BENJAMIN MARTIN, apothecary to the Prince de Condé, was the author of a pamphlet on the teeth,[375] in which he gave a succinct description of these organs and spoke briefly of their diseases. He shows himself decidedly opposed to the use of the file and to the application of false teeth, because, according to him, both of these things may be the cause of great harm. With regard to the file, he says that nothing so easily tends to loosen the teeth as the use of this instrument, not to speak of various other inconveniences, among which is the danger of opening the interior cavity of the tooth.[376] MATTHIAS GOTTFRIED PURMANN (1648 to 1721), a celebrated surgeon of Breslau, was the first to make mention of models in dental prosthesis. As to the mode in which these models were obtained, some admit as natural that he first took a cast, and formed the model on this; but as Purmann does not hint in the least at such a process, the supposition is altogether gratuitous. Indeed, his description rather excludes any probability that the model was taken from a cast. Here is the literal translation, as nearly as possible, of the passage in which Purmann speaks of artificial teeth and of the mode of applying them. “The front teeth, or pronouncing teeth, ought, when they are wanting, to be substituted by artificial ones, in order to avoid defects of pronunciation, as well as to obviate deformity of the mouth, and this is carried out in the following manner: One has other teeth made of bone, or of ivory, according to the number, the size, and the proportions of those wanting; for which purpose one may previously have a model executed in wax, reproducing the particular conditions of the teeth and jaws, in order afterward to make and exactly adjust the whole on the pattern of it; then, when the base of these teeth is well fitted on the jaw and small holes have been made in the artificial teeth and also in the natural ones next to them, one applies the artificial teeth in the existing void and fixes them as neatly as possible with a silver wire by the help of pincers.”[377]