Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Tin foil and its combinations for filling teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![inch square, tilled into a cutch and beaten to about three inches square. It is then removed from the cutch and filled into a mold, and further beaten to the desired size. When the ragged edges are trimmed off, the foil is ready for booking. It takes skill and experience to beat tin foil, for it is not nearly as malleable as gold; up to No. 20 it is usually beaten, but higher numbers are prepared by rolling. In each case the process is similar to that employed in preparing gold foil. The num- ber on the book is supposed to indicate the weight or thickness of the leaf. On the lower numbers the paper of the book leaves its impression. On weighing sheets of tin foil from different manufacturers a remarkable discre])ancy was found between the number on the book and the number of grains in a sheet, viz: Nos. 3, 4, 5, weighed 7 gr. each; No. 6, 9 gr.; No. 8, from 9 to 18 gr.; No. 10, from 14 to 15 gr.; No. 20, 18 gr. In some instances the sheets in the same book varied three grains. We submit that it would be largely to the advan- tage of both manufacturer and dentist to have the number and the grains correspond. No dentist wishes to purchase No. 8 and find that he has No. 18; no one could sell gold foil under like circum- stances. Of the different makes tested, White's came the nearest to being correct. The extra](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2123100x_0048.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
