Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1889 — Pulling Teeth by Electricity. [ARTICLE]

Pulling Teeth by Electricity.

Boston people nowadays have their superfluous teeth drawn by electricity. The process is very simple, scarce any apparatus being required beyond an ordinary two cell battery with vibrator attachment. This attachment is a thin strip of metal fastened at the ends, which is made to vibrate a thousand or more times a second by the electric cur rent. At each vibration the circuit is cut off and renewed again, the effect being to give a perfectly steady flow of the mysterious fluid. In order to make sure that the flow is quite satisfactory, the operator tunes the machine— assisted by a little reed tuning pipe—until the strip of metal sings “A.” Now, to the battery are attached three wires. Two of them have handles at the ends, and the third is attached to a forceps. The patient in the chair is given a handle to hold in each hand, and the current is turned on gradually until it becomes painful. Then he is told to grasp the handles as strong as possible, the electricity—having been switched off for a moment—is turned on again suddenly, and the dental surgeon applies his forceps simultaneously to the tooth. The instant the molar is touched, it, as well as the parts surrounding, becomes electiified, and absolutely insensible to pain. When it is withdrawn from the socket the subject of the operation feels not the slightest disagreeable sensation. A jerk, and the tooth is out, the patient drops the electric handles, and the painless affair is over. , Now that the French have popularized horse meat and frogs, they have gone heavily into snail culture. Small farmers are said to make from SI,OOO. to $2,C00 a year fattening these tender esculents. They are bought up readily by the wealthy, and are a generally favorite food. Mushroom culture and snail cul-, ture utilize the dark places, cellars and tunnels. So it is that the possibilities of food > supply increase. Much of the best that the earth supplies has so far been neglected. Our locusts, that the Western farmers will not eat, is the chief article of diet in Oriental countries.