“Being by chance a few years ago at Dresden and visiting the Museum of Antiquities, my attention was attracted, in the last room, to two osseous pieces, which with other objects were enclosed in a glass case, with the written inscriptions: _Comb-shaped osseous pieces, found in ancient German urns._ As soon as I had observed them, I saw at once that they were artificial teeth; but as I had to be contented with examining them through the glass of the case, it was not possible for me to decide whether these pieces were really of bone, as they seemed to be, or of another substance. Taking into account their antiquity, their whiteness is very notable. Every piece is composed, if I remember rightly, of five teeth, that is, of a canine and four incisors; the chief difference of these pieces from the prosthetic pieces in ivory still in use (the author is writing in 1848) consists in this, that the pieces of which I speak have not at all a broad base, designed to rest on the gums, the base having instead the same thickness as the rest. The five teeth are well separated from one another. Besides, the canine makes the proper angle with the incisors, and at each side of the piece is found, in a convenient place, a hole, which shows that these teeth were fastened to those of the subject by means of a metallic or other kind of thread. As the above-described pieces are white, we must infer that they were removed from the mouth of the respective individuals before the body was burnt, and afterward put into the urn with the ashes, just as they used to put in coins, bits of arrows, and the like.” For many centuries dental surgery—which, however, was still in a very primitive state—was practised in Germany, as in many other countries, principally by barbers. These in certain places, and at certain periods, formed corporate bodies, whose members were legally authorized to extract teeth and to practise minor surgery in general. But besides barbers, there were various kinds of individuals, unfurnished with any authorization—tooth-drawers, charlatans, wandering story-tellers, necromancers, Jews, and even hangmen—who invaded the field of medical practice, in spite of its being forbidden them, except in fairs, to administer medicaments and to perform surgical operations.[272] In 1460 there appeared in Germany a book on Surgery by Heinrich von Pfolsprundt, Knight of the Teutonic Order.[273] The author had acquired great experience as surgeon in the military expeditions of his order, and we see from his book that he was very skilled in the cure of wounds and fractures. On the other hand, he shows himself hostile to every bloody operation with the exception of rhinoplast. Pains of the teeth and gums were cured by him by means of beverages.[274] [Illustration: Title page of Zahnarzneybuchlein.]