This digression may possibly be excused, as it was, in a measure, necessary, in order to continue the history of attempts at conservation of the dental pulp. I will copy from a few of the earlier writers on dental subjects, to show methods of practice, together with results as given: Jourdan, writing in 1784, says: "I saw a right canine tooth, in a young lady of twenty-three, so worn away as to expose the commencement of the pulp cavity. I enlarged the opening, gave vent to a drop or two of dark, offensive blood, and the pains, which had been very acute, ceased. I destroyed the sensibility of this tooth with cotton dipped with ether, and filled it with gold. It is still in the mouth and gives no trouble, though it has a blueish hue." "Koecker" gives the method pursued by him from about 1817. He first produced a black scar by burning, with a red-hot wire, the exposed pulp: covered this with a capping of lead foil, and filling over this with gold. He had previously used gold, and afterwards tin foil, as a capping, but with indifferent success. He attributed the later successes to the cooling properties of the lead. He relates case after case, and adds: "Five out of six teeth can be preserved alive when this operation is _skillfully_ performed." He relates one case where he treated and capped seven teeth, and successfully preserved six of the pulps alive for many years. He further says the smallest error will inevitably cause the destruction and loss of the tooth. He devotes ten pages of his "Principles of Dental Surgery" to this subject. "Fitch," 1835, recommends the treatment of the exposed pulp with Aleppo galls, scraped up, placed on the exposure and covered with wax; a few weeks or months later, caps with sheet lead or piece of gold plate and fills with gold. He relates numerous cases and complete success of this practice. Harris, in 1840, arched his gold fillings over the exposure and continued the filling with gold, with some success. Had tried Fitch's method with indifferent success, and thought Koecker's must from necessity result in failure. In 1841, "Lefoulon," in his work, after giving some of the methods and remedies of his predecessors and cotemporaries, says: "As for ourselves, though we be accused of being controlled by one permanent notion, truth compels us to say that the employment of our ethereal alluminous paste has enabled us to preserve the teeth of our patients, even when these organs were attacked with most intense inflammations. Its sedative and extraordinary anti-spasmodic quality does not fail to triumph over the inflammatory erytheism of the dental nervous system and its appendages to such an extent that all pain and all irritation cease at the end of some days, sometimes on the next day. Let the incredulous put us to the proof and test for themselves the truth of our words."