The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-06
MEXICAN INDIAN DENTISTRY.
Teeth Cut Bear-Trap Fashion and

Teeth Cut Bear-Trap Fashion and
 Plugged Libarally With Iron. MT. Leopoldo Batres, national cura- tor of antiquities, has made an interest ing present to his friend, Dr. Howe, the dentist.
 It consists of some articles discov- cred in one of the tombs of mitla. The articles in question are portion of a skull, a glass bead a little copper bell, just like those which are at this day tied around the necks of kittens. and an upper left bicuspid tooth with circu- lar incrustation of pyrites of iron Tn front, all from the same skeleton.
 It is no new fact that some of the ab- original peoples of Mexico wore orna- lments or incrustations in their teeth. Lie. Alfredo Chavero possessed front tooth taken from a tomb at Palenquo, in the middle of which a green stone is set. Sometimes the incrustations were of gold, and the incrustations of iron pyrites, when they were new and the sulphur in them was fresh, undoubted- ly shone like gold.
 There is reason to suppose that only the eight front upper teeth were incrus- ted. at any rate as rule, for second bicuspid given by MT. Batres to pr. Jose J. Rojo, the young Mexican den- tist to Dr. Howes office, and also taken from the Mitla tomb, is without any such incrustation. On the other hand, a canine, given by MT. Batres to Dr. Rojo, has the incrustation. and also af lords evidence that these ornaments were made during life and not after death The present condition of the tooth shows that the incrustation had reached the nerve cavity and destroyed the life of the tooth, process that argues life in the subject, as decay of the teeth does not occur after death, the microbes or organisms which cause de- cay dying with the individual
 As to the object and significance of these incrustations, they are matter of conjecture. They afford them, or they may have been distinctive mark of some rank or caste What is evil dent from the specimens possessed by Dr. Roio is that they must have caused
 suffering to those who used them. and, therefore, it is to be inferred that the fashion or custom which prescribed
 them must have had a strong social or religious sanction.
 Another custom revealed by the teeth found in these prehistoric tombs IS that
 of notching the teeth so as to form dove-tailing indentations. Each con-
 tiguous pair of upper front teeth were
 notched for certain distance upward } and sideways, so as to hear resem- blance to battlements turned upside down. The lower teeth were alternate : ly cut off and left of their natural size,
 e,o to in, with thn pptabec ah0ua
 In other words, a lower tooth situated , below cavity above was left of its natural size, and the adjoining tooth
 was cut off for some distance. Of
 course, the upper and lower teeth thus
 treated would not meet at once, but it | is a fact well known to dentists that if : an upper tooth is cut off, the corres- . bonding lower tooth will gradually grow up to it, and vice versa, if a lower
 tooth is sawed off, the corresponding . upper tooth will grow down to it Therefore in course of time, the :. notched teeth of these prehistoric Indi- :. ans fitted into one another exactly. anG ' must have given them peculiarly firm grip upon anything they got be. ; tween their teeth.
 The fragments of skull which Dr 5 Howe has, as well as the tooth, is col u ored red, which must have resulted ;. from their being dipped in mercury ? This was naturally post-mortem ope ', ration.
 The cavity in the tooth in which tn Il incr1lstation of iron pyrites is insartet ' Git is loose now and easily comes ou) i pcr7e tly circular and symmetrical I
 argues good instruments and skilfu workman ship. The instruments use were teinr cred copper, the art of E1o ducing which has been lost,/
 ; The little bell ,kan n inc 'nnl d and which is also one of Dr. Howe valued possessions, is green, of course n but it is otherwise in perfect preserva '- ton, and it tinklss just as audbly as le did when deposited in the tomb, thou n sands of years ago, by a race of peopj s- that has perished.-Mexican Herald.