which are supposed to be seated in
the nerves."
   Ex-Bishop Ames, of the Methodist  Episcopal
Church, not many years ago expressed to the  New
England Conference his opinion that a  large por- 
                      68
tion of the fund for superannuated preachers is paid
to men mentally and physically disqualified by the
use of tobacco. One of the members of the French
Academy of Medicine, in a very elaborate paper
drawn with great care, asserts that statistics  show
that in exact proportion to the increasing consump-
tion of tobacco, is the increase of diseases in the
nervous centers—insanity,, softening of the brain,
and all nerve diseases.
  A German physician states, in a periodical pub-
lished not long ago, that of the deaths  occurring
among men in that country, between eighteen and
twenty-five years of age, one half die from the effects
of smoking.  He unequivocally asserts that tobacco
burns out the blood,  the teeth, the eyes and the
brain.  I might continue this evidence  from men
who have made this subject a study for years, back-
ing up their assertions by actual experiments scien-
tifically, with years of experience ; but what  effect
would it have upon  tobacco users ?  No  more than
it has upon the habitual drunkard  to tell  him of the
fatal results of alcoholic liquors.   The increasing
use of this poisonous and useless weed is alarming.
The little boys, as it were, are only to become pos-
sessors of a cigar  in one corner of the mouth to be-
come men in their own estimation.  When we look at
it from a rational standpoint, we cannot comprehend
how or why a civilized  people should  adopt the
filthy habit of the savage, and use it more excess-
ively  than the savage himself.  It is no common 
                       69
thing for men of respectability  and influence, who
would not even take a drink of alcoholic liquor, to
smoke from three to ten cigars daily, and oftener
the larger number, without even thinking  they  are
intemperate. Others carry a large roll of it in their
mouths, and the salivary glands are  so  much  ex-
cited that the person is obliged to spit every five
minutes, to his own injury and the disgust of those
about him.
  I was riding in an c nnibus a short time ago, and
my attention was  called  to a small, poorly-clad,
bright-eyed boy, standing  on the steps stealing, a
ride, as they often do, with his mouth full of tobac-
co, chewing and spitting.  I kept watch of him until
I caught his eye.  Smilingly I said, " Bub, what are
you chewing ? "  " Tobacco," said he.  " What are
you chewing that stuff for ? "  " For  fun," said  he.
" Now, my little fellow," said I, " if you don't stop
using it, it will  use you up."   " It didn't use the
old man up," said  he,  " and he has used it ever
since he was five years old."
  Here was evidence to him,  as  to many others.
How often we hear expressions like  this :  '" Mr.
So  and So has used tobacco all his life, and.is nearly
a hundred years old."   Is this really any evidence ?
If so, the  same rule will  apply  with the use of
liquor;  for  we see hundreds of these old steady
drinkers.  The truth is, they are like the survivors
of  a great  battle;  they have passed through  the
danger; the trying influences  upon their systems 
                      70
have,passed, and the habit has become a second
nature to them.   Hundreds, yes,  thousands, may
have died in the struggle.  Where one person has
the constitution to live  through, thousands have
gone to their long home.
   Hundreds of  men who would look  with scorn
upon the man  who would drink, even moderately,
in public, have no scruples in going into a tobacco
store and buying a large roll of tobacco, putting it
into  their  mouths, and walking  down the street
with an air of importance that would do credit to a
king.   Is it strange that boys will smoke when-they
see the  importance this tobacco gives  to men ?  I
tell you, my friends, the time has come to lay aside
all prejudices  and look this temperance question
square  in  the  face.   Be  reasonable and rational,
and you will not have to  look far from home to
commence the reformatory movement.
   It  might be  interesting  to some of you   to
know that smoking and chewing are not the only
ways in which this plant is used.  There are  the
snuff takers—many of them among the ladies, I am
sorry to say.  There is also snuff-dipping  that is
indulged in quite extensively in some of the South-
ern States.  Snuff-taking  is  considered more  re-
spectable than dipping, but it is hard to say where-
in.  It is all for the effect it produces.   The man
who solaces himself with  a fine Havana cigar con-
siders snuff-taking  and  snuff-dipping detestable,
and cannot imagine what makes  women do such 
                       71
disgusting things ; and the man  with  a streak of
tobacco  juice running  down the corner  of his.
mouth, will bring evidence  to prove  that smoking
is more injurious  than chewing.
  There is a class of people in some parts of Switz-
erland who roll  up  the  tobacco  and crowd it up
one nostril and receive the  delightful  effect by its
coming in contact with  the mucous  membrane of
the nose.
  Can any one doubt that tobacco in all the various
ways used has broken down more useful members
of society, and destroyed more lives by undermin-
ing the  constitution,  than liquor itself?  If  you
doubt it, give this subject  your attention for the
next five years, and your doubts will be removed.
  The*use of tobacco lays the foundation  for all
manner  of disease ; it creates an  abnormal  condi-
tion  of the system ;  it destroys its vitality in pro-
portion to the amount used;  and, by  debilitating
the functions, various diseases attack  the habitual
user, thus endangering,  and  even destroying, life
itself, to  say nothing  of the  degrading influences.
that are sure to accompany it.

             INTEMPERATE  EATING.
  I shall next speak  of intemperate eating.  Very
few give  this part of the subject any attention.   In
fact, they never once thought of being intemperate
in  eating.  Of course, a man has a  right  to eat
when he pleases and what he pleases.  This is the 
                       72
general impression.   But the next question that
arises in our minds  is  have  we a right to be more
intemperate in our eating than in drinking or smok-
ing, or any other excessive indulgence that is an in-
jury to our physical health and happiness ?  And
if I say that more people die annually from intem-
perate eating  than from  any  other  intemperate
habit,—yes, I can safely say  all other intemperate
habits  spoken  of  in  this paper,  this  may seem
like an exaggeration, but let  us see if it is really an
exaggeration.
  Who shall be the first witness in the examination
of,this subject?  Let us call Dr  Dio Lewis.   He
says, in his last work upon  the  subject, that glut-
tony counts a hundred victims where  drunkenness
counts one.  " I expect," he says, " within a score
of years, as much interest among men in regard to
the healthfulness of the food upon  which the chil-
dren live, as they now feel about the  diet of their
calves and pigs.  As soon as they believe that the
food which the children consume determines  the
character of their digestion and blood we shall have
a basis for operation ;  but they will not believe it
yet, and so you see the little folks are at all hours
munching indigestible food."
  The world learns but slowly, even from experi-
ence ;  so when we declare that the present system
of food is full of harm, we  are confronted  by  the
old blind  prejudices. They say now of your brown
bread, " Moonshine for me." There are thousands 
                       73
of pale,  listless, indolent, unhappy young  ladies;,
who might be changed in a few months into active,,
muscular, happy girls, by changing  their dietary.
Thus  intemperate  habits are not confined entirely
to young people and children.
  There are hundreds of adults who  are  suffering,
the tortures of the damned from excessive  eating,.
and do not know what is the trouble.  Our whole
system of cookery is pernicious.  The ingenuity of
the age  is taxed  to the utmost to find some fan-
dangle dish that will tickle the palate and  induce
us to eat more than is necessary to support  the
regular  wear and tear  of the system.  You say,
where is your proof that intemperate eating is de-
stroying  so many lives?   Proofs  have been given
beyond doubt as to the quantity and quality of food
required to support the  human body in health, and
all eating over this amount is an injury.  Our man-
ner of living has  made us as intemperate in eating
as the habitual drinker is in drinking.  Their ener-
gies  are  absorbed  in gratifying this appetite for
drink, while ours  is  longing for something good to
eat.   While they make drunkards of themselves
we are making gluttons of ourselves.
   I once knew a man who would eat a small pan full
of bread and milk,  or other  food in proportion, for
dinner, and then ask how long before  supper would
be ready.  He  did not know enough to come in
when it  rained.   His whole nerve energies were
at work trying to digest  his food.  His  mind  be- 
74
came paralyzed, as it were, and he  gradually be-
came an idiot.
  This intemperate eating does not  have the same
effect upon each and  every individual.  Some are
tormented  with dyspepsia, others with gout, some
with rheumatism, sick headaches, vertigo, palpita-
tion of  the heart, and many other diseases.
  Intemperate  eating, as a rule, is the cause of
nearly all our other intemperate habits.  It pro-
duces  an abnormal condition of all the functions
of the  body.  We  become diseased, and resort to
rum, opium and tobacco as a stimulant, for relief,
and from this to Allopathy, Homoeopathy, Eclectic,
Magnetic,  Old School  and New School, and  all
other schools of medicine, say nothing of the money
spent for patent medicines.  It does seem as if the
whole  human family were raving  maniacs, bent
upon self-destruction, and  those who do take their
lives one way and  another, instantly, are but the
impatient few who cannot wait the popular method
of  intemperate indulgences—some  in  one way,
some in another,  each  one thinking how unfortu-
nate it is that his neighbor has contracted such de-
structive habits, while in fact he himself is more
intemperate in some other way.
   Children all about us are dying with liver and
stomach difficulties, caused by this unnatural man-
ner of living.  Parents charge the death  to  the
hand of Providence; they never once stop to think
that there  are established laws regulating all these
 things, which they cannot  violate with impunity. 
75
  Many of us inherit these artificial appetites from
our parents,  who  have been  imprudent. • Others
have gradually grown  into them through indiscre-
tion of parents; the mother, perhaps, has eaten  too
stimulating food  while  nursing  the  child,  or  the
child  has been  overfed or eaten  too. stimulating
food until the normal  condition of the ^stomach is
no more.  I have no hesitancy in saying that twice
the food  is  consumed  necessary  for the natural
growth  and  development  of  the  child, in most
cases.   This  is  the cause of many diseases, much
suffering, and not unfrequently of death; and  the
life-long misery of those who live after  having  be-
come physical  wrecks  cannot be  described, with
constitution destroyed or worn  out, not by hard
labor themselves, but  the  stomach has performed
labor enough for a person  a hundred years old, and
begins to think it has fulfilled its mission, and  the
unfortunate must be content to about half live and
drag out a miserable existence.  If his  infirmities
had been brought about by the intemperate use of
liquor,  it would  be considered  a disgrace ; but if
he  is a confirmed dyspeptic through his own  in-
temperate habits of eating or other excessive  in-
dulgencies, he is as much respected as he ever was.
Will some one please explain the difference  in the
offence or the violation of law ?   I can see no dif-
ference, provided he has  conducted himself as
well morally  in one case as in the other.
   Some one  asks, How should we live to produce 
                       76
the best results and avoid this intemperate eating?
Eat  a moderate quantity of good, nutritious food,
in as near  its natural  ttate as possible, at regular
hours.  Use  no tea, coffee, alcoholic  beverages,
opium or tobacco, unless needed as medicines.
   In reg id to the particular course of diet, there
is no rule that will apply to each one under all cir-
cumstances.  Each person, by studying cause and
-effect, will in a short time know what food is  best
adapted to his  or  her particular nature.  This is
now  understood  by  thinking  men and  women.
The great trouble is to have control over the  per-
verted appetites that have  grown up with  us from
bad management.
   I  always had  considerable  curiosity to know
what were the habits of some of the most energetic
and successful men of our day  I find the first
quality essential is firmness  and determination of
purpose.   Be sure you're right, then never yield to
appetite or passion.   This determination  of  pur-
pose must  be rightly enforced in governing our ap-
petites and passions, or  success in the world  in
whatever  sense we  may  strive, either for pleasure
or business, need not be  expected.  For example :
A. T .Stewart, who has such  a  world-wide reputa-
tion  as  a successful business man, and accumu-
lated a great fortune, was  a man of great determi-
nation of  purpose, with  perfect  self-control and
self-possession.  In the early part of his *life, I am
told, he found he could perform more labor by eat- 
                       77
ing two meals a day.  He sacrificed his appetite,
which no doubt required something of an effort on
account of established custom.  It proved  highly
advantageous to him, as his  whole energies could
be used in business affairs instead of being required
to digest big dinners.
   Men  who do muscular exercise  in the open air
can eat three hearty meals to their benefit;  but
persons of sedentary habits,  in  the  majorny  of
cases, are better off  with two.  I  might say much
more ot» this branch of our subject, but we must
speak of some of the other intemperate habits of
man.
                 OPIUM EATING.
   I shall  next speak of the  intemperate  use  of
opium.   I  should like to treat the  subject at length,
but can only touch briefly a few of  the many ex-
cesses.
   Opium is the inspissated juice of the poppy, and
is grown chiefly in Asia Minor.  It is  obtained by
making an incision in the poppy.    This  is  the
opium  in its raw state.   It is changed  by chemists
into various forms, but never loses its narcotic prin-
ciple or property.   It relieves  pain by benumbing
the sensibility of the nerves.  In other words it di-
minishes the vitality of the  system until pain and
suffering are lost in a dreamy sleep.   It is  used by
medical men for this purpose, until other remedies
slower  in their effects, can be brought  to bear.   It
can, no doubt, be used  with  beneficial results  in 
78
many cases ; but the injury produced by its injudi-
cious use has caused more harm than all the  good
it has done in giving relief.   It is owing to this
reckless manner of using opium that so many become
its abject slaves.
  There  is no doubt that many  physicians are
guilty of a  too free use of this  drug, causing great
injury to persous by its poisonous effect upon the-
system, and by creating an appetite for the destruct-
ive poison.
  Have you ever witnessed the agonies of one  of
these excessive opium eaters when  deprived  of  its
use ? If not,  you have no conception  of its terri-
ble effects upon the human system.  I  shall  never
forget the appeal made to me by one of these unfor-
tunate creatures—a womr.n.  Her husband had ex-
hausted every  persuasive means without effect, when
a notice was served on every druggist in  the town
not  to sell her opium in any form.   The depressive
effect of stopping at once had driven her to desper-
ation, and  every  means was  tried  to  obtain that
which seemed to be her  very existence.  Her face
wore the expression of one in  great distress, trem-
bling with fear, as though death itself were staring;
her  in the face.  Approaching  me  she said :   " I
want you  to  do  me a favor.  I must have some
opium,  and the druggists will not sell to me."
   I  informed her that I felt very sorry  for her, but
that I had  no  right or authority to give her what
had already produced her conditions of mind  and 
                       79
body, and soon would prove her death if continued.
  It was a terrible sight to see the tears  coursing
down the care-worn face as she begged and pleaded
with me to get her some of this fascinating poison.
  I have seen drinking men have delirium tremens,
with imaginary  snakes coiling  about them, with
pictures of the devil and all his imps before them ;
but the depicted suffering of this woman  made an
impression upon my mind that I shall never forget.
  Is there any effort being made to stop the use of
opium ? It is destroying the lives of thousands and
sowing the seeds of dissipation to those yet unborn.
Its effects upon  the system are congestions  of the
brain and sleep, diminishing the secretions  of the
internal organs,  as well as the  bile and urine, which
causes  constipation.  In  fact, all  the secretions of
the body are gradually  dried  up, and the habitual
user becomes a  living skeleton.  In this way life is
-diminished gradually, until death  relieves the suf-
ferer.
  The cost of importing this  drug is  about fifteen
million dollars annually.  And if the estimates of
reliable druggists and physicians approximate  the
truth, fully three fourths of this vast amount is con-
sumed  by the opium eaters of this country.  Next
to  the excessive habits spoken of  in  this article
there is probably no evil that is dragging a larger
number of victims down to premature graves.  And
were its effects as well known as those  of alcohol,
there would be a crusade against its use, even for 
medical purposes, until it was entirely prohibited^
  Suffice it to say, the increasing demand for this
article is as astonishing as it is true.  It is used by
a large portion of people who call themselves re-
spectable, and is no doubt  used more  on account
of the small amount needed to produce the desired
effect,  and     the fact  that it  can be  used in
secrecy.                             »
               TEA  AND COFFEE.
  I shall now briefly call your attention t o the in
temperate use of tea and  coffee.  It is estimated-
that every person drinks, annually, fifteen hundred
pounds of liquid.   All this  is filtered, as  it  were,
through the human system leaving whatever poison-
ous properties they  may possess.  How essential
then  it is that we pay  particular attention to the
quality of the  liquids we  use.   Nothing can be
purer or better for man or beast than pure water as
designed by Nature.
  Tea was introduced into  Europe in the  sixteenth
century, and  was first used  by invalids and by old
and infirm persons as a stimulant, like many other
habits that have grown out of their use in sickness
until the appetite was formed, and they have grad-
ually  grown upon us until we are a nation  of tea
drinkers.   A table is not complete unless  this arti-
cle of drink is present.   And  now well persons
drink it until they are sick, instead of sick persons
drinking it until they are well; and even little chil- 
81
dren are allowed to sit at the table and sip  their
hot tea like grandmothers of eighty.
  " How does tea injure us ? " I often hear people
ask.   Because it is unnatural.  Hot drinks without
any  tea are  injurious.  It  was intended that we
should drink  water as well as take our  food at its
natural temperature.   I have watched, with consid-
erable interest, the effects of hot slops upon cattle.
They always become more or less diseased.  Their
teeth decay,  their gums become inflamed,  sores
often break out all over the  body, and their  tails
often drop  off.  Now, this  may not all be  attrib-
uted to hot slops.  Improper ventilation and unnat-
ural food combined, have  their effects upon  the
animal economy ; but, of the three, the hot condi-
tions of the food are the most destructive; that is,
its effects would be first seen. Combining the  effects
of tea in the  way it is now manufactured, upon the
system, with  the effects  of hot drink, and we have
an explanation of many of the ills that human flesh
is heir to.
  Dr. Dio Lewis says : " While I have no  doubt
that both these drinks " (speaking of tea and coffee),
" may, if used occasionally, and even regularly, by
aged people,  be free from objection.   There can be
no doubt whatever that the present enormous con-
sumption of  strong coffee and tea is the source of
many maladies and much sufferiug.  For example,
there are many cases of periodical headache that
may be cured by abstinence from  tea, while thou- 
82
 sands of cases of fulness of the head, and palpita-
 tion of the heart can be cured by abandoning coffee.
 There is no doubt that  neuralgia and nervousness
 are  the  product of,  or are  aggravated by, these
 drinks."
   The distinguished Dr. Frother says the only cure
 for nervous maladies  lies in total abstinence from
 fermented liquors, tea, coffee, and  all other nar-
 cotics, and he claims  that tea and coffee are as bad
 as any of the others spoken of.
   Dr. Bell  says the effects  of coffee upon  the
 nervous system and bowels are pernicious.  A dis-
 tinguished French physician says that coffee should
 only  be  used  in cases where spirituous liquors
 are admissible,  and further, that  coffee has con-
 tributed  strikingly  to the destruction of our con-
 stitutions, producing debility, convulsions, palsy,
 vertigo, and many other disorders.
  Another distinguished writer says coffee produces
 fever, anxiety, palpitation, trembling,  weak eyes,
 and apoplexy.
  Dr. Alcott  affirms  that  neither  tea  nor coffee
 makes a  particle of blood,  or gives a particle of
strength; while their use is followed by a corres-
ponding  depression.  He  also affirms  that tea
 drinkers often lose their powers of self-control and
 do and say many things which in their cooler hours
they deeply regret.  I might bring much more evi-
 dence to  prove  the  injurious effects of these two
articles upon the system, but  it is not necessary. 
s;j
  Now, if we are correct in our diagnosis of in-
temperance, we are surely an intemperate  people.
And why should we murmur or complain at our in-
firmities, when we have not the  moral courage to
stand up and fight our perverted appetites ?
  There are many  other intemperate  habits not
spoken of in this chapter, that are dragging human-
ity  down to premature graves.   Hundreds  and
thousands are dying all around us for the want of a
proper  knowHdge of the conditions of health and
long life.  Thousands  are dying  for the  want of
courage enough to resist temptation and  control
their appetites and passions.  Yes, each one of us
has quite enough to attend to at home to  see  that
we  live within the bounds of temperance.  If we
can help each other in the true  spirit of manhood
and brotherly love, I have no objection, and am
always ready and willing to lend a hand.  But shall
we  compel  any class of intemperate persons to
stop these shameful and destructive habits, when
we ourselves are practicing intemperance  perhaps
more destructive, but in a  more quiet manner?
For instance, shall we legislate the use of tobacco
or opium out of existence,  compelling men  and
women to stop its use, when  we ourselves  are in-
temperate in the use  of tea and coffee ?   Our
children are dying  from over-indulgence  of  hot
teas, confectioneries and sweetmeats, and  we are
sick with dyspepsia, cross and mulish, allowing our
passions to run away with our brains, until we are 
84
physical  wrecks.  Are we any better than the man
who cuts  his life short by over-indulgence of the
cup? 
ARTIFICIAL  TEETH ON PLATES, AND
    THEIR EFFECT ON THOSE THAT
               WEAR THEM.
CONTRIBUTED.
  Their presence changes Nature to such a degree
as to make good digestion and assimilation impos-
sible.   Starch, being amongst the most important
of single articles of food, is indigestible by such as
are compelled to use them; and to call  to mind
the great  proportion  of starch  contained in  our
common grains, used all over the world as food for
man,  I  present  a   table  of  the percentage of
starch   contained  in  them:    Wheat,  66.81;
corn,  67.55 >  rice» 88-65 > TYe> 64-65 ; barley, 66.43 '>
oats, 60.59.   A. glance  at this table  shows how
large  a portion  of these grains is  indigestible by
persons wearing  plates  in the mouth, and makes
it obvious  how extensively  they are  deprived
of an important element of food which enters into
so common  consumption.   400,000,000 of the in-
habitants of the earth subsist almost entirely upon
rice.   Now, 88.65 Per cent, of this substance being
starch, and the average dentist incapacitating his
patients from the power to digest starch, it is ex-
tremely fortunate for them that the so-called den-
tist is foreign to their soil; otherwise  they would 
86
breed a famine in their land such as would end in-
their final extermination.  But in our great sympa-
thy for the heathen let us not forget those who are
now the real  sufferers—our fathers, our mothers,
our brothers, our sisters, oui  wives, our  sons, our
daughters,—no, not  even  the stranger within our
country,  who soon becomes infected with the pop-
ular mania,  the insane,  suicidal, wicked,  inexcusa-
ble mania, which teaches that man can  destroy a
vital portion of the human body and set in its place
different conditions and things so entirely at vari-
ance with the original design  of the Creator, as  is
done in the  substitution of teeth on plates, without
completely defeating the original design, which was
calculated  to  and did  enable men to repair  all
waste caused  by active life duties, simply by the
intelligent exercise of the  organs of nature accord-
ing to the law  of Nature, which enabled him to de-
rive continued energy, power and life by digestion
of other forms of organized life; for while it  is
known that plant or vegetable can digest and assim-
ilate mineral substances direct from the soil, animal
life can only in her best estate, which would be be-
fore the introduction of plates of false teeth, digest
mineral substances until they have been quickened
by  some other form of life.   So man is more de-
pendent  for continued  existence upon  the lower
forms of life than this type upon man.  Vegetable
life, it is  true, cannot be made to continue its exist-
ence to maturity independent of the  soil, but im- 
87
plant its roots in mother earth and give it  water to
drink and air to breathe and it can healthily appro-
priate  both unformed and formed material to its
growth.  It appropriates readily animal, vegetable
or mineral substances as food.  Certainly  the  ani-
mal and vegetable substances are capable  of being
digested and assimilated by any form of vegetable
life, after having first undergone decomposition or
disintegration.  Then when in the form  of gases
they are again absorbed and enter into new forms
of life, or, in other words, it is  vitalized.  Now,
what is vitality ?  We do not know, but we say it is
the power to quicken or change dead or disorgan-
ized matter to a form of life, which is represented
by the animal or vegetable appropriating it as food.
Some say  life is a chemical action, but it must be a
vital chemical action, because this form of a chem-
ical laboratory can accomplish what the same sub-
stances in an analytical chemists  laboratory could
not be made to approximate.   One illustration will
demonstrate this.  We will take a kernel  of wheat
to any analytical chemist and ask him to test it for
the purpose of determining whether it is acid or
alkaline.   He says it  is neutral—neither  acid nor
alkaline.    Touch  it,  it is found  to be  neutral,
neither hot nor cold;  taste it, it is neither sweet
nor sour,—still neutral.  Now, after all these tests,
we say to  the chemist, " Do you believe  this sub-
stance could  be  changed into  a  substance that
would  dissolve silica, sand or glass ? "   You ask 
                       88
the chemist.  He must answer you no, "Because,"
he says, "you must remember  silica can only  be
dissolved or liquified first by a powerful pressure or
heat, and then must be  combined with something
else, or you must use  the most powerful  acids
known, to dissolve it."  This small amount of car-
bon combined with oxygen would not, could not,
be converted into much heat, neither could  there
from it be formed but the smallest amount of acid.
So he must tell you the quantity of silica this could
properly be made to  liquify  by chemical process
would be infinitesimal—so small as not  to be per-
ceiveable by the  naked eye.   Now, we take  an-
other kernel of wheat, having the same natural prop-
erties of this one we have been experimenting  upon,
and submit it to a test in Nature's laboratory, and
note the result according to the law of the  Lord.
We bury it  to a moderate  depth in the ground,
give  it a little  water  with which to moisten  the
earth  or  dirt, a little  sunshine,  and behold what
wonders it "can and does perform !  It bursts forth
a plant, as we say. It now has the property neces-
sary  to dissolve  silica, which it proceeds to  do
without the formation of a substance capable  of
destroying its delicate life, which heat sufficient to
liquify silica would  have  done. Neither  has it
formed an  acid  of sufficient strength to dissolve
silica, otherwise this too would have destroyed  its
delicate and beautiful life.   Then it cannot have
employed either of these agents to accomplish its 
                       89
end, neither pressure, the only other agent known ;
but it has dissolved the silica,  nevertheless, and
spread it all over its beautiful stalk for the purpose
of making it sufficiently firm to be  independent of
outside support, and for the purpose of protecting
its  delicate  circulation within,  thereby, that  it
might accomplish what gives the  power of life,  not
only to its own species, but to make it possible for
higher  forms of life to subsist  upon it after  its
death, and in turn  they perform the  same office,
serving as food for other higher or lower types of
life.   Now, there are two lessons  here taught  us ;
one is that vitality plays a  part in all forms of life,
which cannot be weighed, measured nor  analyzed ;
that is, it is and  always must remain an  unknown
quantity, and incapable of being represented by an
equivalent or substitute.  Another very  important
lesson we will do well to mark here :  No animal
can digest and assimilate mineral substances unless
the substance has first been changed or vitalized by
some vegetable  substance.  Now, this silica cover-
ing the stalks of all  vegetable life  is, after having
been  once vitalized or used in plant life, capable of
being digested and assimilated in animal  life, where
it is used for the same purpose as in vegetable life,
viz. :  to enable the body to maintain an upright po-
sition, and thus insure proper circulation.  This is
now called bone, and is in reality formed from salts
of lime.  And here let me repeat  again  no animal
has the power to digest mineral substances so they 
                       90
can be assimilated by its economy, until vegetable
life has first vitalized it.   Hence would we supply
the deficiency of lime, salts or bone material in ani-
mal life, we must do it by the use  of vegetable or
animal lime salts, and the best way to do this is in
Nature's preparations, just in the  proportion she
has made them, which  is accomplished  by using
unbolted flour, meal, etc.  Now, this lesson of the
kernel of wheat  and its vital process enables me to
show you  wherein  it is possible  by making the
change from the type of Nature or of the natural
teeth, with  their  natural, healthy surroundings, with
all  the secretory and excretory organs,  secreting
and excreting the exact quality and  quantity of
those substances designed by Nature  for  the pur-
pose of fitting our food for proper digestion and
assimilation by the balance of the digestive appara-
tus of which it is the source, fountain or beginning,
and where  the first vital act that fits our  food for
repairing waste tissue, or forming new, as the case
may be, is accomplished.  Now, if this,  the first
step, is made improperly, which it is,  unless made
in exact accordance with the law laid down at the
creation  of man, who, like all other types of life,
was only created after the food  upon which he was
to subsist had been spoken into existence, so that
man's digestive organs were fitted to supply the ex-
act amount of secretion and excretion to fit our
food in quality and kind  to sustain  properly in
health and comfort every portion of this compound 
                       91
existence.  Now, it needs no argument to prove to
every thinking mind that the radical change in the
secretory and excretory ducts of the mucous mem-
brane  of  the oral  cavity,  made unavoidable by
covering these  thousands of mucous glands, mak-
ing it impossible for them to secrete or excrete  this
normal fluid at all from all portions of the mucous
membrane covered  by this  false appliance.   For
be it remembered that in order to be retained  this
appliance, at least  for  the upper  plate,  must  be
made  air  and  moisture tight, or in other words
there must be created a certain amount of pressure
to the square inch.  Now,  besides  destroying  the
power to  properly  digest food, what must  be  the
effect upon these delicate membranes, viz.:  nerves,
veins and arteries underlying this plate ?   Why, in
many  cases the whole  of the soft parts, together
with  the bone forming the  division between  the
nose and mouth,  ulcerates and sloughs away, thus
completely ruining the patient for life.  What next ?
By the insertion of this unnatural appliance we
have made it impossible for  this unfortunate to talk
or sing naturally.  We have destroyed the beauty
or harmony of expression of the features, for  after
the shrinkage caused or occurring after  extraction
the exact contour is never, with the most  artistic
dentures, fully restored, and what must be said of
this cheap work with which the country is flooded,
and the makers of which advertise as artistic, but
which really has no  more claim to or appearance 
                       92
of art than has an owl  to beauty ?   And how any
lady can allow herself to be so distorted, disfigured
and spoiled by these sharks,  passes human under-
standing, when, if you make  the effort, every tooth
and root of a tooth aching, diseased  or  otherwise,
can be made to do you  painless  and efficient  ser-
vice during life, and at the same time your beauty,
youthful appearance and health be fully restored.
And why any man, setting store by his wife's good
looks,  as all do, after seeing her thus  mutilated,
disfigured and spoiled beyond human redemption,
does not speedily make  one  pretender less in the
ranks of dentistry, passes my comprehension.
  We have said that those wearing artificial teeth
cannot digest the carbo-hydrates.  Looking in the
medical dictionary we find that the carbo-hydrates
are starch, sugar, oil, gelatine, gum and flesh.  In-
deed there is no other element that is so  character-
istic of  plant and animal organism, and it ranks as
the only element never  absent in substances  ob-
tained from  the two kingdoms of organic  nature.
Only the  proteine bodies undergo  change  in the
stomach.  What constitutes these albumen, caseine,
gluten and legumen ?   The substance formed from
them bv the stomach  is called "peptones."   The
formation of peptones takes place without the evo-
lution or  formation of gas.   So that  any excessive
amount of flatus that may occur during digestion is
the result of imperfect or deranged action of the
stomach.  The  peptones are readily soluble in 
                       93
water and diluted spirits.  They are not coagulated
by heat, and are diffusible  through animal mem-
branes.   They are precipitated by tanic acid and
bi-chloride of mercury, but not by any other me-
tallic salts.  Fat seems to be unaltered by the gas-
tric fluid, but there is good  reason  to  believe that
it  assists in the conversion  of  albuminous  sub-
stances  in  peptones.  In certain cases of disease
there can  be little  doubt that various fatty acids
are  produced, and that they give rise to some of
the most distressing symptoms of dyspepsia.  Ex-
periments  have proved that no change takes ] lace
in the stomach in the other constituents of the food
of man or animals, and that starch, gum and sugar
are   unaltered  by its  secretions.  It is  therefore
generally allowed that the sole effect of the gastric
juice is to change the proteine substances into pep-
tones.  The gastric  juice, however,  antagonizes,
fermentation  changes, so that its tendency is to
prevent  the formation of  the lactic,  acetic and
alcoholic fermentations.  When  these  take  place
they result from  a morbid process.   The conclu-
sions at which chemists have arrived respecting the
effects of gastric digestion on the various constitu-
ents of food, are confirmed by microscopical inves-
tigation.  We have seen the gastric juice exerts no
power  over the  carbo-hydrates which  enter  so
largely into the food of man and other animals.
On  investigation, however, it will be found that as
much care is taken to fit these substances for their 
                      94
entrance into the blood as in the case of those com-
posed of albumen.  It  has  long been known that
the secretion of the mouth converts boiled  starch
almost  instantaneously  into  grape  sugar.  This
action was stated  by Bernard to  reside, not in the
secretion of the salivary glands, but in that of the
mucous membrane.  This was denied by Bidder
and Smidt, for they found after  the salivary ducts
were tied, the secretion of the mucous  membrane
had lost its power of changing starch.  The con-
clusions of these  physiologists, derived from  their
experiments, were, first, that the secretion from the
parotid gland merely moistened the food, and that
the property by  which  starch is converted into
sugar is only possessed  by the combined secretion
of the submaxillary glands with those of the mucous
membrane.  Now, having established the fact that
without this  secretion from the mucous membrane
of the mouth, the  man or animal has lost its power
to  convert  the carbo-hydrates into food fit for
assimilation  into  the system, let us next  inquire
what we are doing that will  as assuredly destroy
this normal  secretion as  that the light of the sun
will expel darkness.  Donne, who has analyzed the
fluids of the  mouth with great care, says the normal
saliva secreted in the mouth is alkaline, but thlt
from the mucous  membrane is acid.  Now, it is a
well-known fact that  the  secretion from abnormal
or inflamed  mucous  membrane is alkaline.   Any-
thing causing inflammation of this membrane wouic 
                       95
 deprive this secretion of its power to convert starch
 into sugar;  for it  is well known that in  order to
 convert starch into sugar in the chemist's labora-
 tory, it requires the use of a dilute  acid and heat.
 And  this inflammatory state of the mucous mem-
 brane has deprived the  secretion of  the mouth of
 its normal  amount of acid.  Prof. Judd says  that
 not one person in  a thousand wearing rubber plates
 but will be found suffering from inflammation of the
 mucous membrane.   Dr. Walker says these rubber
 plates cause thickening of the mucous membrane;
 inflamed spots appear, growing from bad to worse,
 until they look like half spoiled beef cut across the
 grain. He also says, aside from their action on the
 mucous  membrane, they cause the  absorption of
 bone, which results in the breaking down of the
 processes.   Dr. Morgan says, "I have seen but few
 large artificial plates which  did not  give trouble.
 It is not the natural condition of the  mouth to be
 covered.  Nature did not provide for  the  wearing
 of an artificial roof."  He further  says,  " I have
 not observed  disease resulting from rubber plates
 any more than from the use of others.  I have seen
 the  same   from  platinum,   also   from  gold.'r
 Dr.  Kulp  says, "I and  my professional  friends
 examined 1,000 cases, in three-fourths of which
 disease   was  found."  He  says,  "I have  seen
 the worst results from silver.  It is an unnatural
 condition of the mouth to be thus clogged."   Dr.
Jones says, "I am  not  an  advocate for  rubber
j 
                       96
plates, but I have seen worse  results from  the  use
of  gold than from  rubber."   Dr. Forbes :  " My
judgment is that a platinum plate  will excite more
inflammation  than anything  else."  Prof.  Judd:
" There  is no one engaged in extensive  practice
who will not find cases of daily occurrence.   I have
seen  the worst cases of necrosis resulting from
them.   I have seen  the  palate, vomer and nasal
bones  entirely destroyed  by them."  Dr. Taft:
"The  aim  should be  to  prevent disease."   Dr.
Cutler :  "When a dentist extracts the teeth he con-
verts the mouth from a physiological into a patho-
logical condition.  Is this all a dentist can  do ?  If
so, then God deliver the human  race from these
professional quacks  and humbugs.  If we could,
after extraction, restore the mouth to  its original
condition, that would be conversion from a patho-
logical condition to a physiological condition.  But
this you do not do when you put in your miserable
substitutes on plates of any material."
   Dr. Atkinson :  "lam glad of all this discussion.
Let us cry to be delivered from this  thralldom of
darkness, and be brought into the  light of truth."
He says, " I began by studying divinity, then med-
icine, then dentistry, and I contend I  have been
rising all the time.  I have arrived at the truth.  It
comes  to us as a voice from above that we  extract
no more teeth. We  first break the law and then
rush in where angels  fear to tread, and try to mend
it.  It is  marvelous the toleration of interference of 
                       97
the superior  maxillary bone.   If it had  not been
the case, it would have been destroyed long ago,
for it  has received such treatment at the hands of
the dentists as equals the horrors of Pandemonium
itself.   12,500,000 false teeth  are  annually manu-
factured in the city of  Philadelphia alone,  and
there are  a great  many teeth made in the United
States outside  of  Philadelphia.  Probably, taking
the whole world, 100,000,000 substitutes are insert-
ed annually,  and ninety-nine  one-hundredths of
these  substitutes are inserted  on  plates, and we
have shown  by  the evidence produced of  men
standing high  in  their profession, that  plates of
every kind always cause inflammation of the mucous
membrane, and frequently the whole  mucous mem-
brane  ulcerates and sloughs off, followed by necro-
sis  of the palate bones  forming  the roof of the
mouth and floor of the nasal opening, the inflam-
mation frequently extending to and destroying the
vomer, soft palate, etc., and this inflammation also
frequently extends  to  the lungs and  stomach,
causing inflammation and destroying these parts."
   Now, we have shown that inflammatory action is
always set up where plates covering  mucous mem-
brane are used, no  matter of  what  material  they
are  composed; they are an unnatural appliance,
and by their atmospheric pressure, which is four-
teen pounds  to the square inch, obstruct the circu-
lation to such an extent as to destroy the life, not
only of the soft parts, but this also destroys the 
                       S3        ,.,
periosteum covering the bone, and  every surgeon
will understand when  this takes place, necrosis or
decay of the bone, which has been deprived of its
periosteum, will  inevitably  follow.  Now,  these
most serious results do not all take place in every
case.  If they did,  the  wayfaring man, though  a
fool, would readily discern the cause of the trouble,
and the cause,  once  made apparent, the masses
would compel all  engaged in setting up conditions
invariably resulting  so disastrously, to  seek  some
other  means of earning their  support.  But  the
worst of these do occur in many more instances
than the general public  have any idea of, and the
worst of it is, no man  or woman that lives,  not
even those claiming foresight, can tell  who  are to
be the greatest sufferers, for all suffer great disabil-
ities from  using  them, and  when  our hindsight
forces this knowledge  on the unfortunate wearer, it
is then too late for any power on earth to restore
them to health and comfort again.
  I have shown  inflammatory action  is  always
present in all mouths wearing any kind of plates
covering mucous  membrane of the mouth.  I have
also shown that wherever there  is inflammation of
the mucous membrane,  the  secretion  is changed
from its natural acid condition  to an alkaline.  I
have  also  shown that starch, the  most  abundant
element in our food, cannot  be changed to grape
sugar except by using a dilute  acid and heat.  I
have also shown that all reliable physiologists who 
                        99
liave investigated this subject nave  agreed that it
requires the combined  healthy secretions of the
mouth, in Nature's proportions, to fit starch or any
of  the  carbo-hydrates contained in our food for
digestion in the stomach, fitting it for assimilation
afterwards by the system controlling the furnishing
of  material for new growth, or repairing that waste
of tissue which must inevitably constantly be taking
place, sleeping or waking, as long as life continues.
Now, this  material can  only be furnished by -the
digestion of food;  digestion of  food  fitted for the
proper support of our bodies can only be furnished
by the  machinery  made by  God himself.  There-
fore when some dentist proposes to show you some
new-fangled way in which he can make such a rad-
ical change from  the original  design  of  the Al-
mighty, and claims this  wide departure is founded
on scientific principles, and is such a vast improve-
ment on the original plan of God,  that when you
have availed yourself of it all your earthly troubles
are at an end.  I admit  he  will set up conditions,
if  you will permit him,, that  will enable you to
sooner try the realities of another  world, but that
it will lessen your suffering in this I do not believe.
You may change its form and location, but these
new-fangled teeth  cut  short human life.   I  say
human life advisedly, for no animal will wear them,
they having more instinctive sense, if less reason,
and are too sharp to be deceived by these philoso-
phers  into  wearing false plates of teeth, drinking 
                      100
whisky, eating tobacco, opium, etc., but by obeying
God's law and using Nature's food in Nature's pro-
portions, they continue to have good teeth in spite
of the wiles of these self-styled artists, whose pro-
ductions I  have said have about as much claim to
anything artistic  as an owl has to beauty.  For
what reason do people consent to lose their natural
teeth ?  Always on account of their giving pain, or
because some others have given pain.   Those that
have never given offense are extracted because they
are teeth, and some teeth  ache, and all would if
brought into the same state; therefore the innocent
ones suffer the death penalty.  Because of the in-
dividual sins of their  kind, would you execute a
minister, a merchant, a lawyer, an editor, a carpen-
ter, a baker,  an author, a poet,  a Board of Trade
man, a gambler, an honest man, and a murderer, all
because the latter had  broken  the  law and there
was no telling how soon all the  others,  having the
power, might commit the same offense ? Therefore
while you think it necessary to  execute the  crimi-
nal, would you destroy the balance at the same
time because it were not impossible that at some
future time they might become like transgressors ?'
 I think I  hear you say the very idea is horrible.
 So say all of us,  but there would be as much sense
 exercised  in pursuing  this course as  there is in
 sacrificing good teeth that have never given offense,
 because  some member of the tooth  family  has,
 through reasonable cause, committed  a breach of 
                      101
your peace of mind.  Therefore you resolve to de-
stroy the whole family, root  and branch, and the
worst is that you do  not have to travel far to find
some fiend in human shape who, having no fear of
God, no love for his fellow-man, stands ready far a
few pieces of silver to convert you from the image
of God, in which  you were created, I had almost
said to the image of the devil;  but where devils
dwell I remember it is written there is weeping and
wailing and gnashing of teeth there, so he  has even
spoiled you for a first-class devil, and  God having
commanded that  you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable, without spot, blame-
less, he has also spoiled you  for an angel.   He has
also spoiled you for the highest enjoyment of this
life, for he has made of you  an incurable invalid.
Henceforth you cannot digest the commonest food,
your speech is  spoiled,  your beauty has departed,
you are henceforth disabled for the performance of
full manhood or womanhood; you  are disabled  in
your powers of recuperation, and by this you are
liable  to be attacked by any disease to which im-
paired  nutrition and  general debility exposes the
human family ;  and when once attacked by serious
disease, your chances for restoration are small, be-
cause of your loss of this  power to repair wasted
vital force.  In short, you have everything to lose
and nothing to gain ; the consequences  following
are evil, and that continually so long as  life shalL
last. 
102
   But having shown conclusively  that  you have
Tntothing but loss following the loss of your teeth, let
 ws, my friends, for a little season lay aside all our
 preconceived notions about the possibilities of sav-
 ing all these organs of the mouth that are so essen-
i tial that the most vigorous health is never  present
< in the body in  which they are  absent, for neither
 muscular power nor nerve force can be  generated
 to the fullest capability of the body previous  to
 their loss, after such loss has occurred.   All nations
^reject men  for soldiers who have many defective
 teeth, or who have lost their natural teeth, even if
 they have had their mouth filled with the best arti-
 ficial teeth that the science of man  has ever pro-
 duced.  And why?  Not because of their  hideous
 appearance, for they take some homely  men ; not
 ■because they are not capable of stopping bullets as
 well as others.   No, none of these disabilities would
 disqualify them for  good soldiers.   Do they then
 lack  courage ?   No.  Cowardice has never been
 charged as a reason why they were  not accepted,
 although many have been suspected of having their
 teeth extracted because  they knew their  govern-
 ments would excuse them from doing duty as sol-
 diers because  of their absence.  This might have
 savored strongly of cowardice in the eyes  of some,
 but I think it would take  more courage  for me to
 stay in a community, even with the ladies to  act as
 my body-guard, and have it known that of my own
 ■will  I had set up a cause sufficient that my govern- 
                      103
ment, if they did not brand me as a coward, would
brand  me  as  not a  man.  Then why are  these
branded  as less  than men?  Wherein lies  their
disability ?  They have not the power left to digest
sufficient food  to  enable them to perform the duty
of a soldier.  What a sad commentary is this on
the every day practice of the average dentist  who
is busily engaged  in changing brave men into some-
thing less than men, and fair women to something less
than women, well knowing that like begets like and
that the disabilities of the parents are visited upon
their children, down to the third and fourth gener-
ation.  Well might Father Atkinson exclaim :  "We
first break the  law by extracting teeth, and then in
trying  to mend our  error by  inserting  teeth on
plates, we rush in where even an angel  would fear
to tread."  My heart sinks within me when I think
of the vast amount of injury that is being inflicted
daily upon the human family by members of our
profession, and that too by men making great; pre-
tensions to morality, and even to religion itself.  I
tremble when I think I too have been long engaged
(through ignorance of the law governing vitality
and the want of knowledge how to  control inflamr
matory action  when once set in motion) in destroy-
ing for my friends that which no power  on earth or'
in  heaven would ever duly recompense them for.
And my thoughts  went back to the time when in
defense of my country's righteous cause I faced the
cannon's mouth and heard its. thunder,  never suf- 
                      104
fering a joint to tremble, and I thought, if my pres-
ent  course be good, why tremble  now ?   If bad,
why am I engaged in it ?  And  I  resolved, God
being my helper, I would conquer the necessity for
the extraction of human  teeth in order to relieve
pain from toothache.  And this has been my pray-
er :
  ' If I am right, Thy grace impart still in the right to stay;
  If I am wrong, Ok teach my heart to find that better way."
  I have found it and hope the whole human fam-
ily will engage in singing hosannas  of glad tidings
of great joy.   That the voice of the artificial plate-
tooth man will be heard no more in the land after
it shall be said of those they have spoiled:  "The
place that once knew them shall know  them  no
more on earth forever."
* 
CLIPPINGS.
   Superstitious Notions About the Teeth.
  There are many curious customs in relation to
teeth in different countries.  In some parts of Sus-
sex, England, there is a superstition that if you put
on your right stocking, right shoe, and right trouser-
leg before the left,  you will never have a toothache.
To drink out of a  skull taken from a graveyard -r
to take a tooth from such  a  skull and wear it
around the neck;  to apply the tooth  to your  own
living but aching tooth ; to put a double nut  into
your pocket;  to  pare your finger  nails and toe
nails, and wrap the parings  in  a paper—all  are
charms against the toothache.  If you catch a male
rat in a trap,* cut off one of its  paws, and wear it
as a charm, you will "soon see the effect," provided
a right paw be used for a left tooth, and vice versa.
When an aching tooth is extracted mix it with salt
and burn  it.   In other parts of England there is a
custom of calling the toothache the  "love  pain,"
for which  the sufferer is not entitled to  any com-
miseration;  whether he or she fully assents  to this
may perhaps  be doubted.  Many other items of
tooth lore have no  connection with toothache.  For
instance, if the teeth are set wide apart,  there will
be good luck and plenty of traveling for the fortu-
nate possessor. When a tooth is drawn, if you re- 
106
frain  from thrusting your tongue into the cavity,
the new tooth to grow in its place will be a lucky
one.  Lady Wentworth, in a letter written in 1613
to her son, Lord Stafford, spoke of the efficacy of
wolves' teeth, set in gold, to assist children in cut-
ting their teeth :  " They  are a very lucky thing;
for my two first ones did dye;  the other  bred his
very ill, and none of ye rest did, for I had one for
all the rest."
   There  is reason to believe that the Greeks and
Romans  knew something about false teeth.   Mor-
tial, in one of his Epigrams, said that Thais' teeth
'were  discolored,  while Leucania's were  white.
Why? Because the former wore her own  teeth,
■"whereas  the latter wore those of some other person.
One^of the  old Roman laws allowed the  gold set-
tings  -of false teeth, or the gold with  which they
were bound, to be buried or bnrned with the de-
ceased.   Dentistry  was known in England  three
centuries ago.  Belgrave's Mathematical  Journal,
published in the time of Queen  Elizabeth, tells us
that "Sir John Belgrave caused his teeth to  be all
drawn out, and after had a set of ivory in  agayne."
Ben Jonson, in his Silent  Woman, published in
1607, makes one of the  characters say:  "A most
vile face! and yet  she  spends  me forty  pounds a
year  in  mercury and hogs' bones.   All her  teeth
were  made in the  Blackfriars."   An  almanac,
printed in 1709, mentions one John Watts, who was
the maker of artificial teeth in Racket court,  Fleet
-street. 
107
  Some barbarous nations draw the two teeth in
the middle of the jaw.  The sable females of Africa
go still further, and one of the charms they are most
solicitous to acquire is to have four teeth deficient
—two  above and  two  below.  The woman who
would want the  courage to have them drawn would
be as much despised as a young girl in China with
feet the natural size.  The Japanese women gild
their teeth, and those of the Indies paint them red.
A custom prevails among the Siamese to stain their
teeth with a sable varnish, which they renew annu-
ally.  In the Sandwich Islands, persons desirous of
going into mourning paint the lower part of their
faces black and knock out their  front teeth.  No
doubt,  this causes a very sincere kind of mourning
for the time.
  Some years ago all Germany was in commotion
in relation to  a rumor that a child had a golden
tooth.   Of course, it was an eye-tooth, and every
one wanted to see it.  The literati  were exercised
over the phenomenon.  Philosophers and anato-
mists wrote essays and large volumes on the possi-
bility of the event, and each ascribed the freak of
nature to a different cause.   But, somehow or other,
not one of them ever  thought of examining the
tooth.   If they had, they would have found that a
shrewd impostor had covered it with leaf gold, with
a view to  exhibit  the child as a  prodigy.  The
tooth was  subsequently examined and the trick of
the showman discovered.  The latter disappeared
and the child sent to an orphan asylum. 
                      108
  In 1816 Lord Sch warterbury gave 16,595 francs
for a tooth of Isaac Newton, which is now set in a
ring and worn by the eldest branch of that family.
  During the days of the resurrectionists, or body-
snatchers, when graveyards were subjected to pillage
for supplying  anatomists with subjects for dis-
section, the teeth from the bodies formed a frequent
article of  sale to the  dentists.  Sometimes graves
were  opened for teeth alone, as being small and
easy concealed articles.
  Mr. Cooper, an  English surgeon, relates an  in
stance of a man feigning to look out for a burial
place for his wife, and thus obtained access to the
vault of a meeting house, the trap-door of which
he unbolted. At night he let himself down into the
vault, and pocketed the front teeth of the whole of
the buried congregation, by which he cleared j£$°-
Mention is also made of a licensed sutler or canti-
neer  during the  Peninsular war, who  drew the
teeth of those who had fallen in battle and  plun-
dered their  persons.  With  the  produce  of  these
adventures  he  built a hotel at  Margate.  But his
previous occupation being  discovered his house
was  avoided, and was disposed of at a heavy loss.
He afterward became a dealer in dead men's teeth.
   Mr Catlin, who some years ago had an interest-
ing  exhibition of scenery, dresses, weapons, etc.,
noticed that North American Indians have better
steeth than the whites.  He.accounts for  the differ- 
109
-ence in this strange way, that the  reds keep their
 mouths shut, whereas the whites keep them open.
 The teeth, he says, require moisture to keep their
 surface in good  working order; when the mouth
 is kept open and the mucous membrane has a ten-
 dency to  dry up, the teeth lose their needed supply
 of moisture, and thence come discoloration, tooth-
 ache, ticdoloreux, decay, looseness, and eventually
 loss of teeth.
   Shakspeare,  in " Midsummer Night's Dream,"
 says :
        " For there was never yet philosopher
         That could endure the toothache patiently "
   Shakspeare once had the toothache.
   An imperial toothache once made the fortune of
 a poor  barber.   The  Sultan  of Turkey, having a
 touch of  toothache, sent for the court  physician.
 He  was  hunting, and could not be  found.  The
 domestic hurried about Constantinople, and at last
 found a poor,  ragged barber surgeon;  they took
 him to the»palace, and furnished him  with proper
 clothing.   He drew the offending tooth, and soothed
 the  pain  of the  Commander ot the  Faithful.  A
 nice house and one thousand six hundred piastres
 a month were awarded to him.
   "You are a foe to your life if you do not masti-
 cate well," says a Latin proverb.  Those who have
 good teeth and  do not masticate well, can profit
 by this lesson. 
The Fat Doctor and the Dyspeptic in Con-
                  versation.
  A very eccentric, lean,  long, lank, olive-colored 
                      Ill
individual entered the office of a fat, jolly, good-
natured doctor, the appearance of which  is repre-
sented in the above cut, when the following con-
versation took place :
  "Good morning, doctor."
  "Good morning,  sir," said  the  doctor, looking
somewhat astonished at the peculiar appearance of
the stranger.  " Well, sir, what is  the matter with
you ?" (somewhat abruptly.)
  " What is the matter with me?  Well, sir, I am
the victim of misplaced confidence."
  "Misplaced confidence !  How so, sir?"
  " I have been ten years trying to get in a shape
to make a good shadow,  and you see how  much I
lack of being a respectable skeleton."
  "What has that to do, sir, with being a victim of
anisplaced confidence ?"
  " You see I employed  help to assist me."
  " I see ; it is the help  you have reference to."
  " That is the point, doctor."
  "Who  and  how-many did  you  employ  to help
perform this extraordinary feat?"
  " Let me see,"  beginning to count his fingers;
" some ten doctors and six dentists, fifteen or twenty
persons keeping  boarding-houses—well, I  cannot
begin to count them, but  every one I have had any-
thing to do with have been trying to get up a corner
on  me."
  "A corner !   How so ?"
  " By getting all the money they could,  and doing 
                      112
me the least good possible.  You see I have been
troubled with what the doctors call dyspepsia. The
first doctor I consulted stuck to  me until  he got
ashamed to take my money, because I was growing
worse  all  the  time—beautifully less, I  believe he
called it."
  "That   must be  the word," said the  doctor,
smiling.
  "So one morning  when I called  to see  him he
said I had a very obstinate case, and there must be
something the  matter with  my teeth, and asked me
if my teeth were good.  I told him I had a root or two
in my mouth that troubled me occasionally, although
my teeth  were generally good. He recommended
me to a dentist, and said I  must  have those roots
removed.   I visited the dentist, and being some-
what feeble I took gas to save pain or shock, as I
thought, but what was my surprise to wake  up with
all my teeth out.  I cursed the dentist and threatened
to prosecute him.  He said he was a philosopher
and  he had done me a kindness.  First he  said I
could  not  have  tooth-ache any  more, and then I
said,  ' Cut off  my head and then I will have no
more head-ache,  on the same principle.'  And then
again he said I would not have to have them filled,
and  he could make  me a set for half what it would
cost  to have filled them. Well, I made up my mind
if that was good philosophy, I did not want any
more of it.  If I had been run through a threshing
machine and fanning mill, and then been ground up. 
113
into flour, I could  not  have felt any worse.   Now,
then, to make a long story short, as I said before, I
am a victim.  I first got dyspepsia from eating hot
bread and cake and indigestible food,  and from
that  time on until now I  have been  seeking  to
find some one that can help me.  I  started in  at
two  hundred avoirdupois  weight;  look and see
what they have done for me.  I have  been from
doctor  to  doctor, from dentist to  dentist, from
boarding-house to boarding-house, until I am a de-
funct specimen of despair."
   "You are rather spare, whether you are defunct
or not."
   " Well, doctor, what I have come here for is good
advice.   I have got through taking medicine, and
I  learned  you  were a man of brains, and I just
stepped in to pay you for a little talk."
   "Take a seat, and  let us carefully survey the
ground, or, in other words, diagnose your case.   In
the first place, in order to cure dyspepsia you must
remove  the cause."
   "You are going to exterminate me on the start.
That is  business.  If the first doctor I visited had
done that, what amount of suffering I would have
been relieved of."
   "Hold on, sir ; you do not understand me. All
diseases, of whatever name or  nature, have their
original cause.   Now, then, to start with,  if you
have dyspepsia there was a cause  why you were
thus affected.  If you can  find out  what that was, 
                      114
and  have the moral courage to stand up  and fight
it out, then you can get rid of the disease ; but not
by taking medicine  and continually following the
same routine of habits that has brought you where
you  are."
   "Say, doctor, that kind of  talk suits  me.   I just
think I  understand you now.  Yes, a vision of the
past is floating now before my eyes, and  there is a
dawn of hope that gives me new life, new strength.
Yes, I am feeling better now.  I always looked upon
man as  a sort of machine, and I thought that med-
icine was the oil that  run  the  machine, and sup-
posed the bitter and more  vile  the better for the
machine. I supposed a man  could eat at any time
anything he choosed, or do  most anything if he only
kept a  little of this lubricating  stuff  around, and
kept taking it."
  "You see," continued the doctor, "there are a great
many kinds of diseases,  and the mind  being the
seat of  government,  so to speak, of each individual,
if the mind is not in a proper condition the whole
organization is  consequently affected.  Such dis-
eases cannot be  cured  with medicine; the mind
must first realize the surrounding condition.   It
must first be brought to  know  the responsibility
which is intrusted to it in controlling the appetites
and passions. The first great  problem to solve is the
fact that all these  things  are given to us to  use, but
not to abuse, and  that while a moderate use of them
as all-essential to the  health  and happiness  of 
                      115
mankind, the abuse  is correspondingly  injurious.
There  is no  reason  why a man should swallow a
whole cow because he enjoys  eating a beef steak.
The excessive use of those things given us to enjoy
plays an important part in the economy of life and
its full  enjoyment.  You cannot throw away every
dollar  you earn and have money in your pocket,
consequently you must suffer sooner or later."
  "Doctor, if you will allow me to use the  ex-
pression, I think I 'tumble to the  racket.'   You
mean me to understand that I  have abused myself."
  "That very nearly expresses it.  You  very well
know, for an illustration, that  a hogshead, however
full of  water,  with  a  stream  as large as  a gimlet
constantly running into it, will not keep full long if
the bung is knocked out of it."
  "That is me.  You have hit the nail on the head
at last."
  "Then again," continued the doctor, "if you had
a wagon that  would carry a thousand pounds and
no more, you would think it very foolish to try and
carry eleven hundred pounds, and find out at last
you had broken  your wagon ?  People  are  con-
stantly over-taxing themselves  until they  break
down—some  from  one cause, some  from another.
One has drank too  many stimulants,  the result
of  which  is  well  known ;  another has   over-
taxed  his capacity to digest food by  taking in
more  than was required to  keep up the natural
wear and tear of bodily exertion.  Others  have used 
116
tobacco  to such an extent that their system is so
thoroughly impregnated with the narcotic  poison
that they cannot  perform the labor required of
them to perpetuate health.   Others drink  such
strong tea and coffee that they are constantly being
prostrated from its effects upon the digestive organs
as well as upon the nervous system.  Another grade
dress themselves with tight clothing, and interfere
with the circulation of the blood and their digestion.
Others want their feet and hands so handsome that
they crowd a number eight foot into a number six
boot  or  shoe ;  then put the weight of the body on
their feet, and waddle around in misery, to  a great
disadvantage, with but one idea in their minds:  to
nave their feet look small and handsome.  No per-
son can succeed in business  with tight boots or
shoes ;  it affects the whole nervous force, affecting
the brain, exhausting the energies, and unfitting any
person for business.  Our manner of dressing has a
tendency to interfere with and lessen the condition
of health.  When  we take into account  that it is
through the pores of the skin  that the larger part
of  this worn  out refuse passes,  after nature  has
made all the use possible  and new life takes  its
place.   It is  estimated  by physiologists that the
average number of pores in the skin to the  square
inch is  about  2,800, and  the  number  of  square
inches  in a man of ordinary size is 2,500, which
would make the whole number of the pores of the
skin  7,000,000.  We  can see how necessary it  is
that the body should have air." 
                      117
  " Air !  I  should  say so.  According to your
description, doctor, about what portion of the food
we eat and the water we drink passes through these
numerous pores ? "
  " It has been estimated by nearly all physiolo-
gists that from one-half to five-eights, or that about
thirty per cent., on an average, passes off through
the skin of a healthy adult every twenty-foui hours,
by perspiration."
  " If I had known all these things before I would
never have become the dilapidated,  defunct, good-
for-nothing  individual I  am now.  I am growing
more and more impatient, doctor."
  " Impatient about what ?"
  " To think what a lot of fools average humanity is.
They do not know how they are made or what they
are made for, myself included.  But go on ;  do  not
stop here."
  " I was saying the  body wanted air.   Yes, it  has
the conditions to breathe, so to speak."
  " To  breathe, doctor ? "
  " Yes.  These 7,000,000 pores spoken of do  not
occupy  all the space to  be occupied.  There is
another set of organs called absorbents. There  are
distributed  through  the  system, a set of  minute
vessels,  whose functions or business it is to  absorb
or take in.  They act like  a set of hungry little
animals, and absorb everything that  comes in their
way, whether it be beneficial or poisonous.   Now,
then, when we clothe the body too  close, and do 
                      118
 not  give  it the proper amount 01 air, or do not
 properly  bathe ourselves,  this worn  out  refupe
 spoken of, where the clothing interferes  with the
 air coming in contact with the body to purify, more
 bathing is necessary, as those little  absorbers are
 taking this poisonous matter, just thrown.off, back
 into  the system.  They  empty their contents into
 the veins, and consequently  the blood is poisoned^
 and disease is the result.  The cuticle or the first
 skin  is intended as a protection to  prevent  these
 little  vessels  from  taking up  by absorption that
 which was not beneficial, but by  the  moisture from
 the body  being -V eld or confined  by the  cloth-
 ing, the cuticle bocomes soft and  spongy, so that
 those little absorbers are doing what nature never
 intended them to do, and what they  could not  do
 did the body have the proper amount of air coming
 in contact with it.  Take,  for instance, the feet.
 They are crowded into a leather boot with no ven-
 tilation  all day.  If much exercise  has  been in-
 dulged in the amount of matter thrown off by the
 feet is astonishing."
  "Well, I should say so, if  the smell is any  indi-
 cation."
  " The disagreeable smell, sir, is positive proof
 of the fact.   I  have been trying to  impress  upon
your mind that these little pores, so  numerous  all
over  the body, are but so  many  little sewers to
carry away the  waste material, and keep the  blood
pure and thereby avoid disease." 
119
  " Hem !  I see how it is.  Why is it these facts
are not taught in our schools first of all."
  " I am sure if I had had these  laws of nature
instilled in my mind as I had many other things of
less  importance, the  catechism  for  instance,  I
would now be a  strong,  healthy  man, and could
have worked out my own  salvation."
  " Yes," continued the doctor, " your remarks are
correct.  To violate a law of nature is to sin, the
penalty of which is disease;  and not to educate
the young  first of all, in this particular direction, is
an unpardonable sin."
  " Doctor, there  are many things I wish to ask
you, but I have already taken up too much of your
valuable time.   I have written out a few questions
which I wish you to  answer.  1  will leave them
with you, and will call for the  answers.  Allow me
to thank you for the interest you have manifested
in my case, and the many valuable illustrations sug-
gested, which has so thoroughly impressed me with
the necessity of  thinking for myself, and studying
causes and effects. (Taking hold of the  doctor's
hand.)  I will call to-morrow.  Please answer these
questions in writing (handing the doctor a paper.)
Good bye."
  The following  are the questions spoken of, with
answers to  the same :
  ist.   " Is beef a wholesome food ? "
  "Yes, to persons in health.  When the beef is
properly cooked, and when it is  not too  fat, it is 
                      120
very nourishing  and very easily  digested.  It  is
much easier digested when it has been killed sev-
eral days."
  2nd.  " How many times a day would you advise
its use ? "
  "Once a day, by people having sedentary habits,
is in most cases the best.  But people performing
manual labor can eat beef without injury."
  3d.  "Is  mutton equally as healthy and nutri-
tious?"
  "Yes, when it is not too young nor too old ; and
with many persons it is much easier digested  than
any other animal food."
  4th.  "Is veal considered  as good as  the other
two kinds of meat spoken of ? "
  " No; it neither affords as much nourishment,.
nor is it as easily digested as beef or mutton.  An-
imal or vegetable food, as a rule, is not wholesome
or, I might say, healthy, until it has become grown
or matured."
  5th.  " Is pork healthy meat ?"
   " No ; it is not considered so, and should not be
eaten  by people who do not lead an active and
laborious life, chiefly in the open air."
   6th.  "Which is the  most wholesome, fresh or
 salt meat?"
   "Fresh  meat is easier digested,  and, as a rule,
 more wholesome and more nutritious."
   7th.  " Does smoking and drying meat injure its
 nutritious properties ? " 
                      121
  " It does, in a very considerable degree, and it
also renders it less easy of digestion."
  8th.   " What rank as digestible food has the com-
mon poultry ? "
  "The flesh of common fowl affords very excel-
lent and nutritious food, and is easily digested by
most stomachs, when properly cooked."
  9th.  " Are eggs a good food ? "
  "Yes, very healthy and nourishing, and easily
digested by those with whom they agree."
   10th.  "Are oysters a  proper article of food ?"
  "Yes.  When perfectly fresh and eaten raw or
are slightly  roasted in the shell, they are very-
healthy and nutritious, and easily digested.   But
when cooked in a stew or fried in butter they  are
very hard  to digest, if eaten in any quantity."
   nth. "Do gravies, meats, jellies and similar
articles, afford wholesome nourishment ? "
   "No. They are ranked among the least whole-
some articles of a modern dinner table.   To a weak
stomach they are peculiarly pernicious."
   12th. "What is the best mode of cooking fresh
meat to render it the most wholesome ? "
   "By broiling or  roasting, if properly done.  It
is,  in this way, more wholesome, nutritive and easy
to  digest, when not  over cooked.   It must be
rarely done, and the inside only eaten  by persons
troubled with indigestion, and in a moderate quan-
tity." 
                      122
  13th.   " Why is  frying  meat an  objectionable
mode of cooking ? "
  " Because the butter, oil or fat used in  frying is
converted by that process into  a substance  almost
totally indigestible, and  highly irritating  to  the
coating  of the stomach."
  14th.   " Which is the most wholesome and easi-
est digested, new bread or old ? "
  " Bread forms one  of  the essential articles of
every person's  diet.  At least that or some-other
vegetable matter should always  constitute  a  part of
each meal, but it is  not easily digested when new.
Bread two days old is much healthier and  more
easily digested.  Rice can be used as  a substitute
by persons troubled with  indigestion in many in-
stances, to advantage.   Boiled rice, with a little
salt  and  cream,  can be  eaten  and  digested
by weak stomachs  easier than most any  other
food.   Rye  bread  is also very wholesome.   All
bread, of whatever kind, is better  and healthier
when made of coarse flour, as near its natural con-
dition as  possible.   Indian or  corn bread, also,
when made from ripe corn, furnishes a very nour-
ishing and easily digested food.  Green corn is ex-
tremely indigestible,  and affords very little nour-
ishment, and those  who  exercise but little  should
not eat  it.''
  15th.   "Are  salads, lettuce,  cresses, and  similar
vegetables, as generally eaten, a proper addition to»
the general food eaten ? " 
                       123
  " These vegetables afford but little  nourishment,
and are not very easy to digest.  When seasoned
with pepper, salt and vinegar they seldom disagree
with persons in health, with  proper exercise ;  but
when persons are obliged to confine themselves for
any length of time to salt meat, such vegetables are
almost indispensible."
  16th.  "Are cucumbers an advisable article of
food ? "
  " No.  They afford little if any nourishment, and
are very difficult of  digestion.  Pickles are equally
as injurious.   They  lie in the stomach like lead,
cause irritation and many times much trouble."
  17th.  "Should the food be hot or  cold, to re-
ceive the best conditions?"
  " The food  should  not be  hot nor too cold,  but
of the two cold food is better than hot."
  18th.   "Is  it wholesome to partake  of dessert
immediately after dinner ?"
  " No ;  on the contrary it is in the highest degree
prejudicial.  A person is supposed to  have eaten
all or even more  than nature required  to keep up
the regular wear and tear of daily exercise before
he  has arrived at the point of eating dessert, and
owing to the variety of articles of which it is gen-
erally composed, and the fact that it is not needed,
all articles of  this nature interfere with and impair
digestion.'
  " I believe I have answered all the questions re-
quested, and hope they may prove of some use  to 
                         124
   you; but there are surrounding conditions and in-
   fluences connected with each  individual  which
   makes it impossible to say what might or might not
   digest easily with this or that person, consequently
t * we can only lay a  general rule, and each person
   must be  able to judge  for himself.  By carefully
   watching the effect of*each article eaten, in this way
   they may soon be able to regulate their diet so that
   no trouble may be experienced, other things being
   equal. For instance all excitement must be avoided;
   the mind must be employed in some light work, not
   to  fatigue;  the  more pleasant and cheerful  the
   occupation the better.  No  person can digest food
   or  enjoy health any length of time  that is cross and
   mulish.  We do not  live here to hate ourselves or
   others we may come  in contact with.  Learn to be
   satisfied with everything and surprised at nothing.
   Everything in this world is  uncertain except death
   and taxes; so take things as they come.  Of course
   we must use our best endeavor to bring the best re-
   sults ; but if we do not get  them, do not take it to
   heart.  This crossing a stream before you  arrive
   where it is, causes much suffering and misery.  As
   a general rule, when they get where the  stream is it
   is easily forded, and  all these sleepless nights, ex-
   pecting to find a big river and get drowned crossing
   it, was  a waste of time,  a waste of nerve force,
   which exhausts the vitality  and  makes  the  person
   unhappy and miserable, and causes indigestion and
   a complication of difficulties.  Of  late there has 
125
been  a wonderful change, and the old adage that
we 'live to eat'  has  been completely overthrown,
and  in place  the  saying  has been reversed; we
now eat to live.  Mankind has for ages looked back
to the forty days' fast to prove beyond  a doubt the
divinity of Christ. This alone was considered a great
miracle ; but this has been completely overthrown
as a miracle by modern science and experience, as
some five or six persons, to my knowledge, within the
past six or seven years, have come to the surface that
have abstained from  food, some of them as long as
forty-five days.  Forty days  seems a. long time to
go without eating, but every day after the forty that
a man could exist without food was more of a  mira-
cle than  the  forty.   Many  people who do not
doubt the fast first referred  to,  doubt  all modern
fasts.   We have the sworn statements of five or six
uninterested persons  to the fact of some of  these
fasts.   It is a very common thing for most people to
believe just as they  want things to be.  Not only
have we these few fasts to prove the possibility of a
person's abstaining from  food,  but all  over the
country we are  constantly hearing of  intelligent
persons who have been benefited  by fasts.  Some
claim they have derived great bodily strength there-
from.   A physician in Boston in the vigor of health
becoming convinced  he  would enjoy life  better if
he ate less, gradually diminished his food until at
the end of a  few months  he was  taking a single
ounce of food a  day, and was gaining more  than 
126
that daily in weight,  and experienced no  physical
or  mental weakness from  the  effects of  his fast.
What is the most satisfactory about this  new revo-
lution is th >t it does not come from fanatics, but is
advocated and demonstrated by men of high charac-
ter and scientific attainments.  It has startled the
pet theories of medical men. This old and danger-
ous custom and theory that if a little is good, a good
deal is better, has been exploded.  It once was the
practice as soon as a man was sick to begin to stuff
nim.  On this principle the daintiest morsels, cooked
in the most tempting style, are offered as  a bait to
induce the invalid to eat, thinking that with a hearty
meal health  must  return.  I have myself experi-
mented to some extent, and have long since satis-
fied myself of the  benefit derived from fasting and
eating only digestible food.
  "While fasting for a long  time, with a person who
is a  great eater, might prove of great  benefit, the
same length of fast to another under  opposite  cir-
cumstances might prove of  no  benefit,  but an in-
jury ; but that  a fast of forty-eight hours, three or
four times a year, to the majority of persons, there
is no longer a doubt, would  be most beneficial.   By
this system the needed rest of the organs of diges-
tion would be had, and in the end much time and
suffering  would be avoided, as  seven-tenths of the
many afflictions humanity is groaning under would
disappear, provided they did not make gluttons of
themselves  the balance of the  time.  Sick head- 
                      127
aches, vertigo or dizziness, palpitation of the  heart
from a little  exercise, asthma, phthisic, bronchitis,
catarrh, billious colic, shattered nerves, want of
sleep, neuralgia, rheumatism, diseases of the liver
and stomach, and  many other diseases too numer.
ous to mention, are either  directly or indirectly
caused by this, persistent gorging of the stomach,
and by abstaining  from food four times a year or
five, for forty-eight hours, just in proportion to the
amount of abuse of the  organ  spoken of,  would
prove of benefit and avoid much pain and suffer-
ing.  That a  fast  is the  most natural or the best
condition that can be  obtained I do not believe,
but that a regular diet of good wholesome food at
regular intervals, in quantity only necessary to sup-
ply the demands of nature, is the most natural, and
that the best  results can be obtained in  this way I
am positive ;  but as long as man is regarded as in
the prime of  health if he can eat three hearty meals
a day,  so long mankind will be better off by fasting
from three to five times a year, for forty-eight hours,
and will by the same prolong his life and happiness
while  here.   An anaconda  will swallow a  whole
animal and lie coiled up until nature has appropri-
ated the material  in  store, when the necessity to
supply the demand of nature compels  it to seek
more food.  The average man keeps continually in
the condition of the snake soon after swallowing its
prey,  but does  not wait for  nature  to  appro-
priate the same before  again eating.   Let any 
                      128
one  sit  down to  a  table  in   a fashionable
restaurant, and carefully  watch  and  see what
the well-to-do  man  or  woman proposes to crowd
into their stomach for dinner.  An  average would
be  roast beef  with potatoes,  bread  and  but-
ter, eggs as side dishes, with butter  and salt and
pepper, cucumbers with vinegar and  salt, corn and
beans, or green peas, sometimes both, and nearly
a pint of strong tea or coffee, and lastly, to wind up,
pastries flaky with  lard  and  highly seasoned, and
the average  time  occupied  in  disposing  of this
would not exceed twenty minutes.  Now, I venture
to say that any one of the six or seven dishes eaten
at this  one  meal would  have been sufficient,  if
properly appropriated, to supply the demands of
nature.   Taking this as an average, the quantity
eaten ought to enable the man to go without eating
for a week ; and there is no doubt  that by  a little
practice, so that the system may become accustomed
to it, the person would enjoy better health and live
longer than  if he continued this stuffing three
times a day.  The cow-boy of the frontier and the
untutored Indian of the forest have no trouble with
their gastric juice or liver.   They are not troubled
with gout or rheumatism.  They eat when they can
get anything to eat, no  matter what,  if  hunger
is appeased.  After following this custom of stuffing
for  the  past two  or three  thousand years, from
generation to generation, it  is not to be wondered
at that  it is  so hard to make the needed change. 
129
I believe it requires as much, if not more, will-power
to go without eating when hungry, as it does to
stop drinking when in the habit of taking stimulants
as a beverage.  The stomach prepares itself as
much as  possible to receive this stuffing at the
regular  time, and the feeling of  hunger then ex-
perienced is considered by many a positive proof
that food is needed, when in fact it is simply from
a custom, and entirely an abnormal condition."
^IIIP^ 
      How Artificial Teeth Are Made.
  The  manufacture of te*eth  is a large industry.
There  are  now twelve manufactories of artificial
teeth that produce every year 10,000,000 teeth, or
one to every five  persons in the United States.
Half this number are made by one firm, founded in
1844.   The materials used are felspar, kaolin and
rock crystal.  The  coloring is platinum, titantium
and gold.  The felspar and crystal are submitted
to red heat and thrown into cold water.  They are
then ground  in water until  fine enough to  float.
Combined with the coloring, they are subjected to
intense furnace heat in moulds of brass, which are
in two pieces, each holding one-half of the tooth.
The process is delicate, and has many interesting
details.   In the earlier history of the art dentists
carved the teeth which their customers demanded,
and apprentices were  made  useful in that  way.
The amount of gold used annually in filling  teeth
is $500,000.  Lead was used from 1778  to  1833.
The filling of teeth  is greatly aided by labor-saving
machinery  and cunningly  wrought  tools.  This
country makes dental instruments for the world
wherever dentistry is  known. 
Theories About Dental Caries; or, Decay of
                  the Teeth.
   There has been much time consumed  in theoris-
ing as to the cause of the decay of the teeth.  The
theories are as numerous as the writers.  That the
process  which  produces disintegration  of tooth
substance  is  a  chemical action, as generally ac-
cepted by  the dental profession, I  do  not  propose
to argue;  but that chemical action or  any other
action capable of destroying  the tooth structure is
an unnatural condition and must be present before
this  action upon the teeth  can take  place, I am
positive.  Then   if it is a  chemical action that
destroys  the  teeth,  what  is the  cause   of this
chemical action ?  This seems to me to  be  the
all-important question.  What does it avail us to
spend our  time  talking about chemical decompo-
sitions, fungi  or other conditions ?  if  they are
not the first cause,  but  the secondary effect. But
little  good  can  result from  knowing the  second
condition if we cannot find out the first, and be able
to remedy it. We  could as reasonably say,  the
reason our apple crop failed was because the trees
did not blossom.  That would be true in a certain
sense, because there could not be  fruit without the
tree first blossoming; but the reason the trees did
not blossom was because its natural condition has
been interfered with.  So that we find back of the 
                      132
failure to blossom lies the first cause of the failure
of our crop.   We  can never find the head  of a
stream by commencing in the middle and wading
down stream.  For some little time some of the dental
profession have gone wild over the discovery of a
microscopical parasitic agent that they claim is the
cause of the decay of the teeth ;  that they  are
found  in  decayed  teeth  as  well as around  the
natural teeth, when  certain conditions are present
we know.  And that condition is where decomposi-
tion is taking place we know to be a fact; but that
they play any  part  in the decay of the teeth we
have no reason to believe.  They are simply scaven-
gers.  They also are  a  secondary  condition,  the
same  as the  first  spokon of. But what  we most
desire to  know,  and must know  to be  of any
service  to  mankind in general, is the first cause
of decay  of  the  teeth.   Why spend our  time in
talking  about  finitesimal  organisms or chemical
action, when the real cause lies in the disorganiza-
tion  of functions ?  When we know just  what is
lacking to make  up the  combined whole of what
nature intended us  to be, with perfect assimilation
and harmony of all the organs, decay of the teeth
will disappear.
  With  these  facts before us,  we  must associate
these two questions of disease of the teeth and body
under one head.  It is the only rational conclusion
we can arrive at,  either hereditary or otherwise. 
                      133
A disturbed natural condition  of the  functions of
the body is the cause of all the decay of the teeth.
  For instance, our  bodies are continually under-
going a change.  There  is the  continual wasting
and wearing away by one  force, while the other
forces are building up to replace the worn-out or
waste material, by new  and healthy parts.  Now,
we  have  reason  to believe  that the process of
building up is  just as natural as that of wasting
away, under certain conditions ; but the conditions
are not  always present,  while  those  of wear  and
tear are here.   Then we have a line of distinction.
The wear  and tear  of the system, or even death,
is not a mystery, but life itself is.  Then if the body
or any  part of it,—the  teeth,  for instance,—are
not keeping up this waste and supply process  per-
fectly or if the conditions  of supply  are disturbed
by imperfect food, indigestion and poor nutrition,
or any  other  unnatural  condition, then  some of
the weaker forces of life must necessarily give  out,
because the condition spoken of is not present.
  Whether in infancy or  adult age,  the conditions
of supply must meet the demand of each and every
organ.   Whatever organ does not receive this  sup-
ply of material necessary for its support and growth,
must yield to the  surrounding influences,  and be-
come diseased for want of sufficient vitality to re-
sist. 
WHAT IS YOTJR NAME? OK, KNOWN BY
               YOUR WORKS.
 Written for and published by Ohio Dental Journal, April, '82.

         BY DR. J. E. LOW, CHICAGO, ILL.

  I believe there are in the United States between
 twelve and fifteen thousand so-called dentists. The
 question has often presented itself to me as to what
 portion of this number should be really entitled to
 the name dentist. To arrive at any just conclusion,
 we must first know what is expected of  a dentist.
 Is  he to simply extract what teeth come into the
 office, and replace them ? I think not; but believe
 the more  intelligent class of people expect more.
 It is generally understood, I believe, that a dentist
 should understand the  anatomy of the face, so as
 to  be able to treat whatever disease  might arise
 from badly decayed teeth; and, more especially,
 he should have sufficient skill to be able to preserve
 the natural teeth, where it is possible  to do so.   I
 believe  a  man  not  having these qualifications has
 no rank or claim, in the proper  acceptation of the
 name, in a profession where so much  is possible
 and  so  little  is accomplished.  ' He may have the
 titles M. D., D. D. S., but these do not signify.  A
 -physician must be capable of curing disease to be
 improperly and justly called a physician.  It does not 
135
require the title of M. D. to  administer  medicine^
without being capable of properly diagnosing; and
such a one, instead of reducing the dangerous con-
ditions, increases them.  A  surgeon may have the
required skill to amputate a limb, and may advise
its amputation, simply for want of proper knowledge
to restore it  to  its normal condition.   The same
rule holds good  in  the  practice of dentistry.  Any
pretending dentist can pull out or break off a tooth
that aches ;  but to reduce the inflammation and
preserve the  tooth are the all-important objects in
view. I believe, not far in the future, the extracting
of teeth, unless loose enough to  be removed with-
out forceps,  will be  considered quackery,  simply
because  the  operator must be deficient in  the re-
quired skill to properly treat and preserve them.
  The man that invented the relief of pain  by  ex-
tracting  the  tooth conferred  a great  favor upon
humanity, because it was the best way then known;
but he who  can relieve  pain without  extracting
is greater beyond  comparison.  It has  been esti-
mated that over twenty millions of teeth are  ex-
tracted in the United States yearly; and that three
millions of sets of artificial teeth are  inserted  an-
nually.   What an  unnecessary sacrifice,  and what
a contrast with the substitute ! for, in most cases, a
cheap  rubber plate is  used.  We have  but little
conception of the amount of injury, suffering and
loss of life that might be  traced  to this inhuman
practice of extracting teeth by the wholesale.  Who, 
                      136
is responsible for this  so  common  unskilled work
coming into  such general use ?   Are these men
that are now disgracing the profession responsible ?
I think not;  but  those  capable of doing  better
work, who have become somewhat proficient in
operative dentistry, are.   Of late, as soon as a man
becomes conscious of his ability to fill  teeth rea-
sonably well,  though he does  not  acquire  a
sufficient amount to keep the wolf from his door,
he could not think of so disgracing himself as to
have anything to do with mechanical dentistry; so
he sends them to some one who is less proficient
to do this cheap work, and gives no thought as to
how he could restore those teeth without the least
inconvenience  to the wearer, though it  might re-
quire twice the mechanical ability to do this artis-
tically than it did to do the filling, and the patient
would willingly pay the required amount to accom-
plish  such a result, when  impressed with the neces-
sity of (Joing so.  I am speaking from experience.
   I have, in the past five years, been trying to give
my customers the  best possible condition next to
the natural teeth, and restoring partial loss of teeth
permanently  without  plates.   This necessitates
considerable more expense than other work, on ac-
count of extra labor and skill required to produce
the desired results.  I  have never found, during
that period, any lack of patronage on account of the
extra charges ; but, on the contrary, business has
been so pressing that I have had to keep not less 
                      137
than four assistants, and sometimes five and six. This
has demonstrated to  my  mind, conclusively, that
the better class of dentists are responsible for this
degraded and disgraceful  condition of mechanical
dentistry.  They become too professional  for the
interests of  their patronage.  They will  neither
perform  this  skilled mechanical labor nor send
their patients to those that do, as a rule ; but have
them fitted out with a  cheap rubber  plate, and
charge them  for skilled labor.  What has been the
result?  The public have  long since found out
that this class of work can be made by men with a
very small amount of  mechanical  ingenuity, so
that they answer  the purpose.  They believe in
going where they do this class of work, and charge
only for doing it.  This is the cause of the increase
and prosperity of  cheap  dentistry.  We must give
value received.    Every  reasonable  person feels
satisfied  when  a piece of artistic work has been
done—there  is  satisfaction  both to the artist and
the  wearer.  Money  does not seem to play any
part.  Your bill is paid with satisfaction—no ques-
tions asktd.  Many in the dental  profession have
become disgusted with this sta e of things, and have
advocated a division of operative  and mechanical
dentistry.  There can be  no  division, except it be
between the  different standards of  labor;  but no
division, practically  speaking, can be made be-
tween operative and  mechanical  dentistry;  for
every operation performed  in  the  mouth to  pre- 
138
serve the teeth is mechanical, and, as we advance
in the art of preserving teeth, more and more me-
chanical ability becomes necessary.  The  blow-
pipe is soon coming into use for this purpose.   I
have  been  making some very interesting experi-
ments, in the past few years, in preserving frail
teeth, when a large  share of the labor has been
performed  with the blow-pipe, the appliance being
made out of the mouth,  and  afterward put  on.
;I  have succeeded  in  saving  teeth  that  could
not  otherwise  have  been preserved;  and  then
comes in the crowning of  roots, which  every first-
ctass dentist will be  expected to perform, which
'will necessitate the use of the blow-pipe in most
•cases;; no permanent crown ever can  be properly
^et without its use ;  therefore, I can see no division
•except between skilled and unskilled labor.  Take
away the mechanical genius of a dentist, and you
smustchange his name and business.
   In  conclusion, we know there are  many dentists
in this country who are known by their works, and
cannot be excelled ;  but how is it with the majority
of these fifteen thousand?  Are they capable of
doing what  is rightfully  expected of them ?  Let
«ach one of us ask ourselves the question, and if
we find  ourselves deficient  in any branch  which
goes to  make up the combined whole of what a
dentist should be, let us apply ourselves diligently
until our name, title and degree will be visible in
•^>ur work.   The knowledge is  what we want, and 
139
must have; if obtainable through our own exertion,.
so much  the  more credit is due.  After gaining a
thorough knowledge of the various branches, if we
find ourselves more proficient in any one  than  in
the others, then it is our duty to operate where we
reach the best results for those in need of  Qur ser-
vices 
Restoring Partial Loss of the  Teeth With-
                  out Plate.
BY LOW'S NEW METHOD—DR. J. E. LOW, INVENTOR
   AND SOLE PROPRIETOR, FIRST NATIONAL BANK
        BUILDING, 164 DEARBORN STREET.
  This method consists in attaching  permanently
to the natural teeth or roots artificial teeth by
means of water-tight, immovable, perfectly-fitting
gold bands on either side of the space to be sup-
plied, from whence it receives its support, as seen
in cuts Nos. 7 and 8.
  Heretofore artificial  teeth have  invariably been
supported entirely by the gum", and usually upon
a plate held in its position by suction, or by clasp
attachments ;  but by this method the pressure  in
masticating is distributed upon the teeth and gums.
By the method here suggested, the chance  for  an
accumulation  of filth is an utter impossibility, more
than around the natural teeth.
  The use of the plate for supporting the artificial
teeth is  highly objectionable, because  they cover
mucous  surfaces which  health requires should  be
uncovered; secondly,  they occupy space within the
mouth,  and are generally  uncomfortable.   They
also require frequent  removal for the  purpose of
cleansing, or  they generate  disease.  The  use of 
                       141
clasps to retain the teeth in position, by using small
•supporting  plates, as in No.  i. has very generally
been abandoned on account  of injury to the teeth
clasped, caused by  the  continual friction  of the
clasp against the teeth, and  the  suction plate has
been substituted.  The clasp is supposed to be more
objectionable than the discomfort and inconveni-
ences attending the use of the suction plate.   But
time has shown, I believe, that even suction plates,
as  they are generally used  in close contact with
the teeth, have destroyed more teeth than the clasp
plate, as seen in cut  No. i, by causing recession of
the gums, from being covered by vitiated, stagnant
•secretions, held there even when the usual degree of
cleanliness  has been observed.   Then, again, teeth
partially covered, as  with the majority of partial
plates made, where the plate sets close to the teeth,
that  portion covered  near the margin of the  gums
become so  sensitive that many times the patient in-
sists on having them removed.  I have known of
many  teeth being sacrificed on that  account.   I
mention a few of these facts to show that there are
many  serious objections in  our usual manner of
supplying partial loss of  teeth.
   Where a  person has been unfortunate enough to
lose   the full number  of  teeth,. they  must  re-
sort  to the next best thing—be contented, like  a
person who  has been supplied with  an artificial
 limb, which is better than nothing, with all its  ob-
jections. 
                      142
  Now, in presenting this subject, I  am aware of
the many objections that will be urged against its
use by those who have not  had the opportunity of
investigating its merits.  Notwithstanding, I claim
to have surmounted and removed the chief difficul-
ties that have proved so objectionable in supplying
partial sets of teeth.  These claims have not been
hastily  made, for I have been giving this subject
my attention for over six years, and have  now in
actual service several  thousand cases, from  one
to five teeth in a span, dating back from five and six
years down to the present time.
   My manner of doing this work is as follows:
   Pure block tin, rolled into thin strips of about No.
28 in thickness, or less if necessary, in order to pass
between the teeth, is  used  to  take the impression
or form of the teeth  adjacent to the space to be
supplied; the tin is  bent  around  the tooth  and
carefully pressed  with flat pliers the length of the
tooth, giving the  perfect form  of the tooth ; this is
taken off of the tooth and  cut by the mark made
by the pliers,  and used  as  a pattern from which a
gold  band  is made.   The gold should be coin,
rolled out to  27,  28 or 29  stubs gauge, according
to the  strength needed, and  is soldered together
with  the  following formula for solder:  To  one
pennyweight of gold  add four grains of coin silver
and two grains of pure copper;  this  solder gives
strength and acolor not unlike the gold. These bands,,
after being  carefully  soldered, are fitted by being 
                       143
driven slowly over the tooth with frequent anneal-
ings and cuttings of points likely to come in con-
tact with the gum until it is the  shape of the pro-
cess.  Then  cut  the  outer  portion where it might
show a narrow band,  leaving it  full on the  rest of
the tooth until adjusted.  Drive down to the gums
but not under, cut off and bend over  the crown of
the tooth, where the articulation will permit (and
there are few cases where the entire portion of  the
crown is used in  articulation.)   The  bands being
ifitted, the teeth having first been covered with thin
platinum, instead of  backing, as usual, which  ex-
tends over the crown or grating surface, invest  the
case  in plaster and sand, and flow  gold  and
platinum or  the preparation of  clasp material,
until very heavy.  This gives strength and will avoid
the  breakage  of teeth in mastication, after which
the  teeth are arranged,  being held in position by a
compound of wax, gutta-purcha and  rosin.  After
all are arranged to  satisfaction,  a  plaster   im-
pression is taken of the teeth and  bands. The
bands are taken off and placed in the impressions,
being particular to get them in proper  position.
Then pour with plaster mixed with  asbestos or
sand ; and when hard cut out on the lingual surface
until the wax is reached;  carefully  remove  the
wax,  and  solder the  bands  and backings and
finish, being careful not to bend your bands  in pol-
ishing.  After  the case  is finished and  ready  for
the  mouth, great care must be  taken  to keep  the 
                      144
teeth  to  be attached dry.   To prevent moisture
I use gum benzoine, dissolved in alcohol, on the
gums  some distance back of the teeth to  be at-
tached to.  The cement is  then mixed by  the as-
sistant, who coats the inside of the bands and the
teeth belonging to said bands.   Should it be  diffi-
cult while  operating to keep the moisture out,  a
rubber dam may sometimes be  used to advantage,
and afterwards  pulled from under the attachment.
The success of the operation in most cases depends
on the dryness  as much  as  in  gold  filling.  The
teeth  are now nicely malleted to their places, hav-
ing previously  been tried to see that all was right.
Should  moisture begin  to  make its  appearance,
varnish over with the benzoine at once;  immediately
afterwards  use  water; thus preventing the alcohol
from injuring the cement.  After the cement is suf-
ficiently hard, finish by beveling and burnishing all
edges close to the teeth.  If near the front of the
mouth the small rim of the band outside  can be
made to exactly resemble the  common marginal
filling.
  These  attachments are immovable, the bands
being water-tight, not depending upon the gums for
support, and leaving no possibility of offensive ac-
cumulation any more than around the natural teeth,
and are as  easily kept clean.  In this description I
have been speaking of restoring molars and bicuspids
of either superior or inferior maxilary.  In restoring
one, two,  three  or  four front teeth, the ordinary 
                      145
plate teeth are used, resting the front of the tooth
on the gum, leaving spaces between  the  teeth for
cleansing.  It is  necessary to cover  the entire lin-
gual surface of the teeth to prevent possible break-
age during mastication, the gold only showing on
the inside.
  In addition to this, there are many cases of elon-
gated teeth, which soon become loose and trouble-
some for want of use, where it would be impossible
to use a plate of any kind.  In such cases the band
attachment, connecting with a truss or bar of gold,
is used with  great satisfaction for masticating,  as
well as for preserving the tooth so elongated.
  The general supposition is  that teeth so attached
to are injured, but experience has proved the con-
trary.  I have yet to loose the  first tooth, or dis-
cover  any injury  arising  from such attachments,
either  from loosening  or  decay.  I have removed
many bands after two or  three years, and some  of
four years' standing, and with the exception of the
tooth being a little sensitive  to heat  and cold, no
visible change had taken place ; and when the bands
were again replaced this all disappeared.
& 
  Low's New  Method and its Adyantages.
  I feel compelled to  introduce  this method be-
cause I know it to be one of the greatest blessings
to suffering humanity that has  ever been broughc
to public notice.  You ask why.  First, because it
does away with extraction of teeth, and gives to the
wearer not only as good teeth for masticating his
food as his natural teeth, but relieves him of cover-
ing the roof of the mouth, which is cumbersome as
well as injurious  to  health.  The preparation of
food necessary for digestion needs the  combined
excretion of all  the follicles, large  and  small, to
properly simulate food, to perpetuate  natural con-
ditions.  If you cover  the roof of the mouth, you
prevent this.   Not only this, but many  times in-
flammatory action is produced  while the gums are
covered, consequently  to lose one's teeth is to be-
come an invalid, with less chances to resist disease
which  human nature  has  at all times to contend
with.   It is easy to destroy; death is  no mystery,
but life and its perpetuation  baffles human ingenu-
ity.  How, then, shall we solve the mystery?   We
do  not hesitate to say that nine-tenths of all the
diseases that  human nature is heir to are caused by
the deviation from natural laws and   natural  con-
ditions. Human nature in its great search for hap-
piness loses sight of the first principles that  pro-
duce happiness.  Teeth decay directly or indirectly 
147
from unnatural conditions, the same as all other
diseases are produced.  Much of it may be handed
down from generation to generation, but the first
cause was a violation of natural laws.  Many peo-
ple get the tooth-ache by neglecting decayed teeth
until the nerve becomes exposed, rush in to an un-
scrupulous dentist, and have all their  teeth ex-
tracted  because one aches, happy in  the thought
they are  getting rid of pain, when in fact they are
only multiplying  their chances  to  produce more
pain in another form  which may prove fatal, and
when their tooth-ache could have been stopped in
a few minutes and the tooth restored to its original
usefulness.  What, then, does Low's New Method
do ? It  restores all decayed and broken teeth or
roots to  their natural  condition and  usefulness,
fills  up all  intermediate spaces, should there be
any, without covering the roof of the  mouth, and
occupying the original space only.  It does not in-
terfere  with the digestion of food by covering any
of the  excretory organs.  It  preserves the natural
contour of the face, which  is entirely  lost by ex-
tracting ;  the voice is preserved  in its natural con-
dition ;  the eye-sight is stronger and better for not
having the  teeth  wrenched  out  of  their sockets,
breaking  these little fibrous  nerves  that are con-
nected with all the nerves of the face.  It prevents
inflammatory action, by leaving free  all the mucus
glands  in  the  roof of the mouth.  In  fact, Low's
New Method assists Nature to perform its  natural 
                      148
functions, instead of throwing obstructions in its
pathway.


         Facts  About New Methods.
  Most people are totally ignorant of the principle
of this method, n'ot knowing what is  claimed for it,
but condemn it on general principles instead of in-
vestigating its merits, and judging from reports of
its enemies, whose lies and villainous slander is be-
neath  the  notice of a  respectable  person.   The
average dentist lives by  prejudicing  his customers
against every other dentist and every other method
except his  own—the method taught him   He does
not exert himself outside of the old and accustomed
practice even to investigate.  He has reached the
end of the rope in  his own estimation.  Others
who have more ability, through their egotism  wish
to impress upon their customers the fact that what
they  do not know is not worth knowing.  They
condemn everything they do not do, and as my
process is  patented, and they cannot use it without
being liable to prosecution, unless licensed by me,
of course the next best thing to do is to condemn
it,  to  keep from losing their trade.  Then again,
others who would do this work  provided they had
been guaranteed the right, cannot do it, for  to do
 this  work successfully it requires  the combined,
 mechanical and operative manipulator of a  grade
 seldom found. 
149
  So taking  all in all, as the  saying  goes,  "a
drowning man catches at straws ; " to condemn the
principle and keep what work they can, is the most
natural.   I am  sorry to be obliged to tell the truth
about these matters, but it is for my interest as well
as the  public's that  they should know the facts.
Any person of good common sense  knows that it
would not be to my interest to introduce this new
kind of work at the risk  of my  own reputation,
-(which-I believe stands on an average, to  say  the
least, with  the  better class  of  dentists), unless  I
knew it to  be  the best.   It was, I  believe, in the
eighteenth century, the first porcelain teeth were
manufactured,  but many years  after teeth  carved
from the hippopotamus were used,  and its advo-
cates resisted with all  the  energy  possible the  use
of porcelain teeth, notwithstanding the fact that the
porcelain tooth was incorruptible and  could  not
decay,  while the  hippopotamus tooth would,  the
bone  being  penetrated  by  the  acids  of  the
mouth, making the breath offensive in a short time.
Later, in the nineteenth century,  gold,  silver  and
platina were used  as a base for artificial teeth ;  and
from that time  on  some of the leading men  began
to make rapid improvements in dentistry, notwith-
standing the opposition they had to  contend with.
Between  1845 and 1850 Continus' gum work  was
introduced, and after a time  a few  of the leading
men in the  profession adopted it, but the  mass of
dentists opposed  it and do  to-day, because it re- 
150
quires labor and skill in that particular  direction,.
that would not pay  them to spend  the  time had
they the ability.  It  no  doubt has some objections,
like all other artificial appliances used for artificial
teeth.  The best are not without their objections.
Between 1850 and i860 there was more gold artifi-
cial work done than  ever before, and I think I can
justly say, than since ; for abo.it  that time  rubber
was invented as a base for artificial teeth, but was
condemned, and did not go  into general  use for  a
number of years.  I might  say it was justly con-
demned, for  no sooner had this  come  generally
into use than artistic mechanical dentistry received
its almost fatal blow, for this opened a field for  a
low order of mechanical dentistry, and the talented
and enterprising genius that was struggling to re-
lieve the unfortunate toothless community through
his superior   mechanical abilities,  and  produce
something better and less objectionable, and save
all the teeth  possible,  expecting  the  patronage  of
the better classes, these men were soon compelled
to direct  their energies in  another direction, for
the cheapness of rubber plates had given its advo-
cates a lever  to lift the  public mind, and a mania
was created to have teeth extracted in order to have
a cheaper set.  A  new  set  could  be had for less
money  than  it required to fill  and  put in order
their natural  ones, and money being in one  side of
the scales and brains in the other, the brains proved
to be the lightest; so the teeth would be extracted 
                      151
on the same principle that if your  head aches cut
it off; or, if your finder was sore cut it off and put
on a wooden one,  instead of sensibly curing it.  I
mention these facts to show how slow the public gen-
erally are to find out about the merits of any inven-
tions or improvements, unless it  happens to  be
something where there is a saving  of money,  then
they  have no doubt about it.  The pecuniary in-
ducements supercede all other arguments, and as a
rule they fall into the hands of a class  of men who
care nothing for the interests of their patrons,  but
simply the paltry  sum  they receive for the injury
they have done their victims ;  and they argue loud
and long against anything of merit, where more
brains and skill are required  than they have, to
perform the same.  Notwithstanding all  the influ-
ences that have been brought to bear to retard the
progress of dentistry and keep it from reaching a
higher degree of excellence, it  still continues to ad-
vance, and nothing can arrest its progressive march.
All improvements for the benefit of mankind have
been compelled to contend against the current.  It
is  much easier to float with the stream, but  one
thing is certain, that if old methods and customs
and abuses,  either political,  religious, or in the
various ancient superstitious customs, had never
been opposed they would  have  been  perpetuated
with all their ignorance and errors. 
             Strange, hut True.
  It is a lamentable fact that the restless activity of
original thought and inquiry, as well as inventive
ingenuity and mechanical  genius, that has marked
the progress of Dental Science the past few years,
has now the same form of resistance and discour-
agement  that  it has  had to contend  with in the
earlier and less civilized eras of human prepress.
The more valuable the discovery, the stronger the
opposition  to  its  practical realization ; the more
useful the improvement, the more stubborn the re-
sistance to its  adoption.  The self-same  egotism
that has  ever  opposed all departures from the old
established methods and customs, still exists, and
the beaten  paths of  our  predecessors seemingly
must not be forsaken, even though other paths lead-
ing to better and fairer fields are visible. However
strange this may seem, it  is nevertheless a  fact.
Then, again, the rugged road of scientific inquiry,
so forbidding to ordinary courage, so trying to or-
dinary patience, and so seldom travelled with the
devotion  and  determination  necessary to  reach a
height where  the  seed  and  bud of  promise
open  into the  flower of success.  So  long  and
determined  has been this  resistance  to progress
that few have had the courage to face the wind and
tempest of abuse and  the storm of opposition that
awaits them.   Men of great  mechanical genius, of. 
153
rich and rare endowments in music, sculpture, and
all the fine arts,  have died broken-hearted before
the public were aware of the worth that lay in their
work. This seems to have been an innate condition
from the earliest history of civilization to the present
time, that the mass of  humanity have given organ-
ized opposition to every discovery and to every in-
vention that was of intrinsic value, for many, many
years before giving it final approval and adoption.
When Galileo first discovered that the  world moved
on  its axis, instead of the sun revolving around our
planet,  he was  compelled  under the  penalty of
being beheaded,  to  retract, notwithstanding  he
knew that his statement was  an astronomical fact.
Such was the generosity with which an appreciative
public received  the  most valuable and important
announcement the world ever had.  How great must
have been his surprise for  this abuse offered  him
for his valuable service.   As  extraordinary as  it
may seem, it is but a little over two hundred  years
since the circulation of the blood was discovered.
This  great physiological  discovery was made, as
the  reader is probably aware, by Dr. W. Harvey,
an  eminent physician of London.   So strong was
the force of prejudice, and so difficult the remuner-
ation of preconceived  opinion, that instead of re-
ceiving a wreath of immortal glory from his pro-
fessional brethren for this  brilliant contribution to
the scientific treasures of mankind, he was made by
them the object of personal persecution so bitter 
154
and so violent that he  was obliged to retire to an
obscure corner of London, and finally lost nearly
all of his practice.  In  his  matchless history of
England,  Hume  remarks that no  physician in
Europe who was forty years of age at the time, ever
adopted Harvey's theory of  the circulation.   Yet
where is the physician with any pretension to pro-
fessional intelligence, who doubts that theory to-
day?
  It is said that in the  New England States, in the
primitive eras of our history, in carrying the  his-
toric mill bag of wheat on horse-back, the wheat
was placed  in one end ^f the bag, and weights of
rock or stone of precisely corresponding avoirdu-
pois were made to occupy the opposite end to effect
a balance, so that double the  pressure of wheat
weight was brought to bear  on the horse's back,
all of which was unfair to the horse.  This aborig-
inal custom had long prevailed, and when a young
man of a scientific turn of mind had the audacity to
divide the grain and so  make it finally balance of
itself, he was called to  an account for this overt act
of irreverence of the customs of his fathers, for this
rude departure from the  old established way.   The
boy tried to explain the philosophy of dividing the
grain,  by saying it  was economy of horse force;
that by this plan but half the original  burden need
to  be  carried.  The explanation was not satisfac-
tory, and the  boy had  to be duly punished for his
irreverent originality, for doing things  by a plan not 
                       155
endorsed  by  his ancestors.  This  story always
seemed to me to be rather far-fetched, but recently,
while traveling  in  the  semi-barbaric  latitudes  of
Mexico, I actually saw the stone balance used on
one side of the horse to balance the grain.  This
presents  a doubtful tradition in the form of au-
thentic fact.
   It has been further stated that when the  horse
became very tired, the man riding the horse with
the bag of grain  in  front of him, would put the
grain on his own shoulders, thereby relieving the
horse entirely—in his mind. This simply illustrates
how some people reason. 
  Objections Raised to Low's New Method.
  Some six years have now elapsed since this meth-
od was first brought into use, and ample time has
already passed to note the objections raised against
its use.  I propose in this article  to give them  to
the public, and let the readers judge for themselves.
One of the first objections raised, and  set up as a
reason that the method should  not be worn, is that
the bands will wear out the teeth.  Remember, this
supposition is made without  any actual experience,
but used as an argument to keep back the introduc-
tion of this new kind of work.   Then, again, those
who raised these objections are  ignorant of the prin-
ciple upon which these teeth are  attached  in the
mouth, and  knowing that the  old-fashioned clasp
plate, put  in with  gold and extending part way
around the  teeth,  with the entire pressure  on the
gum, did wear out the teeth, they take it for granted,
without any knowledge  upon the subject, that these
bands wear the teeth.  Let  us  examine the differ-
ence between the use of clasps  to attach teeth and
teeth  attached with a  band.  In  the following cut
we have the clasp plate spoken of. 
                      15i
  You will see by this that the pressure is resting
on the gums, with these hooks or  spring  clasps
clinching the natural tooth.  What is the result? Let
us see.  B is the plate resting on  the gum, where
all the pressure is brought to bear  when  biting on
                    Cut No. i.
the teeth.  What is  the  result ?  The gums being
soft, pressure upon the false teeth causes the clasp to
move up and down on the natural tooth; by pressure
in biting,  or  closing the  teeth together, the gums
beneath, which are soft, give;  and as soon as the
pressure is relieved, by  opening the mouth, they
come back to their original position.   These move-
ments  are constantly  going on, and every move-
ment of these clasps which clinch the teeth causes
the tooth  to become  sensitive; so much so, that the
teeth are lost in a short time by a large portion of
the wearers.
  We have now had  a description of the clasp plate 
                      158
proper that has been in use  for the past  forty or
fifty years, and we will now examine Low's Method
and see whether there is a possibility of injuring the
teeth by wearing the teeth, as claimed. The following
cut represents a case of Low's New Method ready
for permanent  attachment,  i,  2, 3 and 4  repre-
                   Cut No. 2.
sent the continuous band that slips over the tooth,
and which is first made  to  perfectly  fit the tooth
attached to.  The band  is filled with cement  and
driven on,  and becomes a  permanent, immovable
fixture. Upon reflection any person can see the differ-
ence.  Remember, the strength of my attachment
upon each tooth attached is so  strong that no more
pressure can be brought to bear on the gums than
on the tooth ;  and, at  the same  time, the bands
cannot move np or down  on the tooth,  but are
perfectly firm and water-tight.
   What is the next objection raised?  They tell 
159
you that it is impossible to attach a fixture in the
mouth without its becoming filthy,  This statement
would be a fact if you should attach a plate made
in the ordinary way, because  food would accumu-
late under the  plate, as the motion  up and down
gives room for the accumulation to deposit.  Now,
then, suppose you have no plate, but attach  from
your bands, as seen in cut No. 2, the teeth with no
plate under them, with no rest on the gums, bringing
the teeth at the outer point or labial side so near that
it looks as though it grew  out of the gum; but it
does no. actually touch the gum, so that everything
is free for  rinsing ;  or a brush reaches every point,
and nothing can be detained, as there is nothing
to hold it there—not near as much as there is be-
tween  the  natural  teeth.   This is one condition.
Now,  then, suppose you lay the thickness of a case
knife-blade  which perfectly fits the  shape of the
gum where a long span or a number of teeth are to
be put in between two  natural  teeth ; or, suppose
you want to  put in two teeth back of the teeth, like
the following cut.
No. 3.  Cut of lower jaw before the teeth are attached 
                      160

  This knife-blade thickness is soldered  to  your
bands and arranged so that when the bands are driven
down a sufficient pressure is brought to bear so that
nothing can possibly get under it, and the bands
being  held  there  by the teeth no pressure can
possibly  raise it or allow any accumulation  to
gather under the fixture.
Cut No. 4, after teeth are attached.
  I do  not say they will  not become filthy in
some people's mouths.  I am aware that they will
become filthy in many persons' mouths.   The same
persons would allow their  natural teeth to be-
come filthy ; and, if wearing a plate,  that  also
becomes  filthy.   Some people go around  with
dirty  faces  and hands, but that  does not prove
that soap and water will not keep  them clean.   I
have thousands now wearing teeth,on my  method
that have been wearing them for years ;  they keep
them clean, and have no  more  trouble than in
 keeping their natural teeth clean. 
                       161
   Others among  the  dental  profession  have said
that this was no new invention—that they had used
it thirty years ago.  This is false ;  and to back my
 statement I leave this as  a standing offer to any
dentist that will bring or can produce even a case
put in, on the same principle that I put them in,
before I introduced the idea,  fifty dollars for  each
and every case, backed up with positive evidence
of having been put in before I originated the idea.
Here is a chance for  some of these hypocrites  to
make some  money and back up their pretensions.
Others have said that  this was  an old German
method.  This is just as  false  as the other  state-
ment, as I happen to know just what the German
method  spoken of is, and  claim to be  posted on
each and every  method ever used for  putting in
teeth ;  and  without spending the  time  to give an
explanation of them,  my offer holds good against
any and all methods  as  compared with mine.
Some few dentists have raised a great outcry, claim-
ing to have taken out  some of  my  New Method,
and say it is a failure.  Now,  then, there are but a
few words that  I wish  to say in explanation. As any
sensible, well-disposed person can see at a glance,
that with the amount  of this  kind  of work that I
have been doing,  with five or  six persons to assist,
that there would be some failures where parties did
not come back  to  have them  regulated, and make
any  changes necessary; and more especially so
when the party went to some other dentist to have 
162
it looked over, whose interest it would be to make
all of it a failure that was possible instead of coming:
to me.   But to lay aside this,  and admit they
were failures, is it  anything strange or  out of the
common course of events that some failures should
occur ?   If the same dentist will look up his own
memorandum  and see how many failures he has
made in putting in plates, in  the same length of
time I have been  doing this  work, or truthfully
state how many fillings  he has  lost out of those
he considered the finest,  I will compare  notes.
Now, then, I  have  been practicing  dentistry
for the  past twenty-eight  years, and I am familiar
with the work  of all the better  class  of dentists,
not only  in  Chicago, but all over  the  United
States, and I  would pay a premium to see the
dentist  that never  had  a  failure; and I will
encompass any and  all  branches  of  business.
I will put up five hundred dollars, or a larger sum,
to accommodate the parties doing so much blowing
and lying, in any respectable parties' hands, and
every case put in by him on plates and all of mine
on the process shall be  booked  daily, with  name
and number, keeping an accurate account of both
for six months or a year, and  the one that has
the least failures shall take the money. I will state,
right here, that of all the different kinds of work  I
have ever done, I have had less failures and better
satisfaction in putting in my process work than any
other work I  ever  did or have ever seen done by- 
                       163
other dentists, and all I have  to say about taking
out this or that case is, that I take  out fifty of their
plates and put in my method, where they  will find
opportunities to remove  one of  mine, all  their
libelous statements  notwithstanding.
  All I  wish to say in conclusion is, that this is
a movement towards preserving the natural  teeth
and  natural conditions  which no power  upon
earth can replace  after  they have  once  been
removed.  I expect the  lies  and   slander of all
unprincipled and interested parties to be heaped
upon me until the venomous spite shall finally be
swallowed up by the voices of the  many who  have
been made happy.   Yes, if I  could  never again
render my services  to assist suffering humanity in
preserving the most essential condition to health,
which is the natural condition of the mouth, by giv-
ing teeth that can masticate food—teeth that are not
supported by covering the mucous  membrane  and
injuring digestion—I should feel already well  paid
for my labor, so  many thanks have I received.  I
feel sorry for those  who have not  the  courage to
investigate for themselves, but are  satisfied to take
the  advice of hearsay, coupled with their own im-
agination.  All I ask is an investigation by all good,
sensible people,  and that the truth  shall prevail. 
            Explanation to Cuts.
  The following cut (No. 5) represents the upper jaw
where the teeth have all been extracted but three,
and these are badly decayed and broken, but are firm
and strongly attached in  the jaw.   I  simply give
                     No. 5.
these  few cuts of difficult cases to show  to  what
extent Low's  Method can  be used.  From these
three  roots a full upper set of teeth can be attached.
The roots are prepared the same as for crowning,
not the ordinary way of crowning, but  the  way I
prepare all my roots  where  the nerves  are dead;
that is with a hollow  tube, so that in case any trou-
ble should  arise from whatever cause to  produce 
165
inflammation or ulceration of the root, I can open
the tube,  treat and  stop  the ulceration at once
without removing  the  attachments or interfering
with the use of the teeth, and again stop the tube.
The trouble may never occur again, but  in case of
any such contingency arising, all pains can be at
once relieved.  My  manner  of  adjusting  these
crowns  would not  be  interesting to the general
reader, but to  make the subject thoroughly under-
stood we call the attention of the reader to cut  No.
6, which shows the same mouth as cut No. 5 after
the teeth have been attached, with the crowns. Nos.
6 and 7 are the crowns as they looked before being
united, together with the false  teeth which are num-
bered 5 all the way around, Nos. 1,2 and 4 being the
crowns after having been  arranged in position and 
166
attached.  These attachments or crowns are put on
with a cement the same as bands, but in all such long
spaces, a perfectly fitting, very  narrow rest extends
the whole distance between the teeth, on the gums,
which is held and bears just hard enough to  pre-
vent any  food  from  possibly  getting  under the
attachment.   This leaves the mouth easier to keep
clean than when the natural teeth are intact.
  The following cut (No. 7) simply shows another
upper case,  where four perfect  natural teeth are
intact, Nos.  1, 2, 3 and  4 representing the  teeth.
They are attached in the same manner as the last,
with the exception that these  are attached with
bands instead of crowns.  Before I go farther,  I
will, for the  benefit of those who do not know what
is meant by a crown, state that a crown is supposed 
                      167
to be a broken tooth restored  to its original shape
by gold attachment.   It  may  be all  gold, or the
outer surface (labial side), which would be seen, can
be of porcelain, perfectly representing the natural
tooth. The following cut (No. 8) is the same mouth
                     No. 8.
as No. 7 after the teeth are attached, i, 2, 3  and 4
being the natural teeth with the bands attached, while
Nos. 5, 5, 5 are the false teeth inserted and attached
to bands 1,2,3 and 4, so that by this method one
tooth, if lost, can be restored; or if unfortunate
enough to  have lost nearly all the  teeth, they can
be replaced without plate and without being obliged
to have the roots extracted where they are firm  in
the jaw. There is no longer any doubt about being
able to preserve roots firmly attached in the  jaw,
as years of experience have proven.   I have there- 
16S
by demonstrated this fact  not only to the satisfac-
tion of myself,  but to  thousands of patients  who
can testify to the fact and  their usefulness.   In my
office, where  from  five to seven of us  are busily
employed, we do not  extract, on an average, one
tooth a week, as any of my help will testify.   This
alone speaks*for itself as to the fact stated  that all
roots firm in the jaw need not be extracted, but can
be made useful, much more so than teeth put in in
the ordinary way.   It is a disgrace to the profession
that  steps  have not  been taken to  prevent this
wholesale extraction of teeth, which are extracted
simply for a  paltry sum of money they receive in
trying to put in a substitute that is poor at the best,
and nine-tenths of  them are of no use to the wearer
whatever. All that is needed is to have these facts
set before the public, and it is the duty of the  den-
tal profession to see that this  is done in a proper
manner. 
169
      Explanation of Cute—Continued.
  The following cuts represent a case of four front
teeth, cut No.  9  being the  mouth  before  having
been  operated  upon.   The bands for such a case
I generally fit to the eyeteeth, but should it be nec-
essary on account of articulation or otherwise, the
adjacent bi-cuspids can be used, but for the four
front  teeth,  two bands, when properly  fitted and
                      No. 9.
cemented,  will be  sufficiently  strong.  If one or
both bi-cuspids are to be supplied, one band fitted
to the first  moller, and all attached together, makes
a very strong and  satisfactory  case.  In  all cases
of one, two, three or four teeth in the front of the
mouth, I do not advise rests on the gums, but the
teeth must be plain  teeth, and backed as described 
                      170
on  page  143.  My material for  backing teeth  is
made of about twenty per cent, platinum, or what
is easier to get at, take any amount needed of plat-
inum, add gold enough to unite the whole in mass,
twenty per cent, being about all that it will take up,
role out and cut up in  square pieces and use on the
thin platinum previously burnished over the tooth
where you wish it to flow.  Use the same as solder.
Flow enough so that when  your teeth are arranged
and soldered together your strength is sufficient.
                     No. 10.
After carefully cooling the teeth bevel the gold
backing so that the lower  portion next to the gum
there is nothing but the tooth,  the tip of which just
touches the gums.  Solder only two-thirds of the way
down the  teeth when soldering your teeth together*
leaving space between the teeth for cleaning; in this
way with highly polished surface  on  the inside and
easy access to every part with a brush, no fear need
be  apprehended in keeping clean any more than
with the natural teeth.  To give additional strength
to the  case strips of gold can be fitted between the 
                      171
teeth before soldering if necessry, or, what is better,
gold foil packed closely in between all the teeth to
be  soldered, and  a  large amount of solder flown
thoroughly over the whole, to give strength..
  Cut number 10 is the case ready  to be adjusted
showing the bands, which must be 27 stub guage,
for four teeth coin gold.
                     No. 11.
  Cut  number 11 shows  the inside  of the same
case except the bands after  the  teeth have been
soldered.   I  mention  all  of  these conditions
in  detail   simply  to  show  that  the  principle
of my method is right, although parties attempting
to steal the same, that have had  but  little  experi-
ence, have put in many cases in and about  New
York, and other places, in a manner that gives no
credit  to the operator or the principle, were it the
best results that could be obtained, but this is not
the case.   No case of bridge work can  be done
with gum  teeth and prove satisfactory, on account
of the impossibility to keep them clean.  There is
too much  surface with no open gateways between
the teeth.  A short gum tooth can,  however, be used,
but it  must be made  to fit the gum perfectly  and
held by the attachment close to  the gum  so that
there is no possibility of any accumulation depos-
iting under the case.   • 
172
                    No. 12.
  Cut number 12 shows the teeth after having been
attached with the bands burnished after beveling,
thereby resembling a margin filling.
                     No. 13.
  Cut number 13 shows how one tooth is made, with
stay opposite band, this being  ready  for adjusting,
and cut number 14, is the same tooth after having.
been adjusted.  Dotted line shows the  band on
the labial  side,  the stay rests on the adjoining
natural tooth, which is the perfect shape of the
tooth  it rests against.  A very short one is  only
needed, this  is used instead  of using two bands
where stay will answer  the same purpose,  the stay
should be longest up and down  on the tooth instead
of around.  A bi-cuspid or moler can many times 
173
                     No. 14.
be inserted in a similar manner having the rest, how-
ever,  on the crown of the tooth next  to the space
to be supplied  instead of on  the side, for here the
pressure is down in masticating.   In the case of a
front tooth, the pressure is out.  These should be
put in  as  bridge work.   If over  three  teeth in a
case are to be  supplied, on  either side, above or
below,  it is desirable to equalize  the rest on the
gums and teeth as described.
  The  beginner  must not be disappointed at fail-
ures, for to properly adjust this class of work, skill,
patience and perseverance is  needed.  With  these
three qualities combined, success will soon follow,
and he will soon surprise himself to the gratifica-
tion of his customers. 
References.
  I publish a few of the many business  men  and
citizens of Chicago and vicinity using these teeth :
  We,  the  undersigned  citizens of  Chicago  and
vicinity, have  used teeth  inserted on Dr.  Low's
new method for some time and with the greatest
satisfaction,  and take  pleasure in  recommending
them to you.
  They are not only useful for mastication, but do
away with the  usual incumbrance of a plate ever
the roof of the mouth, and are as easily kept clean
as the natural teeth, affording  us so much satisfac-
tion that it seems almost as  though our  natural
teeth had been restored to us  again.  Signed:
A. A. McDonell..........219 South Sangamon st.
A. C. Morse...............223 West Madison st.
N. R. Patterson....................Times office.
W.  G. Ferguson...............2950 Indiana ave.
J. B. Keeler..........608 Washington Boulevard.
J. H. Clough..............460 West Randolph st.
Alvaro Ladd... 116 East Washington st., Room 14.
Mrs. E. Washburn............2438 Michigan ave.
Mrs. D. K. Hill..............1222 Michigan ave.
Mrs. S. H. McCrea.......167 East Washington st.
Mrs. E. Hopkins.................66 Warren ave.
Dr. Olin...................,.......126 State st.
B. W.  Sayers........................202 Cass st. 
                      175
J. H. McDuffy................654 Washington st,
John C. Barker...............,.. 79 Dearborn st.
J. B. Storey................245 and 247 State st.
C. A. Morse.........................North ave.
Gen. I. N. Stiles.................99 Randolph st.
W. H. Thompson...........229 West Madison st.
Mr. Burton.........................Batavia, Ilk
A. R. Brown....................Nashville, Tenn
C. D. Moshier.....................125 State st.
W. B. Race.....................Irving Park, 111.
John West...........164 and 166 Washington st.
M. Spalding..................20 South Canal st.
Mrs. Higgins...................160 Aberdeen st.
D. K. Hill...........Cor. Madison and Clark sts.
C. S. Hungerford.................Palmer House
Mrs. George Cobb...........2130  Michigan ave.
Robert Vial....................Webster Springs.
E. G. St. Clair.................Ishpeming, Mich.
Gen. Stanley.................Fort Clark, Texas.
Geo. Van Zandt___.....no West Washington st.
J. Wrigh, Attorney...........18 Howland Block.
J. B. Chandler..................142 Dearborn st.
Henry Beidler............49 South Sangamon st.
Isaac Bangs.........................47 State st.
M. Z. Slater......................125 LaSalle st.
T. C. Mass.........................Batavia, 111.
L. Cornwell...................Mt. Morris, Mich.
Dr. Neilson Church.........800 South Halsted st.
J. S. Stott..........................224 State st
Capt. J. Dysart.......................Dixon, 111. 
                      176
Mr. N. S. Green...................Milford, Wis.
Rev. Olmstead..................Oneonta, N. Y.
Miss E. Sweet.......................New York.
Levi S. Knapp...................Milford, N. Y.
M. Morris..........................Milwaukee.
Mrs. Barth.......................556  Fulton st.
Mrs. Thos. Sims.*............---Wabasha, Miss.
W. P. Crane........Wabash, St. Louis & P. R. R.
C. J. Gilbert..................---Evanston, 111.
A. W.  Fletcher___....................Glencoe.
Mr. McCoy.....................Bridgeport, 111.
Mrs. A. J.  Wise....................Chicago, 111.
Mr. Leroy....................... ... 14 State st.
J. E. Jones....................15 N. Carpenter.
Mrs. C. Hall.................................
Mr. Whitcomb......................41 Clark st.
Mr. Andrews.......................322 State st.
Mrs. Spiltsger.......................73 24th st.
Mrs. Maguire.........................Chicago.
Rev. Mr.  Armstrong---................Chicago.
Geo. Dayton..........................Chicago.
 Mrs. G. Bangs..................267 N. Clark st.
 N.  M. Neil...................163 Washington st.
 Mr. Hoyte................... 4013 Wabash ave.
 Dr. Ely............................58 State st.
 J. P. Putman.....................301 Illinois st.
 A. L.  Porter.................... Times Building.
 Miss Eliza White.................Fort Atkinson.
 Henry Pike...........................Chicago.
 Mrs. Munch..........................Chicago*. 
                     177
Mrs. Schofield.......................Chicago.
Mrs. R. D. Breckingham............16 Adams  st.
D. Taylor.....................167 Dearborn  st.
Mr. Shepherd................243 Michigan ave.
Mrs. A. H. Pratt..........23 & 25 Michigan ave.
W. F. Weyerhauser................Rockland, 111.
Mrs. Wm. M. Van Nortwick......%.......Batavia.
Mrs. B. S. McElminy...............Fairfield,  la.
Mr. Oberhelman..............................
Mrs. Webb............  ..........306 Leavit  st.
Mrs. F. E. Louis.....................Hinsdale.
Mrs. Bruno Goll...............159 Ashland ave.
B. Callahan................ ...114 Monroe  st.
Mrs. Toppen..................3122 Wabash ave.
Mr. Condee..................................
F. B. Rigby..................Geneva Lake, Wis.
Porter H. Snow........91 Dearborn st., Room 5.
Mrs. C. B. Brown..............1735 Indiana ave.
Miss Blossom.....................40 Aldine  sq.
A. R. Abbot.  .........................Chicago.
W. W. Ripley...................238 S. Water  st.
Mrs. Street  ....................157 S. Roby  st.
Mr. Coulterjohn............34 &  36 Madison  st.
Mrs. Wilkinson.................385  N. State  st.
Mrs. Leib...........................45  Oak st.
S. F. Norton....................161 La Salle  st.
Mrs. Champion. -.................145 W.  12th  st.
R. Dayton (Detective)................Fulton  st.
Mrs. G. Deal................................
Dr. Ormsb.ee.......................Geneva,  111, 
                      178
R. H. Curtis..............154 E. Washington st.
N S. Green___..................Milford, Wis.
C. Gibbert................First National Bank.
Mr. Black.....................144 Wabash ave.
J. E. Reyes.................Union Stock Yards.
Mr. Partridge...........3361 Cottage Grove ave.
Mrs. Silkworth.... .716 Penn St.,  Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Wise..............385 Illinois St., Chicago.
Mrs. Cass...................341 Wabash ave.
Thos. Irvine...................Wabasha, Minn.
Mr. Morris (Sup't).....First National Bank Bldg.
Mrs. Woodberry........  ........Palmer House.
Mrs. Troxell..................550 Warren ave.
Mrs. Walbridge...................394 Park ave.
W. S. Bradley....................218 Kinzie st.
R. H. Curtis.................154 Washington st.
D. A. Cook........................Ottawa, 111.
Mrs. Case.....................541 Wabash ave.
E. E. Wrownlaw................226 S. Water st.
Mr. Lind.......................100 S. Water st.
Mrs. Hecock.---Washington boulevard & Robey.
M. E. Dayton......Cor. Fifth ave. & Washington.
C. J. Shutes......................Milford, N. Y.
C. Roe...............................Chicago.
J. E. Callahan...................114 Monroe st.
Mrs. Sherman........................Chicago.
S. H. Prather......................Torkio, Mo.
Mrs. J. Barker..................536 Warren ave.
Mrs. S. Bagg......................Waterloo, la.
Mrs. Judson..........................Chicago. 
179
Mrs. S. Cline.......
Mrs. F. B. Mack ..
Mrs. Stodard.......
E. B. R. Grant......
Mrs. Bradly........
A.J.Ryan.........
Miss Lee..........
Mrs. Peabody......
Mrs. Tanner.......
George Fisher......
Miss St. John......
Mrs. W. J. Hudson .
Miss Maggie Thayer
Mrs. F. E. Lewis ...
Mrs. Milton George.
Mrs. Swartout......
Mrs. W. C. Linch...
J.  S. Van Nortwick..
........New York City.
........New York City.
 ..............Chicago.
 .........14 W. Throop.
 ........Bay City, Mich.
 ..............Chicago.
......585 W. Indiana st.
.....596 W. Jackson st.
.....35th st. & Ellis ave.
 44 S. Market st., Boston.
 .......487 Wabash ave.
......197 Washington st.
......797 W. Jackson st.
..............Hinsdale.
 ..............Chicago.
• Dearborn ave., Chicago.
 .....621 Washington st.
...............Batavia. 
               To the Public.
  I now close the  description of this new work
known as Low's New Method, and in doing so I wish
to state  that I have, like most other inventors, been
misrepresented, other parties setting themselves up
as the originators, the inconsistency of which  is
very discernible to the most dim and incomprehen-
sible  minds  that  are  familiar with the  circum-
stances.  I  am  seeking  and  presenting  nothing
but facts, and will soon be  able to present  them in
an indisputable manner.   I expect to'be misrepre-
sented by jealous and unscrupulous persons whose
interests are at stake, but to be betrayed by those in
whom you had the utmost confidence, and one  I
have for many years, through sympathy, assisted in
a brotherly manner and at the same  time  brought
up  to  a  higher  grade of  usefulness to  himself
and  others,  through  which  he  became  self-
sustaining, this, I say, far  overreaches my compre-
hension.  Notwithstanding all the treachery  thus
used for many years in trying  to undermine  me
and  build themselves up, which  was unknown  to
me until within the past  eight months, the facts
still remain and will soon dawn upon the would-be
destroyer, in all their deserved fury. 
To Dentists.
   I am now prepared to give instructions and issue
licenses to dentists.   Such parties will be furnished
with certificate  with  my signature  attached, and
none will be  granted license until  they have  be-
come proficient.  Any person can see the benefit
derived by being at once brought in contact with
established  principles wrought  out by  constant
application  and experience.  For further particu-
lars parties can call, or address me at 164 Dearborn
street, First National Bank Building, Chicago, 111.
                                Dr J. E. Low. 
 
 
 
 
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