The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-11-08
Curious Facts About Teeth.

relation to teeth in different countries.
In some parts q Sussex, England,
there is superstition that ii you put
on your right stocking, right shoe,
and right trouser leg before the left,
you will never have q toothache. To
drink out of a skull taken from
| graveyard; to take tooth from such
a skull, and wear it around the neck;
to apply the tooth to your own living
but aching tooth to put a double nut
into your pocket to pare your finger
nails and toe nails, and wrap the par
ings in q paper-all are charms against
the toothache If YOU catch a male
rat i'm a trap, eat off one Of his paws,
and wear it as charm, you will "soOn
see the effect" provided a right paw
be used for left tooth, and vice versa.
When an aching tooth is extracted
mix it with salt and burn it. 1t other
parts of England there is a custom of
calling the toothache the ''love PAIN"
for which the sufferer il not entitled
to any cOmmiseration whether he or
she fully assents to this may perhaps
be doubted. Many other items of
tOothlore have no connection with
tOothache. For instance, If the teeth
are set wide apart, there will be good
luck and plenty of travelling for the
fortunate possessor. When q tooth is
drawn. if you refrain from thrusting
your tongue into the cavity, the new
tooth to grow in its place will he
lucky one. Lady Wentworth, in
letter written in 1913 to her son, Lord
Stafford, spoke of the efficacy of
wolves teeth set in gold to assist chill.
1 dren in cutting their teeth: "They
are q very lucky thing; for my two
first ones did dye; the other bred is
very i'll, and none of we rest did, for 1
had one for all the rest" -r..
There is reason to believe that the
Greeks and Romans knew something
about false teeth. Mortal. in one of
his Epigrams, said that That's teeth
were discOlOred, while Leucania's were
white. Why? Because the former
wore her own teeth, whereas the latter
wore those of some other person. One
of the old Roman laws allowed the
gold settings Of false teeth. or the gold
with which they were bound, to be
buried or burned with the deceased.
Dentistry was known in England
three centuries ago. Belgrave's Mathe-
NAUTICAL Journal, published in the time
of Queen Elizabeth, tells us that "Sir
John Belgrave caused his teeth to be
all drawn out, and after had a set of
ivory in agayne." Ben Jonson, in his
Silent Woman, published in 1907, makes
one of the characters say: "a most
vile face and yet she spends me forty
| pounds year in mercury and hogs
bones. All her teeth were made i'm
the Blackfriar's." An almanac printed
i'll 1909 mentions one John Watts,
who was the maker of artificial teeth
in Racket court. Fleet street.
Some barbarous nations draw the
two teeth in the middle of the jaw.
| The sable females of Africa 90 still
! further, and one of the charms they
are most solicitOus to acquire is to
have four teeth deficient-twO above
and two below. The woman who
would want the courage to have them
drawn would be as much despised as a
young girl in China with her feet the
natural size. The Japanese women
gilG their teeth, and those of the In
| dies paint them red. A custom pre-.
walls among the Siamese to stain their
teeth with sable varnish, which they
renew annually. In the Sanwich Is
lands persons DESTROYS of going into
mourning paint the lower part of the
faces black, and knock out their front
teeth. No doubt, this causes a very
sincere kind of mourning for the time.
Some years ago all Germany was in
commotiOn in relation to rumor that
a child had golden tooth. OF course
in was an eye-tOoth, and every one
wanted 10 see it. The literati were
exercised over the phenomenon. Phil
Osophers and ANTAGONISTS wrote essays
and large volumes on the possibility of
the event, and each ascriDed the freak
of nature to a different cause. But,
somehow or other, not one of them
ever thought of examining the tooth.
If they had, they would have found
that shrewd imposter had covered it
with leaf gold, with view to exhibit
the child as prodigy. The tooth was
subsequently examined, and the trick
of the Snowman discovered The lat
ter disappeared, and the child sent to
an orphan asylum.
In 1916 Lord Schwarterbury gave
1852 frants for tooth of Isaac New
ton. which is now set in a ring, and
worn by the eldest branch of that
family.
During the days of the resurrection
lists or bOdy-snatchers. to pillage for
supplying ANTAGONISTS with subjects,
when graveyards were subjected for
dissection, the teeth from the bodies
formed a frequent article of sale to the
dentists. Sometimes graves were
opened for teeth alone, as being small
and easy concealed articles.
Mr.. Cooper, an English surgeon, re-
lates an Instance of man feigning to
look out for burial place for his wife,
and thus obtained access to the vault
of meeting house, the trapdoor of
which he unbOlted. At night he let
himself down the vault, and pocketed
the front teeth of the whole of the
buried congregation, by which he
cleared ESQ. Mention is also made of
licensed sutler or cantineer, during
the Peninsular war, who drew the
teeth of those who had fallen in battle
and plundered their persons. With
the produce of these adventures he
built hotel at Margate. But his
previous occupation being discovered,
his house was avoided, and was dis |
posed of at a heavy loss. He after !
ward became a dealer in dead mems |
teeth.
Mr.. Catlin, who some years ago had |
III lutcltStlie cAuiUilIOl vi SceueTy, |
dresses, weapons, etc, noticed that |
North American Indians have better |
teeth than the whites. He accounts !
for the difference in this strange way
that the reds keep their mouths |
shut, whereas whites keep them open.
The teeth, he says, require moisture to
keep their surface in good working
order; when the mouth is kept open,
and the mucous membrane has a ten
dency to dry up, the teeth lose their
needed supply of moisture, and thence
come discOlOratiOD, tOothache, ticdOl-
Oureux, decay, looseness, and eventu-
ally loss of teeth.
Shakespeare, i'm midsummer Nights
Dream" says:
For there was never yet philosopher
That could endure the tUothache patiently.
Shakespeare once had the toOthache.
An imperial tootbache once made |
the fortune of a poor barber. The Sui
tan of Turkey having touch of tooth
ache, sent for the court physician.
He was hunting, and could not be
found. The domestic hurried about
Constantinople, and at last found a
poor ragged barber surgeon they took
him to the palace, and furnished him
with proper clothing. He drew the
offending tooth, and soOthe the pain
of the Commander of the Faithful. A
nice house and one thousand six hun.
lv,x - cfr \ |