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Dentologia: A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth and Their Proper Remedies. by Solyman Brown, A.M. Practical, Historical, Illustrative and Explanatory by Eleazar Parmly, Dentist Introduction Jump To: Canto Second Canto Third Canto Fourth Canto Fifth CANTO FIRST Argument Invocation to living beauty as seen in the human countenance.- Importance of personal charms to the female sex.- Man a natural physiognomist.- Mental and moral qualities mirrored in the features.- Original beauty of the human race.- Beauty of angelic natures when purified from the stains of morality.- Subject of dentistry proposed.- Universal laws of nature in regard to human teeth.- Importance of good dental practitioners. CANTO FIRST No goddess born in blue- eyed Juno’s reign, Or fair- haired sister of Apollo’s train- No coy and quivered Dryads of the woods, Or laughing Naiad of the dashing floods- Do I invoke;- ye fabled forms- retire! Let breathing loveliness my notes inspire:- To thee, my cherished friend! The strains belong, And LIVING BEAUTY animates my song. This magic spell that mirrors every grace Of woman’s heart, in lovely woman’s face; This speaking index of the polished mind, In virtue pure, by virgin truth refined;- Is love’s own banner, gracefully unfurled, To fix affection, and enchant the world. Without its aid, how hard were woman’s lot! The sigh neglected, and to die forgot; Though nature’s genial fires unceasing burn, To live unloved, and love without return! For well we know that all of human kind, Read in the face the features of the mind; The soul’s bright forms forever fresh and fair, Wit, worth, and modesty, are pictured there. Say not- perverted taste alone descries An intellectual light in radiant eyes; In fragrant groves arrayed in emerald green, Where varying landscapes animate the scene, Thou, sainted Mother! Find’st that blest repose, Which sweet celestial innocence bestows,- To friendship there, thy glowing heart is given; Thy hands, to all the charities of heaven; Thy voice, to melody; thine eye, to see The radiant bow that spans eternity! If nature thus, instructive, deigns to trace The soul in every feature of the face; If lovely virtue there displays her charm, And guilty passions ring the loud alarm; Arouse, thou slumbering fair! And learn to see That heaven emits thy destiny to thee. Is virtuous love thy aim? Deserve the prize : Or friendship? Know that here the secret lies:- To be- and to appear what men approve:- Their friendship thus is won- and thus their love. Be mine the pride in measured verse to raise A plain but lasting monument of praise, To that distinguished science, know of yore, Designed departed beauty to restore- The Dental Art, by Greece and Rome admired, When a woman to imperial thrones aspired;- Those mighty states were both to ruin hurls, But lo! Their art survives to bless the world. Full well I know ‘tis difficult to chime The laws of science with the rules of rhyme; Plain vulgar prose, my subject seems to claim, Did not ambition prompt the higher aim, The nobler pride, by more laborious care, To speak in numbers that shall please the fair. To woman, love’s first melodies were sung, in nature’s prime, when earth and time were young, And every bard, in each succeeding year, Has framed his lays for woman’s listening ear:- Nor let the groveling soil that cleaves to earth Dare to pretend to comprehend her worth; When pure- she’s purer than the virgin snow, On Andes’ top, when summer smiles below; And more delight o’er life her sweetness breathes, Than all besides that heaven to man bequeaths. Since beauty thus bestows the kind caress, and oft audacity secures success, Be mine the task to join the tuneful throng, And blend instruction with the charms of song. When man was fashioned by the Power Supreme, Strange and mysterious as the fact may seem, And cause of wonder; to his frame was given Peculiar structure by the hand of heaven:- Imperious laws distinctively his own, To other animated forms unknown. Among these laws which science learns to trace, Through every varying tribe of human race; From arctic regions, clad in endless snows, To where the tropical sirocco blows, As well where elegant refinement smiles, As far remote, among the ocean isles, On common destiny awaits our kind;- ‘Tis this, that long before the infant mind Attains maturity- and ere the sun Has through the first septennial circle run, The teeth, deciduous, totter and decay, And prompt successors hurry them away. This every mother knows, though not aware, How precious then the kind maternal care That holds incessant watch, lest nature’s course Should meet obstruction from some counter force. For oft the predecessors, lingering, claim Undue connection with the vital frame, And, like a monarch, vindicate alone, The questioned title to their ivory throne. So mothers, proud of each surviving charm, Regard their daughters’ beauty with alarm, Lest these to admiration should aspire, Before themselves are ready to retire. But nature’s course is fixed, and man must yield, For ‘tis but madness to contest the field With conquering fate: and holy heaven withdraws Its smile from all who violate its laws. Be watchful, ye- whose fond maternal arm, Would shield defenseless infancy from harm, Mark well the hour when nature’s rights demand, The skillful practice of the dentist’s hand. But use discretion:- oft imposture wears The same external guise that merit bears; And bold pretenders show consummate wit, By duping others to abandon it. Beware of this whim science never taught The hard but useful drudgery of thought, For while in indolence their years have run, They ask the wealth that industry has won:- Can charity for such desire success? No, let them eat the bread of idleness. On just desert let all success attend, And patient merit never want a friend. To thee, the companion of my happiest days, The general voice awards superior praise; ‘Twas nobly won, by sacrifice of ease, ‘Mid raging tempest and through stormy seas. End of Canto First Argument The first dentition, or the growth and progress of the milk teeth.- Operation of lancing the gums; fatal consequences of neglect, or of inefficient remedies,- The second dentition, or the formation and arrangement of the permanent teeth- Extraction in case of interference, or mal- arrangement,- Distortion and deformity resulting form negligence,- Perfection of the material of which the teeth are composed. CANTO SECOND The first dentition asks our earliest care, For oft, obstructed nature, laboring there, Demands assistance of experienced art, And seeks from science her appointed part. Perhaps ere yet the infant tongue can tell The seat of anguish that it knows too well, Some struggling tooth, just bursting into day, Obtuse and vigorous, urges on its way, While inflammation, pain, and bitter cries, And flooding tears, in sad succession rise. The lancet, then, alone can give relief, And mitigate the helpless sufferer’s grief; But no unpracticed hand should guide the steel Whose polished point must carry woe or weal:- With nicest skill the dentist’s hand can touch, And neither wound too little nor too much. Be prompt to act;- ‘tis dangerous to delay, Since life awaits the issue of a day:- reject the gentler means:- employ the best:- Let unobstructed, may a smiling form, With beauty bright, and life blood glowing warm, Its parents’ pride, a flowered in its bloom, Descends lamented to an early tomb. Nor less the danger when the first array- The infant teeth- alternately decay, Or yield succession to a hardier race With marked reluctance: for, in either case, Neglect will bring repentance in its train; In one, deformity;- the other, pain Or fell disease;- but timely care may still Avoid the danger, or repair the ill. If pain ensue, and neighboring parts inflame, Extortion is the cure: and ‘tis the same If nature’s law, obstructed from the opposing force: For this resisting force howe’er remote, Meets in the dental art its antidote; Pain flies its presence; anguish wipes her tear; To hope’s fond vision rainbow- hues her alarms, And beaus, admiring, her own added charms. Now mark the contrast in some hideous face, Fobbed by neglect, of symmetry and grace:- Behold those organs, formed on nature’s plan, To serve important purposes the man; To form the sounds in which his thoughts are dearest, His wishes uttered, and his live confest; To fit his solid food of every name, For healthy action on the general frame; Behold these organs, wrested by abuse, From wisest purpose, and from noblest use, Deranged, displaced, distorted, set awry, Disgusting objects of deformity! Such mal- formations hardier man perplex, But, with more grief, afflict the softer sex:- For when with grace, deformity is joined, As one base passion desolates the mind, So one contrasted fault alone disarms All conquering beauty of a thousand charms. Let azure eyes with coral lips unite, And health’s vermilion blend with snowy white; Let auburn tresses float upon the gale, And flowery farmlands all their sweets exhale; If once the lips in parting, should display The teeth discolored or in disarray, The spell dissolves, and beauty in despair Beholds her fond pretensions melt in air. But learn the remedy:- the dentist’s skill Subjects disordered nature to his will:- As great commanders hear without alarms, The shouts of battle and the shock of arms, And, when their troops, in broken ranks, incline To wild confusion, bring them into line; So he- the master of the dental art, Can order, grace, and symmetry impart, Where anarchy had else sustained alone The undisputed title to his throne. Such benefits this useful science lends To earliest youth;- and yet its aid extends To following years, assuaging mortal pain, And oft restoring beauty’s flowery reign. The human frame, offspring of heaven’s high will, Displays throughout inimitable skill; No part defective: none that perfect love Could prompt unbounded wisdom to improve. The eye, the ear, how wondrously designed To serve as useful allies to the mind. The heaving lungs, that drink th’ aerial flood, Imparting vigor to the vital blood;- The heart, that like a virtuous monarch, reigns, And spreads delight through all its wide domains: How wondrous these!- yet see the hand divine Be equal skill displayed in every line, In every feature of the perfect whole, That acts in concert with the moving soul. To this great law, that governs every part, And rules” as perfect in a hair as hear,” The teeth conform; and hence it stands confest, Their substance, form, and structure, are the best That wisdom could devise for such a use, And hence, defective, only from abuse. Not polished pearl from Ceylon’s coral eaves, Or California’s or Cumana’s waves; From Indian hills, Golconda’s lucid gem That shines a star in Brama’s diadem; Nor gold of Ophir, wrought by Aaron’s skill, To from the idol calf, and worshipped still, Could act the part in nature’s general plan, Assigned these organs in the frame of man. END
OF CANTO SECOND Argument. Apostrophe to Luxury; its effects on general health.- In temperance in eating and drinking.- - Use of animal food.--Effects of luxury and intemperance of teeth. --Cleanliness, neglect of it punished by gangrene of the teeth, and other diseases.--Fate of Urilla occasioned by her carelessness.--Caries, or decay of teeth.-- The tooth- ache. CANTO THIRD Oh Luxury! The eldest born of wealth, Thou foe to virtue, and thou bane of health; Insidious nursling in the lap of case, Whose breath is pertinence, whose smile disease; May suffering man yet see thee as thou art, A greedy vampire, feasting in his heart! Of all the ills that ante- date the doom of erring mortals, and erect the tomb So near the cradle, shortening to a span The fleeting life of transitory man, The worst is luxury:- Infrequent flies The lightning’s fatal bolt; the lowering skies Are seldom darkened by the whirlwind’s wrath, Or loud tornado’s devastating path. Beneath the ocean wave through some expire, And others by the fierce volcano’s fire; Though savage war can boast those thousands slain, On tented filed, or bosom of the main; Yet few the victims of these fates malign, Compared, intemperate luxury! With thine. Wherever wealth and false refinement reign, The pampered appetites compose their train; Remotest climes supply the varied feast, But wisdom never comes a welcome guest; The gourmand, folly, bids the poison pass, And drains destruction from the circling glass. The harmless flock, to cruel slaughter led, Crowns high the board; for this the herd has bled, For this, the gay musicians of the grove, Suspend forever all their songs of love! Earth, air, and ocean, each its part supplies Of sentient life, to swell the sacrifice; As though some fiend had sketched the darkest plan Of bloody banquet for the monster- man! Though teeming earth bestows on honest toil, In every climate and in every soil, Their proper fruits, by nature’s law designed, The safe and luscious diet of mankind, Yet, see the race from flowery Eden stray, To roam the mightiest of the beast’s of prey! See sensual man still smiling with delight, While bleeding life is quivering gin his sight! But nature, sure to vindicate her cause, Avenges each transgression of her laws; Beware, rash man!- for every nice offense Shall meet, in time, a dreadful recompense; Nor flight can save- nor necromantic art, Nor dext’rous stratagems elude the smart; For ,lo, in fearful shapes, a haggard band Of fell diseases, wait at her command. ‘Tis thus derangement, pain, and swift decay, Obtain in man their desolating away, Corrupt his blood, infect his vital breath, And urge him headlong to the shades of death. No more his cheeks with flushing crimson glow; No more he feels the sanguine current flow; Bu quenched and dim his sightless eyeballs roll, Nor meet one star that gilds the glowing pole! Amid this general wreck of health and case, Where every folly generates disease, The teeth, in spite of nature’s guardian care, In all disorders of the system share, Besides those ills peculiarly their own, To other portions of the frame unknown. If sloth or negligence the task forbear Of making cleanliness a daily care; Of fresh ablution, with the morning sun, Be quite forborne of negligently done; In dark disguise insidious tartar comes Encrusts the teeth and irritates the gums, Till vile deformity usurps the seat Where smiles should play and winning graces meet, And foul disease pollutes the fair domain, Where health and purity should ever reign. Behold Urilla, nature’s favored child;- Bright on her birth indulgent fortune smiled;- Her honored grandsire, when the field was won, By warring freeman, led by Washington. Nobly sustained, on many a glorious day. The fiercest fervors of the battle- fray; Survived the strife, and saw at length unfurled Our union- banner floating round the world; Then found a grave, as every patriot can, Inscribed ”Defender of the rights of man.” Her sire, whose freighted ships form every shore Returned with wealth in unexhausted store, Was doubly rich;- his gold was less refined Than the bright treasures of his noble mind. And she herself is fair in form and face;- Her glance is modesty, her motion grace, Her smile, a moonbeam on the garden bower, Her blush, a rainbow on the summer shower, And she is gentler than the fearful fawn That drinks the glittering dew drops of the lawn. When first I saw her eyes’ celestial blue, Her cheeks’ vermilion, and the carmine hue, That melted on her lips;- her auburn hair That floated playful on the yielding air; And then that neck within those graceful curls, Molten from Cleopatra’s liquid pearls, I whispered to my heart;- we’ll fondly seek The means, the hour, to hear the angel speak; For sure such language from those lips must flow, As none but pure and seraph natures know. ‘Twas said- ‘twas done- the fit occasion came, As if to quench betimes the kindling flame of love and admiration;- for she spoke, And lo, the heavenly spell forever broke; And fancied angel vanished into air, And left unfortunate Urilla there: For when her parted lips disclosed to view, Those ruined arches, veiled in ebon hue, Where love had thought to feast the ravished sight On orient gems reflecting snowy light, Hope, disappointed, silently retired, Disgust triumphant came, and love expired! And yet, Urilla’s single fault was small: If by so harsh a name ‘tis just to call Her slight neglect:- but ‘tis with beauty’s chain, As ‘tis with nature’s:- sunder it in twain At any link, and you dissolve the whole, As death disparts the body form the soul. Let every fair one shun Urilla’s fate, And wake to action, ere it be late;- Let each successive day unfailing bring The brush, the dentifrice, and, from the spring, The cleansing flood:- the labor will be small, And blooming health will soon reward it all. Or, if her past neglect prelude relief, By gentle means like these; assuage her grief; The dental art can remedy the ill, Restore her hopes, and make her lovelier still. Yet other evils may her care engage, The offspring of an epicurean age. Destructive caries come with secret stealth T’ avenge the violated laws of health: Dilapidates the teeth by slow decay, And bears the all successively away. So, silent Time, with unresisted power, Labors at midnight in the lonely tower; Corrodes the granite in the ivied wall, And smiles to hear the crumbling atoms fall;- Till all the mighty structure disappears, A dream forgot, a tale of other years. When caries, thus, the solid tooth destroys, That sullen enemy to mortal joys, The tooth- ache, supervenes:- detested name, Most justly damned to everlasting fame! They say who most have felt, and best should know The power of this most execrable woe, That when Pandora’s box of mortal pains, Was first unlocked among the wondering swains, To every vice its kindred grief was sent, And every crime received its punishment, Except intemperance;- no single ill Could heaven’s irrevocable law fulfill, The fixed resolve, th’ omnipotent decree, That each offense should meet its penalty; Then all these mortal woes in one were joined, And tooth- ache came, the terror of mankind! Thou haggard fiend! Of hellish imps the worst, To mercy deaf, by sorrowing man accurst; Though cheerless days made desolate by thee, And long, long nights of sleepless agony, Have marked thy fearful reign in days of yore, Thy power is crushed,- thy scorpion-sting no more Affrights the helpless, for the dental art Commands they gloomy terrors to depart, Then wipes from beauty’s cheek the tears that burn, And bids her roses and her smiles return. End of Canto Third Argument Remedies for the various disorders of the teeth,- Filing away carious portions.- Stopping carious cavities with gold foil.- Loss of the teeth occasioning the necessity of substituting others- Of artificial teeth.- Eulogium on those who labor for the benefit of mankind. CANTO FOURTH Auspicious art! Before whose magic spell, Disease and pain shrink shuddering back to hell, Whose touch, like that mysterious gem of old, That changed all baser metals into gold, Restores the faded floweret to its bloom, And saves the victim from the threatening tomb:- Direct my song and teach me to rehearse in the smooth numbers of enchanting verse, Those varied stratagems employed by thee, To soothe the pangs of frail humanity. In nature’s vast domain, with curious eye, Search through the earth, the ocean, and the sky; Ask of the beast that crops the flowery plain, And fish that threads the billows of the main; Ask of the bird that journeys on the wind, And reasoning man for nobler flights designed;- If any link in wide creation’s chain Of golden harmony, produces pain; Or, in the general frame, is found a flaw, But from resistance to wise nature’s law? And this resistance comes from man alone, Who vainly thinks to shake th’ Eternal’s throne; Who spurns the good to humble virtue given, And madly builds himself another heaven. Folly with wisdom holds unequal strife, In bold infraction of the laws of life. If then the teeth, designed for various use, Decay and ache, ‘tis only from abase; And lo, triumphant art can well ensure, At least a remedy, if not a cure. Whene’er among the ivory disks, are seen, The filthy footsteps of the dark gangrene; When Caries comes, with stealthy pace to throw Corrosive ink spots on those banks of snow- Brook no delay, ye trembling, suffering fair, But fly for refuge to the dentist’s care. His practiced hand, obedient to his will, Employs the slender file with nicest skill; Just sweeps the vermin of disease away, And stops the fearful progress of decay. Fair science, thus, with timely care combined, Becomes the faithful friend of human kind; Reverses, oft man’s miserable fate, And serves his cureless ills to mitigate: Extracts the poison from his tainted breath, And plucks the feather from the shaft of death. From long neglect which nothing can atone, Should caries excavate the solid bone, Destroy the bright enamel in its way, And lay the nerve quite naked to the day; Still dental science, subject of my song, Invents expedients to redress the wrong. ‘Tis then the world’s bright god, so highly prized, That earth and heaven are daily sacrificed Upon its altar, wrested from abuse, Performs in nature one substantial use:- Unlike the sacrilegious part it bore At thundering Sinai’s trembling base of yore, When Usrael’s blooming daughters gave their gold, That Aaron, frail and impious priest, might mould The idol calf- unlike its task assigned, To bribe, and buy, and subjugate mankind; To purchase love and friendship; and descend A heritage where noble virtues end; To be, with those who basely covet it, The villain’s honor, and the dance’s wit; The shining claim that elevates the clown To all the stupid mummery of the gown; The lure by which the genious of tis led To give the termagant his bridal bed; The current bribe to hireling virtue given; The bartered substitute for truth and heaven! This idol god, that thus usurps the skies, The artist now to noblest use applies; Transmutes its form with Caesar’s head impressed, Or in Napoleon’s robes imperial dressed, To soft and yielding lamina;- with skill The practiced dental surgeon learns to fill Each morbid cavity, by caries made, With pliant gold:- when thus the parts decayed Are well supplied, corrosion, forced to yield To conquering art the long contested field, Resigns its victim to the smiles of peace, And all decay and irritation cease. Yet oft, through ignorance or negligence, ‘Twere hard to say, through lack of common sense, The fatal spoiler works his secret way, With noiseless industry from day to day, All undisturbed, till, lo, the work is done That leaves to art new conquests to be won. ‘Tis thus the solid teeth, from year to year, By folly or misfortune disappear, Announcing man’s inevitable doom, And pointing to the portal of the tomb. But mark the triumphs of victorious art, When sighing fair ones see their hopes depart; When speech unsyllabled offends, and when The lisping notes of childhood come again; When vicious chyle from undigested food, Abates the vital vigor of the blood; Then- ever prompt to dry misfortune’s tears, Again the artist’s magic skill appears. In climes remote, where sacred Ganges flows From Thibet’s mountains of eternal snows, Or far beyond the golden Gambia’s source, Where Lander sought the Niger’s mystic course; The lordly elephant, in hoary pride, Toils through successive ages to provide The ivory tusk; the fertilizing Nile Breeds the huge Hippopotamus, whose spoil Supplies new treasures;- and the ocean wave Nurtures the sea- calf in his rocky cave, To furnish fit materials to impart Increased importance to the favorite art. And now, while every sister art aspires To light her torch at more celestial fires, The Dentist, e’en, too proud to lag behind The bold aeronaut who rides the wind, Or the adventurous mariner that braves, With bellowing steam, the fury of the waves, O’erleaps the bounds to ancient science known, And to all past experience adds his own. Thus, strange to tell, is daring genius led By truth and heaven, exultingly to tread Untrodden files in nature’s realms afar, Beyond the milky way or polar star. Behold the dental artist’s brights array Of magic wonders glittering to the day;- The white stalactite from the mountain cave; The branching coral from the ocean wave; The crystal from the rock; the gem that shines With decompounded light from Indian mines; And alabaster; and that yellow stone That graces jealous beauty’s virgin zone; The brightest gifts of every varying clime, Resplendent spoils of nature and of time;- And see, obedient to his ruling will, Their forms transmuted by his plastic skill, Till, as when Cadmus, coveting to reign, With teeth of dragons sowed the Theban plain A Marshalled host sprang vigorous from the glade, In blazoned arms and towering plumes arrayed; So spring to light, while love her flag unfurls, A shining panoply of orient pearls. With aids like these, from nature’s store supplied, And following nature man’s unerring guide, The artist bodily ventures to restore The dental arch, till, perfect as before, The teeth in order greet the wondering sight, A theme of admiration and delight! Let servile tongues applaud the glittering state That decks the vain, hereditary great; The circumventive arts of dark chicane, That mark the general game of loss and gain; The statesman’s tricks, in search of sordid pelf, to prove that none are patriots but himself; The feats of arms that strew th’ embattles plain With mangled limbs, and crimson all the main; Be mine the task to render just applause To those who toil in virtue’s nobler cause; Whose serious thoughts and labors are designed To mitigate the woes of usefulness and love employ, Like Him who fills unnumbered worlds with joy. End of Canto Fourth Argument Apostrophe to health.- Sympathetic action of disease on the system .- Destructive influence of disordered teeth on the lungs, digestive organs, and nervous structure.- Influence of the teeth on health and longevity, arising from their relation to the solid aliments of man.- Importance of the teeth to the arts of eloquence and vocal music.- The commander addressing his troops on the eve of battle.- The advocate at the bar of justice, pleading the cause of injured innocence.- The venerable pastor exhorting his flock to pursue the path to heaven.- The fate of Seraphina. CANTO FIFTH Come, rosy health! Thou pretty sun- burnt maid, And laugh with Labor in the noon- day shade; Awake with Temperance at the peep of dawn, And brush the dews that deck the fragrant lawn. Enchanting nymph! How often have I seen Thy quick elastic footstep on the green, At summer eve among the reaper train, The favorite belle of many a rustic swain; The village minstrel on the turf reclined, To melting music all his soul resigned;- The hills, the dales, the fields, and woods around Seem wrapped in silence, listening to the sound, Save that one hoary rock across the plain, Returned in echo every silver strain. Gay, blushing Health! Without thy freshening glow Protracted life were only conscious woe; And earth’s unnumbered joys would end in pain, If thou were banished from the fair domain. Be thou the blithe companion of my way, Through cheerful years, to life’s remotest day; Though babbling fame should eulogize me not, Nor fortune gild my solitary cot. Ye lovely fair, who deprecate the doom Assigned be general taste to tarnished bloom, Be wise in time- ‘tis folly to delay; Cast all your vile cosmetic drugs away; Exchange the shallow artifice of dress For nature’s more enchanting loveliness; And know that blooming health alone abides Where chaste and temperate cleanliness resides. As, when the sun from burning Cancer throws His radiant fires till all the ether glows, The spotted plague and fever’s frantic train In pop’lous cities hold their ghastly reign, By filth engendered- by intemperance fed, Till half the living sink among the dead, While pale affright, with desolating brand, Spreads consternation though the trembling land; So, in the breathing macrocosm of man, Each slight derangement of the general plan, Each local malady of every name, Disturbs throughout the sympathizing frame. But most the teeth, for various use employed, Disturb the system when themselves destroyed; For when these organs yielding to decay, In morbid exhalations waste away, The vital air, from heaven’s aerial flood, That warms with life the circulating blood, Bears to the heaving lungs the deadly bane, Where all its noxious qualities remain, While every breath the poisonous draught repeats, And spreads disease with every pulse that beats Nor less the nervous sympathy conveys Each dental malady a thousand ways, For, as the witching music of the lyre, Is heard along each vibratory wire, What time the heaven- instructed minstrel flings His hurried hand among the magic strings:- So when disease invades the dental arch, And strides in anguish on his angry march, His burning touch, like the electric flame, Finishes through every fibre of the frame; Fever ensues, with all its raging fires, And oft the maniac sufferer expires. And yet of all the evils that accrue From loss of teeth through neither small nor few; The chief is this;- ‘tis nature’s general plan, That all the solid aliments of man, Before admission to the secret divine, Transforms the cruder mass to milky chime, By nature’s metamorphosis sublime,- Should suffer comminution:- hence we find The dental organs formed to cut, and grind, And masticate the food :- this rightly done, The process of digestion, well begun, results in health to each dependent part, That feels the living impulse of the heart. But when, from loss of teeth, the food must pass, A crude, and rigid, and unbroken mass. To the digestive organs: who can know, What various forms of complicated woe, May rise terrific from that single source? For nature, once resisted in her course, Breeds frightful things- a monstrous progeny! Consumption, fevers, palsy, leprosy, The hobbling gout, that chides, at every breath, The lingering pace of all- destroying death; And apoplexy, dragging to his doom The half surviving victim to the tomb See thus the mortal life of erring man, Reduced by vice and folly to a span; And years of joy allotted him below, Exchanged for fleeting months of bitter woe The Power Supreme, who gave all being birth, And fashioned man the sovereign lord of earth, Free- will and understanding both bestowed, The likeness and the image of his God; And gave what beast, bird, fish, could never reach, The all- controlling tribute of speech. Transcendent gift! That elevates our kind To all the lofty pleasures of the mind; To social joy;- to all the polished arts, That spring from sympathy of kindred hearts This power of speech, in which are nicely wrought, All shades of feeling, and all forms of thought; The silver cord that binds all human kind; The circulating medium of the mind;- Results from organs formed with heavenly art, To act in concert their appointed part. With these the dentals hold the foremost place, Since, to their loss or injury, we trace The greater part of those imperfect sounds With which the general speech of and abounds. Behold the orator, in church or state, When warm persuasion, or when cool debate Impels the common mind to daring deeds, While virtue triumphs, or a nation bleeds. His vocal organs, trained in patient skill, Perform their part, obedience to his will. If rampant war, with all its dire alarms, Employ his eloquence ; the shock of arms, The shouts of armies, and their dying groans, Roll on his quivering lips in silver tones, While murmuring crowds, impatient still to go, Rush to the pathway leading to the foe! If lovely innocence, when fair and young, Fall by the seducer’s lying tongue, And seek redress where justice holds her throne, The trembling wretch, unfriended and alone, And bathed in bitter tears, invokes the laws, and calls on heaven to vindicate her cause:- The orator appears:- his searching glance, a moment, eyes the culprit wretch askance, That crushed the bleeding flower:- words follow next, And as the foaming mountain torrent, vext, By the projecting cliff , in angry bound, Descends in cataracts, with thundering sound, Till all the desert wild, and savage rock , And hoary mountain, tremble at the shock, So does the stream of eloquence impart A palsied shuddering to the villain’s heart! The listening crowd reply with loud acclaim, While Emet lives- immortal of fame. On yonder hill, which freshening shades invest, Beneath whose spreading boughs forever rest The moldering gashes of the son and sire, The village church erects its modest spire. Behold, each Sabbath morn, with measured place, And mark, how meek devotion worships there, With heart uplifted in the hour of prayer. The morning song of love is sweetly sung, While heaven’s own flame inspires each tuneful tongue; And see- the venerable man appears, White with the hoary frosts of threescore years;- The good old man, whose useful hours have flown, To soothe all other’s sorrows but his own;- Whose daily labors to mankind are given, In charity, but all his heart to heaven. So pure the life this virtuous man has passed, That all his powers are perfect to the last; No borrowed lock to grace his brow aspires; No optic glass his vigorous eye requires ; He lacks no single tooth that nature gave, Nor asks a staff to guide him to the grave. With voice subdued, and unobtrusive mind, He speaks of heaven,- he paints the flowery scene, Where angel- natures—forms of purest love, Meet in the bowers of innocence above, To drink at living fountains, and be fed On fruits immortal, and the living bread, Till gushing tears fall fast from every eye, And faith and hope look smiling to the sky. Yet, in that choir that sung th morning song, One vacant seat afflicts the listening throng; One well known bodice, admired so oft before, For sweetest melody, is heard no more. Is Seraphina dead, whose melting strains Had won the hearts of all the neighboring swains? Or does she now forsake the house of prayer, And spurn her venerable pastor’s care? Unjust suspicion! Tarnish not her fame, Nor let reproach attain her spotless name; For while her mellow voice obeyed her will, She fondly lingered our musician still; And though be cruel fate compelled to part, She leaves us all the homage of her heart. To lonely solitude she gives hew hours, In shady copse, of shadier garden- bowers:- In silent grief, and unconsoled, she pines, And scarce to heaven’s high will her soul resigns. For, lo, the heavenly music of her lip- So sweet, the laboring bees might stop to sip, Has passed away; discordant notes succeed, And Seraphina’s bosom loves to bleed. Ye ask the cause ;- by premature decay, Two of her dental pearls have passed assay; The two essential to those perfect strains, That charm the soul when heavenly music reigns. But fly, ye swains, to Seraphina fly, And bid her fastly flowing tears be dry; Haste to her cottage, where in vain she seeks To wipe the burning deluge from her cheeks; And when you find her, soothe her frantic mind, And bid her cast her sorrows to the wind; In secret whisper this kind truth impart;- There is a remedy:- the dental art Can every varying tone with ease restore, And give thee music sweeter than before!- Thus, to desponding man in life’s dark way, The angel, mercy, points the opening day; And through the tea that trembles in his eye, Reveals the glories of her kindred sky.(49) END OF CANTO FIFTH The End On receiving the following poem, as a token of friendship from the author, believing that it possessed no ordinary merit as a production of talent and intellectual research, in addition to much valuable instruction conveyed in a pleasing form, I submitted the manuscript to rigid criticism. It was carefully examined by two gentlemen of this city, who are as distinguished for their fine taste in literature, as they are celebrated as poets and authors. These gentlemen urgently recommended the publication of the poem, on the grounds of its useful tendency, as an essay on the subject of general interest, and as a production honorable to American literature. It occurred to me that I might make selections from the various authors whose works are in my possession, and append them to the essay in the form of notes, illustrating and confirming the general doctrines of the poem. If these notes shall afford either rational amusement of useful instruction, to any of my friend and fellow citizens, my only object will have been fully attained. Some years ago I had the honor of laying before the public my views with regard to the profession I have embraced. Having previously enjoyed the advantage of a friendly intercourse with the most distinguished dentists in Europe, I had gathered from them such instructions as enabled me to adopt a decided course of practice, and my subsequent experience has but confirmed and established me in the opinions which I then presented to the world. I am not aware that the attempt has ever before been made, to write in English verse, a work inculcating the doctrines of dental science, embracing the diseases of the teeth, together with the means of their prevention and cure. On a subject so unpromising, I think all will agree with me in saying, that the author has succeeded beyond all reasonable expectation, in his design of investing the sober form of scientific truth, in eloquent and glowing language of poetic fancy; and I cannot for a moment doubt that my professional acquaintances, to whom I most respectfully dedicate this little volume, will be enabled to gain an adequate knowledge of the general principles and real importance of the dental art, through the lucid medium of this poem, in the most pleasing manner. Within the last fifty years, very great improvements have been made in the various departments of our art, but that which results in the most enduring and substantial advantage to mankind, and which therefore deserves to be the most highly prized, is the very perfect manner in which the natural teeth are now preserved in a sound and health condition, by the skill of the well educated practitioner. The success of a few individuals in the branch of practice, has induced many to assume the name of dentist, who are utterly unqualified to perform in a proper manner the most unimportant and trifling operation upon the teeth. Hence it is that we hear every day of the painful sufferings and lasting injuries which result from the mal-practice of incompetent pretenders to dental knowledge. Whole sets of teeth are daily sacrificed as the shrine of stupidity ; and the evil will never be arrested, until the good sense of those who have occasion for te intervention of art, shall be more careful in selecting the person to whom they intrust organs so useful, so ornamental, so indispensable to health and comfort, as the teeth. So long as there is no statute to protect the citizen on this subject, his common sense, enlightened by experience, must be his law and his protection. The operation of supplying artificial teeth, is one which for some years, I had relinquished, in consequence of being unable to attend to it, and at the same time, to do justice to what I consider to be the more important, and, therefore, the first object, of dental surgery ; but having had for more than four years past, the valuable assistance of my kinsman, Mr. Jahial Parmly, whose mechanical tact and ingenuity are not surpassed, I have associated him with me, for the purpose of enabling him to devote his time exclusively to that branch. His success during the last two years demonstrated the great advantage to be derived from this division of labor, by which each department of the profession is practiced by distinct individuals. It operates like a similar distribution of labor in the other arts and sciences, ensuring a greater degree of excellence in the results. The improvements that have been made during the last few years, in the manufacture of mineral teeth, has induced me to make extensive provision for conducting this part of the business, in the hope that still farther improvement may bring this interesting branch of our art to such a state of perfection, as to render them a substitute, in most cases, for human and animal teeth, which are subject to speedy decay. Knowing no person whose mechanical skill and scientific acquirements so well qualify him for such an undertaking, I requested my friend, Mr. Brown, to join me in perfecting an art so desirable, and promising so many advantages. From the rapid improvement which he has made in the manufacture and mechanical adaptation of these teeth, as well as from my long acquaintance with his personal character, I am happy in believing that he will add one to the number of those who contribute to the dignity and usefulness of the profession ; the benefit, comfort, and convenience of whose labors, will be acknowledged by thousands. If those who are intending to practice as dentists, would qualify themselves in a similar way by going through with a regular course of practical instruction, with an experienced dentist, they would soon elevate a profession to its merited rank, which is now too often degraded by ignorance and presumption. Eleazar Parmly. (October 19, 1833) Introduction To Eleazar Parmly, Esq. My Dear Sir, - I take the liberty to transmit to you, herewith, the result of a few week's solitary musing. It is an essay, in verse, on your favorite science: - A short didactic poem, intended to embrace some of the more general and popular views of that valuable art, in the exercise of which you have reared the superstructure of fame and fortune on the solid basis of intrinsic merit. If, in addition to reputation and emolument, you have been cheered in your arduous labors, by the smiles of the beautiful and the encomiums of the wise, you may pass it to the credit of that urbanity, skill, and kindness, with which your surgical practice is so distinctly marked. I am well apprized that your unparalleled success in treating disorders of the teeth, is not the result of accident. The enterprising spirit that led you to see, a knowledge of your profession, in the two most enlightened capitals of Europe, and the persevering industry which raised you to high rank in the city of London, before establishing yourself in your native country, are the proximate causes of your distinguished prosperity. It is now more than ten years since our personal acquaintance began, and I have been long anxious to devise some method of testifying the warmth and sincerity with which I reciprocate your sentiments of friendship. The design of reducing some of the general doctrines of dental science to a poetic form, resented itself favorably to my mind, and seemed more especially proper, after the act of favor by which you invited me to return to your family, after a temporary absence, for the purpose of receiving your instruction, and that of your accomplished associate, in the practical operations of your profession. I have reduced this plan to practice according to the very moderate measure of my poetical abilities and, in whatever else it may be found wanting, I trust it will bear the uncounterfeited stamp of sincerity and gratitude. The generous liberality which has marked your deportment towards every reputable member of your profession, and more especially, the elevated charity which has led you to qualify several individuals for extensive usefulness in the practice of dental surgery, will be remembered with gratitude long after your personal exertions in the cause of human happiness shall have ceased on earth forever. The experience of past ages has accumulated upon the existing generation, in the mighty results which we behold in the condition of the arts and sciences at the present day. To augment this inestimable treasure of useful knowledge, as it passes into other hands, must impart exalted transports to the good man's mind. The anguish, deformity, and tears, which result from diseases of the teeth, are among man's real evils, and form a considerable item in the catalogue of human miseries. He, therefore, who by his public instructions, or private professional practice, mitigates or removes these evils, is a public benefactor. That such has been your happiness, is felt by a large circle of acquaintances, not only in these states, but from many and remote portions of the civilized world : and that you may long live in the peaceful bosom of your family, to indulge in the consciousness of having contributed to the positive enjoyment of so many sentient beings ; and to taste with a refined and protracted relish, the sweets of friendship, fame, and fortune, is the devout wish of your friend : - Solyman Brown (April 20, 1833)
NOTES by Eleazar Parmly, Dentist Appendix notes (1) But lo! their art survives to bless the world. Hippocrates, a lineal descendent of Esculapius, the first accurate observer, and the first eminent physician of which we have any definite account, flourished in Greece, about 460 years before the Christian era. He describes in various parts of his works, as well the functions and period of appearance of the several teeth, as their principal diseases, and the plan of treating them, both by manual operations and by dentifrices. At the commencement of the Christian era, we find in the writings of the Celsus, a celebrated physician of Rome, very explicit instructions on the subject of several important operations on the teeth; and during the recent excavation at Pompeii and Herculaneum, several dental implements have been discovered, much resembling some of those in use at the present day. Celsus treats of scarifying of the gums, of extracting, scraping, and even of stopping teeth; and fixing loosened teeth with gold wire; – indeed, this last practice is alluded to in the 12 tables of the Roman laws. The Latin poet, Martial, makes habitual allusion to artificial teeth, as worn by the ladies of Roman this time. The celebrated Arabian surgeon, Albucasis, in the 10th century, enters very extensively into descriptions of dental operations, and gives drawings of a great number of instruments, used in his time for extracting, scraping, loosening, and even of filling the teeth, a practice which has been introduced more recently than any of the others. It was not until the 17th century that we have authentic records of the exercise of the profession of dentistry distinctly from that of surgery. Gillies, and other practitioners in France, received the title of surgeon dentists as early as 1622. In the year 1700, persons destined for the dental profession were compelled, in France, to submit themselves to a regular examination; and it is from this period that we must date, in modern times, the regular establishment of this art, as a distinct branch of surgical practice. Among those who distinguished themselves as dentists during the last century, were Berdmore, Fauchard, Gerauldy, Larini, Bunon, Mouton, Leclure, Bourdet, Aitkin,De Chaemant, Ray, Moore, and Talma ; and it is to the undivided attention of such men as these, that we must attribute the vast additions made during that period, to our knowledge of the structure and diseases of the teeth. Of these authors who have written on the subject during the present century, it will be sufficient to mention here, Blake, Fox, Duvall, Le Forgue, De la Barre, Beaume, Maury, Bell, Koecker, Fitch, and Hare. There are many others whose experience would enable them to produce works highly useful to the world, and particularly to young practitioners. Mr. Cartwright, of London, with whom I have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, is known to be the most celebrated dentists now in Europe, but has not as yet made public his views, in relation to his practice. It is most earnestly to be hoped that he will shortly publish his opinions. Mr. John Waite, who, for many years, not only had the most extensive practice, but was the best practitioner in London, died without leaving anything behind them in the way of writing. We have caused also to regret that the late Dr. Hudson, of Philadelphia, did not, during his lifetime, embody his professional opinions for the benefit of his contemporaries, and those who shall succeed him in dental operations. I must say, without fear of contradiction, that he has left behind him no one in this country so able to instruct, and so well-qualified, from observation and experience, to be useful to the student. I am well pleased to learn that he left a large collection of notes and memoranda on his practice, and critical remarks on the writings and practice of other dentists, all of which have fallen into the hands of Dr. Traynor, of the city, to whom the profession is already indebted for several very valuable papers on subjects connected with his profession. With so valuable help as the papers of Dr. Hudson, so able and zealous a compiler as Doctor Tranter may well encourage the patient to expect a work of great value to all who wish to become thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of dental surgery. I cannot forbear making an extract from an article published in one of the Philadelphia papers, from the pen of my highly esteemed friend, Dr. Fitch, author of the most comprehensive work on the teeth ever published in this country. The extract which follows, is a just tribute of respect to the memory of departed worth, and the like creditable to the feelings and liberality of the author; and I believe every dentist you have the slightest acquaintance with Dr. Hudson's practice, will cheerfully admit the propriety of Dr. Fitch's eulogium. The rest of the Notes are available elsewhere.
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