Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1879 — About Teeth. [ARTICLE]

About Teeth.

Teeth have been both a source of trouble and vanity to their possessers from all time, as they still continue to be. Dentists were common among the Egyptians, on the authority of Herodotus, and the extraction of teeth was known to the ancient Greeks. Sprengel, in his “History of Medicine,” says: “Even surgical instruments are bequeathed by the inventors to these sacred shrines of medicine. Thus, Erasistratus presented to the Delphic Temple of Apollo an instrument for extracting teeth.” The Romans were acquainted with the use of false teeth, and they are mentioned both by Horace and Martial. Among the ancient Jews it was a violation of the Sabbath to wear a false tooth on that day. Teeth which have been found at Pompeii were very sound, a discovery which led to the supposition that the people of that ancient city did not indulge in the luxuries which have attended the progressive march of civilization. Artificial teeth became known in England, it is supposed, about the fifteenth or sixteenth century. They are mentioned in the “Mathematical jewel,” 1585; and Ben Jonson, in the “Silent Woman,” refers to them: “Otter (speaking of his wife) —A most vile face! and yet she spends me £4O a year in mercury and hog’s bones. AU her teeth were made in the Black Friars.”— All the Year Round. Benedict Arnold once wrote a letter begging the aid of the British Government for reason of the sacrifices he had made for it. This letter was sold for S3O at an autograph sale in Boston the other day. At the same sale a letter of Bulwer brought $3.25; one of Byron, s3l; one of Victor Hugo, $7.12; one of Samuel Johnson, $25; and one of Charles Lamb, $19.50. • A bright boy was walking along the street with his mother, and, observing a man with a peculiar hitch in his gait approaching, he droUy exclaimed: “ Look there, mamma I See how that poor man stutters with his feet.”—Chicago Commercial Advertiser. The oldest ex-Representative of Congress living is Mr. Artemus Hale, of Bridgewater, Mass., who is 96 years old.