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mixom 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. •