The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-22
TALES OF THE TEETH.
TRADITIONS, OMENS AND AoAGES
AMONG THE UNeDUcATED.


T.cth-Charms and Other Remedies for
Toothschs-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 vencrated as relics in some Catholic
shrnes Bu1dha's tooth Is preserved in a
temple in India and Ceylonese wOrshiped
tho tooth Of monkey. while an elephant 8
tooth and sharks tooth serXed similar
purpose among the Malabar Islanders and
the Tonga Islanders respectively. Siam
csc valued O monkeys tooth 80 highly
that they are reported to have offered the
Portuguese 700. 900 crowns for it.
There was a tradition that. from the
time Chosroes. the Persian. carried oil a
piece Of the true cross from Constantine
pie, the number Of teeth in the mouths OF
twenty.three 1t Is needless to say that
wo still have thirty-two Teeth have
often been worn as amulets. Sharks
teeth serve this purpose in Samoa II
was formerly thought that wolf $ tooth.
worn In bag about the neck, would
chase fear away from the possessor. The
back tooth Of horse. found by chance.
will. say the Irish. keep you supplied with
money
OMENs AND ADAGEs.
There are many omens connected with
infants teeth. as well as those of adults.
If q child teethe early. it is thought in
England TO predict moro children Soon
teeth soon toes" is the adagc. both In
that country and IN Sweden. If IA tooth
comes first in the upper jaw it is. on the
contrary. an omen of early death, as the
child cannot survive so potent disaster
An old work. published in 1888, tells US
that to loose tooth or an eye is also to
lose some friend or kinsman. or is, ut
least. attended by some i'll luck. lie 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 warning Of some disaster unless
you dreamed they fell out.
The period of teething being an anxious
one in childhood, it is extremely impor-
tant to have it over with. In Sussex,
England, 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 trophy the next
tooth would be like that OF the animal
finding the old one. In Nova Scotia, and
In some parts of the United States, chill
dren are told that the new tooth will be
L l.. % In
old cavity
Folk lore is full of odd notions about
the toothache, and many queer remedies
are current for it. II was once thought to
be caused by worm.
One Of the most potent remedies was
thought to be charm of some kind OF
other In England this charm is q rhyme
or prayer written on a piece of paper.
Verses for this purpose are current in Ger
many to this day st. Appollinus was
especially invoked for this malady In the
Thirteenth century.
A work published in 1896 prescribcs the
following remedy; The patient was to in
halo the smoke from vessel III 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 worm. the cause Of the
trouble, would appear in the cup.
ANOTHER STRANGE REMEDY.
Nearly century later we find another
strange remedy. with an iron nail raise
and cut the gum from about the teeth
until 1t bleed, and that some of the blood
spill upon the mil Then drive it into a
wooden beam up to the head. After this
L. Icn no he
ache in ali your life"
Another old writer Of the same period,
Aubrey, gives popular remedies for the
toothache. A splinter of wood from O
gibbet was thought eficacious in the
north of England. while in Devonshire it
was thought best to bite tooth from
skull in a grave yard, and carry it in the
pocket rs a charm. In another part Of
England. an equally CHASTITY amulet was
tooth drawn from the mouth of corpse,
carried In the pocket The paw Of live
mole or 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 60 to grave, kneel upon it. say
three paters and three aves for the soul of
the dead, then chew q 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 may
afterwards neglect the two first, but must
kneel and say five prayers on first behold
ing tho new moon The two jaw bones
Of paddock have been powerful In al
laying the toothache ever since the mir
scle Of the loaves and fishes II you wish
to avoid the toothache, say the sons of
Erin. never shave on Sunday. Globe
Democrat
StOneMau Jack son and tho Priest.