Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-01-30
a chapter. on Ss Tss,soA. 1ss;sss. nla.'ra-

says; Many OF the frequenters of Sara
toga twenty years ago remember DIR
| North, then one Of the standard.bearer
Of the medical profession there. II
/ great official ability he had added an ex
tensive general scientific knowledge, anC
his little book on the chemical analysis
Of the different springs Of that locality
and respective adaptation to various
diseases, is, believe, still valued as (
manual of reference. t.... tls.s
During a visit to him in 1854 he tolC
me that he had made the early decay o
teeth, particularly in our own country, I
/ special study for some time. We haC
attributed II to various causes, which fur
ther investigation had proved erroneous
One of these was the enormous and in
creasing use of sugar in various forms
But visit to the sugar plantations o.
Louisiana and the West Indies disproved
that theory; for he never saw finer teeth
than were possessed by the negroes who
conducted the manufacture, and who
were always chewing the cane, sucking
the juice, and eating the sugar by hands
full, during the saccharine season. lie
had finally come to the conclusion that
the trouble in question arose from the
present disuse Of many articles of food
which formed larger part of the diet
of the past generations, and the boiling
of our farinaceous cereal SO fine as to
exclude most of the silecious element of
which nature forms the enamel Of our
teeth. Na tA,.rt
He had put this last theory to the test,
to his entire satisfaction, in case that
had recently fallen under his profes-
sional management A Southern lady
was visiting the springs, mainly for the
benefit of an only daughter some four or
five years old, who was living poor,
puny, piping life, having always been
sickly, and who had lost all her teeth
by utter decay in their sockets. On in
quiry he found that the child had never
eaten anything except food, chiefly cake,
made of the finest -four, and confection
cry dd li5itnm He put the patient
upon diet-nauseous at first, and only
accepted as the alternative of starvation
of wheaton grits, Graham bread, dried
peas and beans, so as TO procure silex
enough for NATURES wants. In eighteen
months time the child had not only be-
come strong and hearty, but new set of
teeth had superseded the former, strong,
white, handsome, and with a splendid
coating of enamel which laughed at the
dentist This seemed to settle the truth
of his theory; but he thought it received
still further confirmation by an incl
dent which | furnished him shortly after
was on visit to the battlefield of
Burgoynes invasion, and on my arrival
at Bemis Heights learned that the owner
of the battle-ground of October 7, l777, |
had just exhumed several skeletons in
excellent preservation. / confess to a |
certain antiquarian weakness, and i'm
mediately sought the aforesaid landnold |
er. | found that in ploughing to enlarge |
his garden, which lay upon the site OF the
old British entrenched camp, he had in
vaded the forgotten grave of eight officers
who had been buried in the same trench.
That they were officers was proven by the
tradition that they alone were
carried from the field which hremained in
the hands of the victorious Americans,
while the dead of the rank and file were
left co the disposal of the conquerors.
Moreover, with one of the skeletons
was found quite piece of his scarlet
coat, perfect in texture and color, after
a burial of nearly eighty years, and two
gold-faced buttons, whose bearings en-
abled me to determine the wearer to
have been one Of General Frazer gren-
adiers, who were, terribly cut up in that
fight, the General himself having been
killed at their head. The skullof the
said officer had been pierced through
The temple by musket ball which was
still within it. This and the relic of the
Uniform the finder had laid aside, while
ne had reburied the rest of the bones
But, at my instigation, he re-opened the /
grave and permitted me to select what
shose from its contents. Ascompetent
louceur of currency secured to me the
possession Of all these articles, which
till hold WhatoOnnects the story with
DR.. North and his teeth theory was the !
plendid dental development manifest in
III the skulls, scarce tooth being want !
ng, and, with very few exceptions, every
Doth in the finest condition, although !
he effacement of the suture in some of |
he crania betokened that the age of I
heir former owners must have exceeded 9
lfty years. gitiA ett.lHt@t % .
On my way home / called on the doc /
or and exhibited my trophies. He al 5
most danced to see in those beautiful
eeth another proofof his last hypothesis I
oncerning dental decay. See there S
aid he, those fellows were soldiers all q
heir lives; they ate unbOlted -four and ,
eguminous comestibles; the reiinements II
f pastry, cakes and comfts rarely C
assed beneath their splendid molars n
md behold the consequences No de- v
ay, no loss, perpetual immunity from b
and a magnificent eating APP n
aratus all their livesl That's the text L
preach from hereafter I
And think the best dental professors d
6 tba ,nrosant dow andorea him I