Orange County observer., 1899-03-23
choice Of Commissioner OF Agriculture
and Of Labor Commissioner are cxcel.
lent. the Labor Commissioner being
the most popular man in the State with
organized labor.
MEXICAN INDIAN INDUSTRY.
Teeth Cut Bear.Trap Fashion and Plugged
Literally With Irou

ntor Of Mexican Antiquities. has made
I'm interesting present TO his friend
Or. Howe, the dentist.
1t consists OF some articles discov
cred in the tombs of Militia. The art:, ]
cles in question are portion Of
skull. 4 glass bead 4 little copper bell.
just like those which tfe at this day
tied about the ncchS of kittens, and an
upper left bicuSpid tooth with circu-
lar incrustation of pNritcs OF iron III
front. all from the sane skeleton.
1t is no new fact that some OF the
aboriginal peoples of Mexico wore or
namcutS or incruStations In their
teeth. Lie. Alfredo Chavero possessed
n front tooth taken from 4 tomb at
Palpnque, in the middle Of which
green stone is set. Sometimes the ia
crustations were Of gold. and The in
cru>tat!onS of iron pyriteS. when they
were new ana the sulphur III them
was fresh. undoubtedly shone like
gold
There is reason to suppose that only
the eight front upper teeth were in
cruSted. at any rate as rule. for
second hicuSpid given by Mr.. Eatrcs
TO nr. Hojo. the young Mexican den
tist. in Dr. Howo'S Office, and also Ia
ken from the Militia tomb. is without
any such incrustation. On the other
hand, canine given by Mr.. Batres to
DR.. Rojo, has the incrustation, and
also affords evidence that 1nc-. orna-
monts We're made during life AMI
not after death. The present condt-
ton Of the tooth shows that the in
crustatiOn had reached the mere cav
ity and destroyed the life of the tooth
4 process That argues lite III tie sub
ject. as decay OF the tectn does not
occur after death. the microbes or or
ganis:ns which cause decay dying
with the Individual.
AS To tie object and significance OF
these incrustations, they are matter
of conjecture. They may have been
affected by all who could afford them,
Of they may have been distinction
mark of some rank or caste What Is
evident from the specimen possessed
by DR.. Rojo is that they must have
caused suffering TO those who used
ferrcd that the fashion or custom
which prescribed them must have had
strong social or religious sanction
Another custom revealed by the
teeth found in these prehistoric tombs
| is that of notching tie teeth SO as to
form dove-tailiug indcntations. Each
contiguous pair cf upper front teeth
were n0tcleu for certain distance
| upward and sideways. so az To bear Il
| resemblance to battlementS turned up
| side down The lower teeth were al
ternately cat OF and left Of their nat
| ural size, so as 10 fit in with the
| notches above. In other WoisiS. 4
| lower tooth situated below q cavity
| above was left Of its original 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 il is a fact well
known to dentists that If asi upper
| tooth is cut off. the corresponding low
| er tooth will gradually grow up to It
| and vice versa if lower tooth is
sawed off. the corresponding upper
tooth will grow down to it. Therefore
in course of time. the notChrd teetE
Of these prehistoric Indians fitted into
one another exactly. and must have
given them Il peculiarly firm grip up
on anything they got between thei1
teeth.
The fragment of skull which Ir
Howe has. aS we'll as the toIth i cJl
ored red. which must have r"SHlto,
from their being dipped il mcrc"?y
This was naturally post norton op
| GRAFTON.
Thc cavity in the tooth in wh."l II
incrue efation Of iron rtri,tN il ii>.. H.
it i loose. now ana easily comes out
i perfectly circular and sxinm"triraI
II af-7!es good in~trun"ut~ a;i ~E II
fl workmanship. Tie ius,r1.4c1it
use! were OF tempered copper. I! I" -
Of producing winch has been lo>t.
Tie little bell taken fron the toinl
ana which i also one Of Or. Hove
valued possessions. is green. nf ccflr~i
!yrt j: is otherwise in perfect pre>"I E
ton. ana Il :al-Ies just rs au'...lE q
il Gl when deposited IN ia" r3i.ti
thousands of years ago. y, racr Q
,eopi" that has pnrisssi-