, 1888-10-04
TALES OF THE TEETH.
TRADITIONS, oMENS AND ADAGEs
AMONG THE U~NEDUCATED.

All Sorts OF Superstitions ConcernloS the
~Teeth-Charms and Other Remedies for
Toothache-EngIIsh and Irish Recipes.
The Prayer Cure.
The teeth and the aches to which they
give rise have been subjects of many
strange ideas among uneducated people.
Teeth have even been worshiped, and are
still venerated as relics in some Catholic
shrines. Buddha's tooth is preserved in a
temple in India, and Ceylonese worshiped
the tooth of a monkey. while an elephants
tooth and sharks tooth served n similar
purpose among the Malabar Islanders and
the Tonga Islanders respectively Siam
csc valued a monkeys tooth so highly
that they are reported to have offered the
Portuguese 700. 600 crowns for it.
There was a tradition that, from the
time Chosroes, the Persian, carried off a
piece of the true cross from Constantine
pie, the number of teeth in the mouths of
men were reduced from ~thirty-two TO
twenty-three. 1t is needless to say that
we still nave ~thirty-two. Teeth have
often been worn as amulets Sharks
teeth serve this purpose in Samoa. 1t
was formerly thought that a VOLTS tooth,
worn in a bag about the neck, would
chase fear away from the possessor. The
back tooth of a horse, found by chance,
will, say the Irish. keep you supplied with
money.
AND AGE
There are many omens connected with
infants teeth. as well as those of adults.
If a child teethe early. it is thought in
England to predict more children. Soon
teeth, soon toes" is the adage, both in
that country and in Sweden. If a tooth
comes first in the upper jaw it is, on the
contrary, an omen of early death, as the
child cannot survive so potent a disaster.
An old work. published in 1888, tells us
that to loose a tooth or an eye is also to
lose some friend or kinsman, or is, at
least, attended by some i'll luck. He who
has his teeth wide apart is there said to
be attended by good luck. Breton mothers
will not touch infants gums. lest the
teeth grow crooked. To dream of teeth
was a warning of some disaster. unless
you dreamed they fell out.
The period of teething being an nxiou
one in childhood, it is extremely impor-
tant to nave it over with. In Sussex.
England. a necklace of beads made from
peony root was placed on the child's neck
to assist this operation, and one of amber
beads was also thought powerful. 1t was
also said that first teeth must not be
thrown away when they fall out, for if
any animal got such n trophy the next
tooth would be like that of the animal
finding the old one. In Nova Scotia, and
III SOLlt puTlS Oh lle InlItu states, chill
dren are told that the new tooth will be a
gold one if the tongue is kept out of the
old cavity.
Folk lore is full of odd notions about
the toothache, and many queer remedies
are current for it. 1t was once thought to
be caused by n worm.
One of the most potent remedies was
thought to be n charm of some kind OF
other. In England this charm is n rhyme
.r - ,~a ,,p-tttA, 80, -saaa -
Verses for this purpose are current in Ger
many to this day. st. Appollinus was
especially invoked for this malady in the
Thirteenth entury
A work published in 1895 prescribes the
following remedy: The patient was to in
hale the smoke from a vessel in which
dried herbs were mixed with live Goals.
He must then breathe over a cup holding
water mixed with wax and serum, when
it was said that n worm, the cause of the
trouble, would appear in the cup.
ANOTHER STRANGE REMEDY
Nearly n century later we find another
strange remedy: with an iron nail raise
and cut the gum from about the teeth
until it bleed, and that some of the blood
spill upon the nail. Then drive it into G
wooden beam up to the head. After this
is done you never shall nave the tooth
ache in all your life"
AnOlner Ola writer OF the same period,
Aubrey, gives popular remedies for the
toothache. A splinter of wood from n
gibbet was thought efficacious in the
north of England, while in Devonshire it
was thought best to bite a tooth from n
skull in a grave yard, and carry it in the
pocket as a charm. In another part of
England. an equally CHASTITY amulet was a
tooth drawn from the mouth of a corpse,
carried in the pocket. The paw of a live
mole or a double nut were also prescribed
as preventive charms To dress the left
foot and leg before the right is equally
effective
Some of the Irish cures for the tooth
ache were fully as CHASTITY as those cited
above, One of these empirical recipes
bids you go to n grave, kueel upon it, say
three paters ard three ayes for the soul Of
the dead. then chew a handful Of grass
taken from the grave. splitting it out.
The toOthache will never after trouble
you
Another remedy is to vow never to comb
your hair on Friday. invoking the Creator,
the Virgin and the new moon You NAV
afterwards neglect the two first. but must
knccl and say five prayers on first behold
ing the new moon. The two Jaw bones
of Il paddock have been powerful in al.
laying the toothache ever since the mir
acle of the loaves and fishes If you wish
to avoid the toothache. say the sons of
Erin. never shave on SUNDAY .-Globc-
Democrat.
Stonewau Jackson and the Priest.
nr William, Ionas +bo r,u,,. o.