The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-13
ANCIENT HAWAIIANS.
PAPER READ AT CHICAGO BY
DR.. ]. Ii. WHITNEY.
Modes of Burial and Interesting Den.
tai Facts.
DR.. J. Ii. WHITNEY.

The following PAPER was read b,
DR.. J. NJ. Whitney, Of Honolulu
before the Worlds Columbian Den
tai Congress, held at Chicago il
August, 1893. The paper of Dr.
Whitney was published in tn
Dental Cosmos" at Chicago OF
the 18th ultimo, it being one of fv,
papers selected to be read out of {
large number, and attracted much
attention and discussion at tn,
time. The following is the bulk o.
the paper read, which, in the "Cos
mos" is followed by several pages
containing the views of different
members of the dental college:
AMONG THE ANCIENT HAwAIIANs.
To the thoughtful and conscientious
dental student and practitioner there
must constantly arise questions to
which lie may look i'm vain for satis-
factory answers in his common sur
roundings. He sees the ravages of
dental carries and other d .seases so al
most universal in our day, and he
asks, Is this a necessary evil to which
all mankind Is subject? or Is it the re-
suit of the artificial life and varied
foods to which our modern civilization
binds us? Is dental irreguIarity due,
as some claim, to the mixture of races,
and il we could fiud people homo
gena2ous and simple, won Il these con
ditions exist? Is il true that as man
Kind advances In the stage of being,
the third moiar is to- become gradually
eliminated? What is the normal DO
sition of adjacent teeth i'm relation to
each other? What relation has the
kind of food we use to the building up
of dental structure?
We all know the difficulty, amid the
complications of modern hygienic
conditions, of answering these impor-
tant questions to our own satisfaction.
But II we can examine the dental or
gans of a simple and isolated people,
not affected by the vices and diseases,
which are surely not necessarily
contingent of civilization, but which
are sure to- follow in its train, we may
draw some conclusions which will
throw much light OIL our pro lens. 1t
would be difficult indeed for most of
us TO find living subjects in any mum
Der, meet ng these conditions. But
preserved long after the owners of
them have passed beyond mortal ken,
anu II we can obtain the crania, es
peciaily of people who, living upon
the earth ages ago when wants were
few and means of supplying them
Were cOrrespondingly limited, our
study of their dental conditions will
certainly be interesting and ought to
De instructive.
consider my self especially fortunate
IN living in land where both of these |
are met; first, the native |
Hawaiian people, until within Il hun |
ired years, lived isolated and. I'M |
known to the great world, therefore |
heir habits We're simple and their |
wants and opportunities were few; |
second, their modes of burial were |
such that il is possible with compare
i've ease to obtain some knowledge of
heir primitive conditions.
"The most isolated place on the
GLOBE" that is what Prof. Alexander,
he learned historian and ethnOlogist,
says OF the Hawaiian islands. Two
thousand miles from the Pacific coast
If A Daaricik and equally distant from
he y iesian, Samoan, and TahI-
iams =. the nearest inhabited ISL
nd-, al more than twice as far from
1Fea9ast%.oast of China and Australia,
NV occupy unique position on the
nap of the world.
About the year 500 of the Christian
,r., a boat load of men and women
lrfited to these shores, either from the
.IaIay Archipelago or from one or the
outIeru Islands, which had been pre-
-ioIIsly settled 10y Maiays. Except
hort period If intercourse oei"eeii
he Pa'.ific islands i'm the eleventh and
1y,IfIh centuries, these islands were
,..rrely known to the world until
heir discovery by Capt. Cook about a
,un,Ire,l years ago Even the sllght
Intercourse that may have existed dur
n,r these twelve centuries must nave
cen among kindred races on the Ia
,itian and Marquesan islands, so that
Practically this people (untll WITHIN
hundred years., had not char ged their
ace characteristics, nor their haolts
xistence. Fortunately, enough OF
heir history and customs have been
reserved TO give us good idea OF
many uf their characteristics, their
,od etc. They were of medium
I.iOht rarely reaching six feet, with
pavy strong bones, their crania large
sd thick. Their employments We're
the soil, fishing, and warning.
games were hurting the spear,
the SURF OOAlhSt "iOSb- |
Al-nd other exercises requiring |
Am lily strength and courage.
Haw late at the seashore averages :
Am Am &c with slight variations
Am bkt day, and not varying
Am bkt s degrees during the year, {
Am blk Ceasceuds the lofty moun-
Am schr Ach the country abounds I
=lay be found to one of :
.. Thus excess We heat
md vigor of body can
ssaselA. In the former days
Am schT Anpe been speak, e such
am Am OK NNa,,;ps, typhoid, malarial
8esp VIII rs, whooping-cou h,
NJ HackfeId Is smallpox, syphilis,
Ger blk Calves unknown. Diseases
Am bkt Discry canal and of the
szfer. 50 Isrp most prevalent trou-
Their animal food consisted mainly
4 fish, with which the sea abound5.
Domestic fowls were common, with I
ogs and swine, both of which were
hoic articles of food. OF vegeta- ;
j. foods the principal then as {
Iow was the taro (COtocGSia An- {
which is the Hawaiian
staff of lite" From it is made the
,oi. an acid paste. without which {
zeal is never quite satisfying. They
-nnfafOe9. and |