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Some New
Discoveries
About Your
TEETH
SOME of the newest discoveries recently announced
in the care and treatment of the teeth are of
general interest. Among the rather surprising
new things is the discovery that in every mouth
certain teeth are sure to decay before the others.
Dr. Black has compiled tables from hundreds of eases
■which show that, in the lower jaw. our front, teeth
resist decay until the very last, while the back ones are
doomed from the start.
Eor some strange reason this Is reversed in the upper
j.tw, where the rear teeth stand up very well against
the attacks of microbes and acids, while the front
ones decay almost immediately.
Accord ng Io the tables theCe are the percentages of
your teeth which yon are likely to carry to your grave
if yon live out a normal life.
In your upper jaw th" front teeth will be 35 per cent
tooth ami 65 tier cent tilling. The little front loelh next
to lite pointed ones will be 53 per cent filling and 47
per cent, tooth The "canines,' or "eye” teeth, which are
next, make a better showing, for you will be buried with
almost 69 iter cent of them. Forty per cent of the "bi
cuspid,” Just back of the "canines,” will be th< work of
the dentist, while 41 per cent of the one behind will be
artificial.
Os the first of the three big grinders yon will lose 47
per cent, hut only 22 per cent of the middle one, and
How WOOD Can POISON You
NETTLES, poison ivy and poison sumac
are by no means the only plants which
have a posionous effect on the human
skin. Poisonous substances exist in many
t/ees, and even after they have, been cut and
sawed a sufficient quantity of the poison re
mains in the lumber so that workmen who
handle it are liable to infection.
Amberwood Is impregnated with a power
ful poison, according to Dr. Heinz Graf who
has been investigating the subject for the
German Botanical Society.
Two different kinds of wood are included
under the term amberwood- the genuine East.
Indian or Asiatic satinwood, or “silkwood,”
and the satin hardwood or amberwood. The.
two are quite different in external appear
nnce. Nc-tler succeeded in extracting tfho
active substance only from the latter This
is a stearin-like substance soluble only in
ether. A small quantity of It placed in con
tact with the skin of the under-arm, in the
course of about live hours produced a tensely
swollen yellowish blister surrounded by a red
area of inflammation. After the bursting of
the blister an ulcer remained which required
four weeks to heal.
What is known as “cocobolo” wood con
tains a poisonous substance easily soluble
in alcohol and benzol, less so in water. It is
apparently aft ethereal oil. The placing of
title sawdust of this wood on the moist skill
causes first a violent smarting. Following
lb's, ted spots or pimples appear, accom
pin<- I by redness and Inflammation of that
of the skin, followed by scaling.
niilar phenomena are caused by the plant
"ism Malthloll, but they are even stronger.
■i i blisters are produced. Touching the
Why ANIMALS Grow to LOOK ALIKE
THREE are many animals totally unrelated which
have come to display a more or less close re
semblance to one another. convergence is
tht tern; zoologists use to describe this strange phe
nomenon.
One oi the liest examples of convergence is furnish
ed by the birds of prey These are commonly under
stood to include birds like the hawks
ami the eagles, on the one hand,
and the owls, on the other. But, as
a matter of tact, the owls are a race
apart. They have nothing whatever
I, de with the eagle and his kin.
On the oilier hand, they are very
>ieu allied io the ‘goat-suckers,"
n: i proved |iy their anatomy They
have acquired their likeness to the
nobler birds the hooked beak and
sharp talons—-by their predatory
habits
Similarly the swallows and the
screaming, bow winged swifts have
conn to m'ai so close a likeness (hat
even experts have, been deceived
and have accordingly placed them in
the ume family. But here again
the skeleton ami muscles 101 l n very
different tale. The swifts also are
rear allies of the goat-suckers. Thei
modi of life Ims defbrnilm’d tholr
bodily shape.
lie birds furnish u- with vet another striking il
lustration in the little diving petrel and the little
auk.
I'h* tn a named Is a diminutive relative of the
llb»tfOK Hl*’ .: ullemol
tribe. '•! it would fake an t v rr to distinguish be
'".a Ibtsn. Huth are de-ien.lauts *.f bind dwellers
ili l have taken to a marine ii . gioenrlne all their
\.
of the wisdom tooth, your dentist
might not Io replace more than 11
per cent.
Taking the corresponding teeth on
the lower jaw, the decay in your
front teeth should lie the insignifi
cant amount of C> per cent, the next
one only 7 and the “canine" fi to
7 Your next two teeth will de
cay to the extent of 13 per cent
and 23 per cent, respectively. ,
About 43 tier '-ent. of the first two
grinders will have gotten away from
you and eighteen per cent, of the wis
dom teeth will not be with you. ,
Dr. Black does not lay these differ
ences so much to variations iu tooth
structure as to saliva currents and
cleansing action of the lipsand tongue
and the friction of food which favor
certain teeth.
Dr. Burl H. Thoms, of Boston, read
a paper recently on a subject very
important, to the average person. He
explains a method of making a tooth
insensible to pain for an hour or
more without upsetting the patient iu
atty way.
Many dentists scoff at “painless” dentistry, and some
people take pride in bearing pain as if suffering un
necessarily were a virtue. But most persons prefer not
to be heroes, and all doctors agree that intense suffering
causes damage to the nervous system.
The disadvantages of breathing an anaesthetic are
well known to every one Those who have had their
gums cocained for a tooth pulling know that it is a
dubious choice of evils. Also the so-called "pressure
anaesthesia" used in removing a live nerve is a joke, on
the patient, of course.
in Dr. Thoma’s method, a needle is used, much like
the old cocaine
*
plants is enough to cause the irritation, and
the infection may be transmitted to other
persons by hands so infected. The bearers
of the irritating substance in this case are
the .gland-hairs, as in the case of the prim
rose. This substance is a crystallizable sap
w hich can be extracted from the gland-hairs.
The sawdust of the Mexican binegum is
harmful when the skin is especially sensitive
from some other cause. A workman who was
suffering from tubercufosis, and who later
died from it, was attacked, after splitting this
lumber, by an eruption of the underarm
whft'h forced him to stop work. Others who
,<lid similar labor for years had no ill effects
In this case the tuberculosis may have created
the disposition.
As a result of his investigation Dr, Grat
ill . ildnet makers who work in satin
wood and gardeners who grow poisonous
plants to protect their hands, arms and head
from direct contact with the wood, sawdust or
injured portions of the plants. At the first
sign of any inflammation of the skin the
sufferer should receive the attention of a der
matologist.
It has long been thought that poisoning
might result from the proximity of sumac,
even if the plant was not touched, but Dr.
Graf denies this. A visitor to the Berlin
Botanical Gardens recently brought suit for
damages for injuries wihieh he alleged he had
suffered on account of his near proximity to
a poisonous sumac, which is on exhibition in
the gardens. But the suit was lost, for the
directors of the gardens proved conclusively
that for poisoning to occur the plant must ba
injured and the injured portion brought into
direct contact with the skin.
food beneath the water. Hence they have become \
profound, transformed in regard to their bodily \
shape. A very brief examination of their anatomy, \
however, is enough to show the affinities of each. (
No less striking is the case of the whales and por- (
poises, the descendants of ancient land dwellers, and \
the extraordinary likeness they present to those ex- <
tlnct sen dragons, the ichthyosaurs s
/ /
V .
■
I , -- i « ■> •
One of the Moil Striking Examples of
Convergence—the Diving Petrel —
Which only an Expert Can Di«tin
gnish from the Entirely Different Auk
Family.
stock. i
The striking likeness between the Old and the '
New World vultures is a case of parallelism. These '
two types are certainly not near relations. They are
descendants of a common stock starting in the race $
for life with certain characters in common. The
differvncea which they scow display rejuvsenl the
moulding forces to which their different experiences >
have exposed them
Copyright. ISIS, li
Curious Differences Between Your Upper and Lower Jaw, and an Important New Cure
and plesiosaurs, which in like man s
uer have been fashioned out of land i
dwellers. But there can be no qnes- \
tlon of community of descent, for the \
latter are highly specialized reptiles; <
the former are "mammals."
Cases such as these, and many ?
others of a more recondite character,
furnished material for some very i
spirited arguments at the recent (
meeting of the British Zoological ?
Association. About the facts all '
were in agreement. But in matters ;
of this kind there Is often a difficulty <
in distinguishing between "con- ;
vergence" and "parallelism"—that is ;■
to say, between instances where to S
tally unrelated animals have come '
to resemble one another tn response s
to the demands of their environ
merit, and those where this likeness '
Is due to inheritance from a commoji
/
■ \ A zi o
LOWER JAW f
Why You Should Watch Your Lower Back Teeth and Your
Upper Front Ones.
In Thin Diagram the BlarU Spot* Show the Proportion of T<’oth Suh
•inner Which Mnnl Be Itcp’nced. hy the Dentist. Iu (hr (vernier Mouth. In
the I pper Jaw the Front Tooth Mill Hr <L"» |»rr < ent Vrtiflrinl. thr Next 17
Per Ont. the Third 3| Per Cent, the Fourth IO Per < rnt, thr Fifth 11 Per
(.’ent, the Sixth 47 Per < rnt. thr Seventh 22 Per (rnt und the M Iwloni Tooth
Only 11 Per ( ent.
On the Lower .Inn, the Front Tooth Should Be Only (» Per < rot, Second
7 Per ( rnt, Third 3% Per Cent, Fourth 13 Pre ('ent. Fifth 23 Per < rnt. Sixth
and Seventh 43 Per Cent and thr Windom Tooth IS Per ( ent.
culation of the blood to bring some of it to the part of
the tooth where the dentist is to do his operating, only
one small drop of a drug called novocaine is injected.
The teeth are very much like an electric light circuit.
There may be anywhere from one Vo sixteen lights on a
circuit, but are all fed by one tiny pair of wires
running to the electric meter To put all the sixteen
lights out you need only to tamper with the main wire.
The new method is to run the point of the needle in
close to the nerve which carries the ache-messages to
the brain. One tiny drop deposited there puts a small
“circuit" of teeth outof communication with the patient’s
brain for an hour.
Another drug known as suprarenin is used with the
novocaine. Suprarenin has the effect of driving the
blood away. This keeps nature from removing the
novocaine too soon, as she otherwise would
The remarkable new cure for pyorrhea which was
briefly mentioned some months ago in these columns
? needle. But in
{ stead of filling
If he gum with co
caine and rely
ing on the cir-
>
How a Doctor’s NOSE Helps Him to Detect DISEASE
By L. K. HIRSHBERG, A.8., M.A., M.D.‘
THE rankest, most villainous smells have a virtue
all their own in the diagnosis and treatment of
many ills. It is said that Dr. Austin Flint could
i smell a smallpox patient a mile off. And upon one
occasion he emptied a street car in the flash of an eye
? by sniffing and saying with authority, "Some One in this
I car has smallpox." In similar fashion Sir William
> Osler used to claim to be able to locate a case of typhoid
> fever before he actually saw the patient by means of a
>■ peculiar fish-like smell. And Dr. Robert E. Coughlin, of
J ' Brooklyn, has built up a very noteworthy method of
i distinguishing one human ailment from another by the
use of his nose.
s
It is indeed Strang? that the cultivation of the sense
J of smell has. so long lagged behind the training of the
! eye and ear, touch and movement. In medical schools
’ particularly all the instruments hitherto used as aids
> in unearthing disease have been tools of hearing and
■ vision. The microscope and thermometer aid the eye,
’ the stethoscope and cardiophone aid the ear. Even the
$ sense of touch and the muscle Sense are cultivated and
s encouraged, but the nose almost never.
< Yet a hound or a rabbit, a fly or a carrion crow
< could not long survive in the struggle for existence if
< their olfactory organs were as neglected as man’s.
I Indeed, the nearer to a wild state a man lives the
closer he is to nature and the sharper is his sense of
smell. This does not mean that dirty, lowly civilized
people have a refined mode of detecting odors, for the
stenches emanating from the homes of many races are
scarcely noticed by tne natives themselves, while, on
the contrary, they are instantly apparent to the ultra
civilized English and Americans.
It’s Your MUSCLES That Get Sick--Not the NERVES ■
A DISCOVERY of the greatest importance
has just been made independently and
at the same time by several scientists
of this country and Europe to the effect
that the prostrating elements that go under the
names of weak nerves, neurasthenia, nervous
collapse, nervous debility, nervous “Indiges
tion.” neuritis, Inflamed nerves, melancholia
and many other so-called troubles of the nerves
are in no way due to diseases of those libers.
It is not the nerves at all, but the muscles
which get sick and cause all the trouble.
It is beginning to be thought very doubtful
whether even nerves that are accidentally cut
or even destroyed can cause any es the ailments (
that have been associated with the name “ner
vous.” What really happens .when a nerve
Why LANGUAGE Is Really Nothing but GRUNTS
LANGUAGE may be said to be nothing but
grunts, embellished and modified by pitch,
inflection and accent. The ability to give
sustained and significant articulation to these
sounds distinguishes the civilized or educated
man from his savage or unlettered brother. It
is surprising how much quick meaning may still
be conveyed by the Inflected grunt of the savage.
Tbe truth is that when we are not Influenced
by acquired mannerisms we still revert to that
"inflected grunt." When we are deep in thought
somebody asks us a question. If we fall of full
attention and care to have the question repeated
we say “Huh?" —the grunt with the rising inter
logative inflection. Or. if w< have grasped the
meaning of the question and wish to glv i
y tin- Star Company Great Britain Itlglits Re. r
is now being generally adopted by
the leading dentists. This is known
is the Dunlop Pyorrhea Cure. Our
parents used to know pyorrhea as
recession of the gums." It is also
called “Rigg’s disease," and some per
sons refer to their troubles as “sore
gums.”
By the new method of Dr. W F.
Dunlop, of New York, it is now pos
sible to cure sore gums, bring back
again the portions that have receded
from the teeth, and restore to flrm
ness and useful service teeth that
have become loose.
Dr. J. P. Carmichael, of Milwaukee,
believes that pyorrhea lias three
stages, but that it is rarely if ever
recognized until it reaches the third
stage. The first sign is a flattened
appearance of the usually curving
edge of the gum. Just next to the
edge will be noticed a deep red line
This may be around one tooth or
many, the patient has no pain or dis
comfort, and usually neither he nor
his dentist is interested.
Careful examination will reveal a
red, thread-like line running from
the inflammation near the gum edge
to a dull red spot
perhaps half an
inch away.
This dull red
spot is an inflain
ed gland, and the
little red thread
is an irritated
duct or tube
which runs from
the gland to the
edge of the gum.
The business of
the gland is to
secrete certain
fluids which have
to do with pro-
Every man, woman and child has an odor of his own.
Each age ami sex has one that is peculiar and different
from the other. Furthermore, these odors can all be
studied, labeled and made to serve the skillful observer
in detecting the characteristics of the individual. The
odor of old men is strikingly different from that of the
male infant, while the odor attached to dark-skinned
persons is obviously unlike that associated with light
skinned. Even various gradations of smells are attached
to different degrees of bronzing of the skin in
brunettes.
Dried and seared leaves emit a fragrance which re
sembles that of the aged, while no fond mother can
fail to recognize the distinctive scent of her own infant.
It is not unlike the sweet smell of butyric acid. Red
haired people have a pleasant scent about their bodies,
whereas those who perspire freely, especially stout
persons, have an odor like that of lemon juice or acetic
acid in their armpits.
True enough all odors are lessened after bathing, and
when these characteristic odors are obtrusive bathing
should be done at least twice a day. But even the
steam bath does not wholly remove them, because they
are part of your nature. Only when the tissues become,
altered by disease or changed occupation are these
odors in any way altered. Tommy Atkins well yields
not the same scent, as Tommy' Atkins sick, and the type
of smell that the alert doctor notes about Tommy's bed
when he is ill aids in a manner in the recognition of
his ailment.
Tuberculosis has an odor in its later stage said by
Dr. Coughlin to be distinctive. Even appendicitis, with
the formation of pus. has its peculiar smell. Various
types <tf kidney disorders can be suggested by the odors
emitted, and diabetes is said to manifest itself by an
shrivels up or" is otherwise hurt, is that tbe
muscles nearby or tbe muscles at the end of
the motor nerves becotfie flabby or rigid, weak
or fatty, over-stiff or beyond the control and
guidance of your will.
Muscle maladies must be the names hence
forth of all of these miscalled “nervous" in
flammations. and with flits discovery of the cause
■ comes at once a simple way to bring about a
cure. Most cases of weak nerves or “neu
rasthenia" mean overfed, flabby, weak and neg-*
leeted muscles. The thing to do is to rejuvenate
those muscular tissues.
How- can this be done? First of ail by un
'dergoing the same sort of rigorous training that
a college athlete or even a prize fighter sub
mits to. Mere walking does not answer, be
cause walking is an unconscious act that is
favorable or affirmative reply, we emit “Üb-huh”
—a gruut whose meaning would be clear to the
veriest savage.
As a cave-man your expression of surprise
would be a grunt beginning abruptly In a key
of medium pitch, soft, falling to a low one, and
as abruptly ending.
Grunts as a means of communicating Ideas
naturally have to do with tbe primal feelings of
man. Pain, pleasure, content, discontent, want,
satiety—all sympathetic affections. In fast, espe
cially If the stimulus Is quick and keen, may bo
voiced through grunts.
It is quite likely that the first grunts were
used solely In the wav of alarm, caution or
defiance. As man progressed toward sustained
-d. .
for Loose Teeth and Sore Gums
/iff J
OUXLLj
How Pyorrhea Exposes the Roots
and Leaves “Pockets” Be
tween the Teeth.
tecting and cleansing the teeth and which probably
aid in digestion.
These glands are similar to the glands in a dog's
mouth which secrete the poison causing hydrophobia.
It is held by our best medical authorities that human
bites have caused hydrophobia, and there is a similarity
between the hydrophobia condition in a dog’s mouth
•nd pyorrhea in a human being. “Frothing at the
mouth” is caused by these glands
When food particles or microbes poison the end of
the tube leading to one of these glands, the infection
and inflammation extend to the gland itself. Neighbor
ing glands become involved and the condition spreads
from tooth to tooth. Pus begins to exude from the
tubes and may or may not be noticed after squeezing
with the fingers.
This is the second stage, and is soon followed by the
third. The gums being thoroughly poisoned and in
flamed, they shrink and withdraw, leaving parts of the
neck of the tooth exposed.. Holes called “pockets”
appear between the teeth and the patient becomes
alarmed at finding a few teeth are loose and wabble at
the pressure of his tongue. These teeth will eventually
drop out it the disease is not stopped.
The Dunlop method is to use a gentle spray, mostly
gas. composed of an oxygen-bearing compound. The
gas is not forced into the gums, but penetrates them by
its own affinity for dead matter. The gas runs up the
little inflamed ( tubes of its own accord and cleans out
the gland at the inner end. It burrows and runs
about in the passages between the teeth of a pyorrhea
patient in a curious way, but will not enter healthy
gums. When pyorrhea has been
cured and the gums have returned
to their normal condition the gas
an no longer be indticed to enter
rhe membranes.
How the Dunlop Treatment Causes
tlie Gums to Heal Up and
Return to Plsec.
odor like the fragrance of sweet peas.
It is no Munchausen story to say that a medic: .
lock Holmes can tell by the odor of your fltr
tions, such as the perspiration and the tike,
yoif have recently been«taking such medicine. <
as valerian, assaloetide, asparagus, garlic cut;
many others. The odor of violets thus'noted ini'.
that turpentine has been taken.
Like the senses of sight and hearing the e-'s
smell quickly tires. Hence it is only before n
sets in that a doctor can diagnose different ailment
the sense of smell alone, if he is a smoker or a drink- :
it is useless to depend upon the nose.
Rare ailments, such as bronchiectasis o dm
tubes in the lungs, gangrene of the lungs and in
pulmonary cavities have all been made evident
odors, A sour-scented breath points just as clearly .0
an excessively acid stomach as a literally sweat breath
does to the sugar disease. In middle ear diseases the
odor from that bit of anatomy is like that of camembert
Cheese.
A nose not overly sharp can discover such hygienic
and unhygienic odors as sewer gas, cellar air, illuminat
ing gas, decaying fruit, coal gas, putrid meat, new mown
bay, fresh country breezes, frosty morning air, showery
atmospheres, ocean winds and the envigoratlng ozone
that follows a thunder shower.
All of this makes it plain that man’s sense of smell
can be of the greatest assistance to him in seeding the
beneficial and avoiding the dangerous. The neglect ot
this one important sense has necessarily kept mankind
backward. It. therefore, rests with the educators of the
future to properly train and pay attention to odors, so
that every one may be able to distinguish seven octaves
of smell or a great spectrum of odors.
strictly a habit and the muscles concerned are
so used to moving mechanically, that there is
"no fun in it.” x
in other words, there must be an appreciation •
and recognition of what your muscles are doing,
there must be a play element in your every
little movement. The muscles of the neck,
shoulders, back, arms and all the parts of the
body that are not exercised in walking, must
be made, to use a homely phrase, “as play
ful as kittens.”
The way to bring this about is to row, swim,
play tennis, run, play baseball, wrestle ride
horseback, dance all of the new dances, climb •
hills, do anything and everything to bring Pack
inio use muscles that have uot been stirred up
for perhaps many years.
bodily labor, grunts to denote the various de
grees of exertion, haste and exhaustion we.-e
added.
As life became more complex and his mind
busied itself more actively with ideas, man
naturally invented new- sounds for communi
cating his thoughts. The finer aud more aes
thetic his sensibilities became, the less there
was in his language of the harsh savage grunt.
Everything considered, it is possible that the
cave-man had an advantage over us. For though
his words were few in number he had few ideas
to voice, few thoughts to express, few activities
to advance, and these were all of such a nature
that his grunt was encyclopaedic in its ability to
explain On the other hand, life is now so com
plex that with all our words, inflections accents
mimicry, postures and gestures we are often
unable to make our meaning perfectly Clear.
•