Apart from this, in the works of Houllier, nothing is found that is of interest for the history of dentistry. He repeats several errors and prejudices of the ancients; he says, for example, that men have ordinarily thirty-two teeth, women, twenty-eight; and he, too, believes in the expulsive virtues of the fat of green frogs when applied to a tooth (adeps ranæ viridis dentem depellit).
Houllier does not contribute in any way to dental therapeutics, he only enumerates the methods of cure recommended by preceding authors.[310]
Volcherus Coiter (1534 to 1600), of Gröningen, an ardent student of anatomy, and a pupil of Fallopius, Eustachius, and Aranzio, studied with great attention the development of bones, dissecting many fetuses and children of various ages for that purpose. He clearly states his opinion that the teeth are not bones, since they do not pass, like the latter, through the cartilaginous stage, but are derived instead from a mucous substance.[311]
Johann Jacob Wecker, a doctor of Colmar, published in 1576 a valuable medical work composed of synoptical tables, in which is briefly summarized the best of what had been written by preceding Greek, Latin, and Arabic authors.
One gathers from this author that at the time in which he wrote it was considered an excellent preservative against the plague to rub the teeth with theriac, mithridate, angelica, and zedoary. From this it may be perceived that even in those days doctors had understood the importance of the cleanliness and disinfection of the mouth as a prophylactic against infective diseases.
In the above-mentioned book may be found a sufficiently complete exposition of dental therapeutics of that and of the preceding periods. There is nothing, however, which is not already known to us from our examination of the earlier writers. Worthy of notice is the information that, among other things, to facilitate the cutting of teeth rubbing the jaws with turpentine was recommended at that time.[312]
Volcherus Coiter.
Donato Antonio of Altomare, a Neapolitan physician and philosopher, dedicated a long chapter of his Ars medica[313] to the subject of dental pains and their treatment. He classifies these pains with great accuracy, taking into account their seat and causes, and pointing out in each single case the method of cure to be followed according to the warm, cold, dry, or humid nature of the pain. In what he says, however, we do not find anything new.
Giulio Cesare Aranzio (1530 to 1589), a celebrated surgeon and anatomist of Bologna, in which city he taught from the age of twenty-six years until his death, is of the opinion that parulides—that is to say, inflammations or abscesses of the gums—and epulides—that is fleshy excrescences of the same—are usually caused by caries or putrescence of the teeth; but that in certain individuals, from a peculiar weakness of the gums, these are easily attacked by inflammation when the wind is in the south.