Three memoirs on the developement and structure of the teeth and epithelium, read at the ninth annual meeting of the British Association for the Encouragement of Science, held at Birmingham in August, 1839 / by Alexander Nasmyth.

Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Three memoirs on the developement and structure of the teeth and epithelium, read at the ninth annual meeting of the British Association for the Encouragement of Science, held at Birmingham in August, 1839 / by Alexander Nasmyth. 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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    Having convinced myself of the existence of the peculiar cellular structure of the tooth, I entered with great interest on an examination of the organ by which it is produced, viz. the pulp. On examining the internal structure of the pulp generally, the number of minute cells presenting themselves in a vesicular form is very remarkable ; they seem to constitute indeed the principal por- tion of its bulk. These vesicles vary in size from the smallest perceptible microscopic appearance, probably the ten-thousandth part of an inch in diameter, to one-eighth of an inch, and are evi- dently disposed in different layers throughout the body of the pulp. They are of various shapes, as is shown at [PI. C. 6], Pulp Nos. 1 and 2. [No comparison can properly be instituted be- tween these vesicles and the cells of the ivory, for it is only at the surface of the pulp that these vesicles are prepared by some peculiar change in their form and arrangement for the reception of earthy matter.] When thin layers of macerated pulp are ex- amined, they present an irregular reticular appear- ance, and are found to be interspersed with granules. The parenchyma is traversed by vessels of which the direction is generally vertical, as seen in [PI. C. 7], Pulp No. 5. Pulp Nos. 3 and 4, [PI. C. 7], show the appearance of these cells in sections of the pulp which have been thus mace- rated. I have frequently been struck with the rapidity c 2