Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The works of John Hunter. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![a very putrid matter, frequently considerable tenderness and ulceration of the gum, and scaling becomes absolutely necessary*. Of Transplanting the Teeth. From considering the almost constant variety of the size and shape of the same class of teeth in different people it would appear almost impossible to find the tooth of one person that should fit, with any de- gree of exactness, the socket of another; and this observation is sup- ported, and indeed would seem to be proved, by observing the teeth in skeletons. Yet we can actually transplant a tooth from one person to another without great difficulty, Nature assisting the operation if it is done in such a way that she can assist; and the only way in which Nature can assist, with respect either to size or shape, is by having the fang of the transplanted tooth rather smaller than the socket. The socket in this case grows to the tooth. If the fang is too large, it is im- possible indeed to insert it at all in that state; however, if the fang should be originally too large, it may be made less, and this seems to answer the purpose as well. The success of this operation is founded on a disposition in all living substances to unite when brought into contact with one another, al- * The animal fluids, when out of the course of the general circulation, especially when they stagnate in cavities, are apt to deposit an absorbent earth, and form concre- tions. This earth is sometimes contained in the fluids, and is only deposited, as in the formation of the stone in the urinary passages; in some cases, perhaps, the fluids un- dergo a change, by which the earth is first formed, and afterwards deposited. This de- position takes place particularly in weakened parts, or where the circulation is languid, or where there are few arteries, such as about joints and tendons, as if it were intended to strengthen these parts if they should at any time give way; for if an artery, for instance, is overcome by the action of the heart, and unnaturally dilated, its coats have commonly these concretions formed everywhere in their interstices. The same thing happens also in the coats of encysted tumours, which are constantly distended, in cases of distentions of the tunica vaginalis testis, &c. It is also apt to take place in parts which have lost their natural functions, as in the coats of the eye in cases of blindness, and in diseased lym- phatic glands, &c., and where the living power is diminished in the system, as in the arteries, membranes, &c. of old people; and in some particular habits, as in those who are affected by the gout a. The same sort of deposition takes place likewise where there is any substance with such properties as render it a fit basis for crystallization, as when extraneous bodies are lodged in the bladder ; whence such bodies are so often found to form the nucleus of a stone. The same thing happens in the bowels of many animals, whence the nucleus of intestinal concretions, or bezoars, is commonly a nail, or some indigestible substance which had been swallowed. The crust which collects upon the teeth seems to be a crystallization of the same nature. a [This substance consists, in a very large proportion, of earthy phosphates, com bincd with mucus.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21996635_0002_0075.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
