GNAEUS MARCELLUS EMPIRICUS, of Burdigala (Bordeaux), who lived at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, wrote a book, _De medicamenti_, which shows, more than anything else, the decadence of the medical science in those days. Regarding the diseases of the teeth and their cure, Marcellus does not tell us anything new. He freely copies Scribonius Largus and other authors, not adding anything save a few methods of cure, which are exceedingly strange and superstitious. To get rid of toothache, it is sufficient that the patient, when the moon is waning, and in the days of Mars (Tuesday) or of Jupiter (Thursday), repeat seven times the words _argidam_, _margidam_, _sturgidam_. It is a great pity that a curative method so simple and easy be efficacious in two days of the week alone, and even then on condition that the moon be waning. The following method is also a very good one: Whilst in the open country, one must take a frog by the head, open its mouth and spit into it, then having begged the animal to take the toothache with it, must replace it on the ground and let it free. To remove loose teeth easily, it is necessary to keep in reserve some juice of black ivy mixed with a little green oil; in case of necessity, the nose of the patient must be anointed with it, and after having drawn a deep inspiration, he must put a little stone between his teeth, and stay with his mouth open, inclined a little forward, so as to let all the morbid humor flow out, which sometimes flows very abundantly and even may reach to three herminæ.[185] Having afterward rubbed the nose with pure oil, and washed the mouth with wine, the teeth will be free from every pain and may be very easily pulled out. If the root[186] of a tooth be rubbed with dried African sponge, the tooth will fall out within three days; naturally, says the author, care must be taken not to touch, whilst doing this, any healthy tooth. He who desires never to be subject to pain in the teeth, may obtain this end by the following method: When at the beginning of spring he sees the first swallow, he must go in silence to some running water, take some of it in his mouth, rub his teeth with the middle fingers of both his hands, and say: “_Hirundo,_ _tibi dico, quomodo hoc in rostro iterum non erit, sic mihi dentes non doleant toto anno._”[187] The same must be done each following year, so as to continue to enjoy the effects of such a cure!