American Dental Convention. [Volume: 2, Issue: 2, September, 1860, pp. 100-121]

112

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

in the dental tissues as in other osseous structures. It is true, that the
red corpuscles do not permeate the dentinal tubuli as in other bones, but
believes there is a circulation; infers this from the formation of the
dentine, its vitality, presence of nerve fibres, and the ease with which
fluids pass into it. No vessels have as yet been traced into the dentine,
but that does not prove that they do not exist; considered the nutrition
of the tooth to be derived from the pulp internally, and periosteum externally; if the former is destroyed, all sensation in the crown will be removed,
but the fang will retain its vitality, because of the circulation derived
from the latter-were it not so, nature would dispose of it in the same
manner as foreign substances in other soft parts.
Dr. Atkinson remarked, the theoretical must ever precede the practical. In the formation of all living tissues we first recognize plasma;
second, cells; third, organs; and fourth, systems. He said to strictly
define the structure of a perfected tooth, beginning at the periphery, we
first divide a stratum of cementum, and successively one each of enamel,
dentine, and pulp, to complete the survey or section. Here the law of
integration has completed its function to the full degree of development
for tissues properly denominated "primary." Considered there were
two modifications of developmental law in tooth structures-one in ossification, or more properly calcification of the pulp, which would not be
endowed with the life-principle to the full measure of the primary dentine; the other was in true hypertrophy of cementum, which is furnished
with the full, if not a plus degree of life-principle. He would liken
enamel, from its crystalline structure, to the mineral; the dentine, from its
mode of circulation and nutrition, to the vegetable; and the pulp, to the
animal kingdom. All nutrition takes place without cells or organs in
plasma (inclosed within pellicles), and in teeth we are presented with the
synonyms of both vegetable and animal nutrition: the dentine proper
resembling the nutrition of endogens; the cementum, that of exogens;
and the pulp, the animal or soft tissues.
Feeding properly belongs to cell, organ, and system; and that the
organs and cells constituting our systems may be fed, a pabulum must first
be brought into the system, and there prepared for the purposes of nutrition, which always takes place in cells first, and thus, by developing organs
by aggregations of these cells, growth and nutrition are effected. So that
feeding, in the strictest sense, belongs to that little-understood part of our
being, its basal and elemental existence. But in the sense of supply to
the system, feeding takes place in mouths in which TEETH are the principal means of division and comminution. Then, that we may be well fed,
it becomes necessary for these to be in sound and regular condition; to
secure which is the object of all our investigation.
In regard to dental hygiene, Dr. Wescott says: " Keep the teeth and
the whole oral cavity clean." This is but a special enunciation of the