The Combe lectures on physiology / lectures by William Stirling.

  • Stirling, William, 1851-1932.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Combe lectures on physiology / lectures by William Stirling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    which was illustrated by a reference to the well- known Indian rice ordeal. Any strong feeling tended to stop the How of saliva, and thus to make the mouth dry. Slastication was the process by which the food was broken up by the toetli, aided by tlic tongue, tlie cheeks, and tlie lips. Tlie food was kept between the teeth on the one side by the cheeks and the lips, and on the other side by the tongue. Tlie teeth were liard tilings fixed in special sockets all round the jaws. In no sense of the word did they belong to the gi-ou)) of structures known as bones; tlieir liardness was due to lime-salts. Each tooth consisted of a crown, a neck, and a fang or root. The crown was the part that projected above the gum. The neck was the dejiression between the crown and the fang. There might be one or more fangs, which were curved outwards.. In structure a tooth was nut uniform. Thei'c were to be noted the enamel, the dentine, the cement, and the pulp-cavity. In the ])ulp-cavity were blood-vessels and nerves. The ])ain of the operation of extracting a tooth arose from the raptiu-e of these blood-vessels and nerves, and from the resistance offered by the cement and the form of the fang. On the teeth depended digestion. To reduce the food-substances to a fine pul]), and thoroughly to mi.\ them with the saliva, a good set of teeth—na.tiu-al or acquired—was neces- sary. If one had no teeth, one ought at once to procure a set. If one had teeth, one ought to pre- serve them. Any dentifrice that contained an acid ought to be iliscarded, as it destroyed the enameL Vegetable charcoal was perhaps the best den- tifrice ; it was antiseptic, and not dear. The tooth-brush ought to be use<I once, if not twice, every day, both for the sake of cleanliness and to keep off decay. To clean the outside had an iusthetic effect; to clean the inside was as necessary as to clean the outside. And, in tlie by-going, the tongue ought to get a rub, it being a favourable place for putrefactive'clianges. AVe had two sets of teetli— the milk or temporary teeth, twenty in number, and the permanent teeth, thirty-two in number. A full explanation ^vas given of the various kinds of teeth —incisors, canines, molars. How swallowing was lierformed was next considered. The first part of the process was voluntary, the second involun- tary. When the food got to the back of the mouth, it got beyond one's control.