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Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
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 Jonathan Barnes

ARISTOTLE
A Very Short Introduction

1
 For Richard Robinson

3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford o x 2 6 d p
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
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Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Jonathan Barnes 2000
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published 1982 as an Oxford University Press paperback
Reissued 1996
Revised and published as a Very Short Introduction 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 0–19–285408–9
7 9 10 8
Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall
Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Maps xii

1 The Man and His Work 1

2 A Public Figure 7

3 Zoological Researches 14

4 Collecting Facts 24

5 The Philosophical Background 30

6 The Structure of the Sciences 39

7 Logic 46

8 Knowledge 53

9 Ideal and Achievement 59

10 Reality 64

11 Change 75

12 Causes 83

13 Empiricism 92

14 Aristotle’s World-Picture 97

15 Psychology 105
16 Evidence and Theory 110

17 Teleology 116

18 Practical Philosophy 123

19 The Arts 131

20 Afterlife 136

References 143

Chronological Table 151

Further Reading 153

Index 157
List of Illustrations

1 Bust of Aristotle: a copy of 5 A teacher and pupils: a

believed to have been relief from the second
commissioned by century ad 27
Alexander the Great 2
6 A mosaic from Pompeii,
Courtesy of Alinari
made in about 100 bc,
2 Page from a medieval showing Plato’s
manuscript showing Academy 32
Aristotle as tutor to the Courtesy of Alinari

young Alexander 10
7 Head of Plato 36
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis
Courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Musem,

3 Parts of the later city wall of Cambridge

Assos, where Aristotle and

8 Illustration of the Tree of
his companions spent their
Knowledge from a
time in philosophical
scholastic textbook of the
discussion 15
Renaissance 44
© Ruggero Vanni/Corbis
Courtesy of the American

4 Engraving of Theophrastus, Philosophical Society

Aristotle’s pupil, colleague,

9 Manuscript written by the
and intellectual heir 17
monk Ephraim in
Courtesy of Hulton Getty
November 954 48
Reproduced from R. Barbour, Greek

Literary Hands
10 The site of the Lyceum, 17 Part of a papyrus text (from
unearthed in 1996 61 the second century ad) of
Eudoxus’ work On
11 Title-page of Sir David
Spheres 103
Ross’s edition of the
Courtesy of R.M.N./Louvre
Metaphysics, first published
at Oxford in 1924 65 18 Seventeenth-century
picture of a beehive
12 Imprint of a Greek papyrus
below a fruit tree 114
found at Aï Khanoum in
Courtesy of Hulton Getty
Afghanistan 73
Courtesy of the French 19 A snake giving birth,
Archaeological Delegation in pictured below a close-up
Afghanistan/P. Bernard view of its skin 121
© Corbis
13 Title-page of an edition of
the Physics published at 20 Friendship and its varieties,
Lyons in 1561 76 as represented in a
medieval illustration 126
14 Bronze statue of a
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis
victorious charioteer from
Delphi 85 21 Theatrical scene depicted
© Ruggero Vanni/Corbis on a Greek vase 132
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis
15 Mosaic representation
of an octopus 95 22 The gymnasium at Aï
© Ruggero Vanni/Corbis Khanoum in
Afghanistan 138
16 Thirteenth-century painting
© Courtesy of the French
of the Aristotelian
Archaeological Delegation in
elements: earth, air, fire,
Afghanistan/P. Bernard
and water 99
© C. Dagli Orti/Paris 23 Aristotle and Herpyllis,
according to a common
medieval fantasy 140
© Leonard de Selva/Corbis
The publisher and the author apologize for any errors or omissions in
the above list. If contacted they will be pleased to rectify these at the
earliest opportunity.
List of Maps

1 Map of Greece indicating Aristotle’s places of work 8

Chapter 1
The Man and His Work

Aristotle died in the autumn of 322 bc. He was sixty-two and at the
height of his powers: a scholar whose scientific explorations were as
wide-ranging as his philosophical speculations were profound; a
teacher who enchanted and inspired the brightest youth of Greece; a
public figure who lived a turbulent life in a turbulent world. He
bestrode antiquity like an intellectual colossus. No man before him had
contributed so much to learning. No man after him might aspire to
rival his achievements.

Of Aristotle’s character and personality little is known. He came from a

rich family. He was allegedly a dandy, wearing rings on his fingers and
cutting his hair fashionably short. He suffered from poor digestion, and
is said to have been spindle-shanked. He was a good speaker, lucid in
his lectures, persuasive in conversation; and he had a mordant wit. His
enemies, who were numerous, accused him of arrogance. His will,
which has survived, is a generous document. His philosophical writings
are impersonal; but they suggest that he prized both friendship and
self-sufficiency, and that, while conscious of his place in an honourable
tradition, he was properly proud of his own attainments. As a man, he
was, perhaps, admirable rather than amiable.

That is thin material for a biographer; and we may not hope to know
Aristotle as we might know Albert Einstein or Bertrand Russell – he
1
1. ‘Aristotle was a dandy, wearing rings on his fingers and cutting his hair
fashionably short.’ The sculptor of this bust – perhaps a copy of one
commissioned by Alexander the Great – saw him otherwise.
lived too long ago and the abyss of time has swallowed up the facts of
his life. One thing, however, can be said with reasonable confidence:
throughout his life Aristotle was driven by one overmastering desire –
the desire for knowledge. His whole career and his every known
activity testify to the fact: he was concerned before all else to
promote the discovery of truth and to increase the sum of human
knowledge.

He did not think himself singular in possessing such a desire, even if he

pursued his object with a singular devotion; for he affirmed that ‘all
men by nature desire to know’, and he claimed that each one of us is,
most properly speaking, to be identified with his mind, so that life – a
fully human life – is ‘the activity of the mind’. In an early work, the
Protrepticus or Exhortation to Philosophy, Aristotle announced that ‘the

The Man and His Work

acquisition of wisdom is pleasant; all men feel at home in philosophy
and wish to spend time on it, leaving all other things aside’. The word
‘philosophy’ designates, etymologically, the love of wisdom; and a
philosopher, in Aristotle’s book, is not a cloistered academic engaged
in remote and abstract speculation – he is someone who searches for
‘knowledge of things human and divine’. In one of his later works, the
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that ‘happiness’ – that state of
mind in which men realize themselves and flourish best – consists in a
life of intellectual activity. Is not such a life too godlike for mere
mortals to sustain? No; for ‘we must not listen to those who urge us to
think human thoughts since we are human, and mortal thoughts since
we are mortal; rather, we should as far as possible immortalize
ourselves and do all we can to live by the finest element in us – for if in
bulk it is small, in power and worth it is far greater than anything else’.

A man’s proper aim is to immortalize himself, to imitate the gods; for

in doing so he becomes most fully a man and most fully himself. Such
self-realization requires him to act on that desire for knowledge which
as a man he naturally possesses. Aristotle’s recipe for ‘happiness’ may
be thought severe or restricted, and he was surely optimistic in
3
 ascribing to the generality of mankind his own passionate desire for
learning. But his recipe came from the heart: he counsels us to live our
lives as he himself tried to live his own.

One of Aristotle’s ancient biographers remarks that ‘he wrote a large

number of books which I have thought it appropriate to list because of
the man’s excellence in every field’: there follows a list of some 150
items, which, taken together and published in the modern style, would
amount to perhaps fifty substantial volumes of print. And the list does
not include all of Aristotle’s writings – indeed, it fails to mention two of
the works, the Metaphysics and the Nicomachean Ethics, for which he is
today most renowned. It is a vast output; yet it is more remarkable for
its scope and variety than for its quantity. The catalogue of his titles
includes On Justice, On the Poets, On Wealth, On the Soul, On Pleasure,
On the Sciences, On Species and Genus, Deductions, Definitions, Lectures
on Political Theory (in eight books), The Art of Rhetoric, On the
Aristotle

Pythagoreans, On Animals (in nine books), Dissections (in seven books),

On Plants, On Motion, On Astronomy, Homeric Problems (in six books),
On Magnets, Olympic Victors, Proverbs, On the River Nile. There are works
on logic and on language; on the arts; on ethics and politics and law;
on constitutional history and on intellectual history; on psychology and
physiology; on natural history – zoology, biology, botany; on
chemistry, astronomy, mechanics, mathematics; on the philosophy of
science and on the nature of motion and space and time; on
metaphysics and the theory of knowledge. Choose a field of research,
and Aristotle laboured in it; pick an area of human endeavour, and
Aristotle discoursed upon it.

Of all these writings barely one-fifth has survived. But the surviving
fraction contains samples of most of his studies, and although the
major part of his life’s work is lost, we may still form a rounded idea of
his activities.

Most of the surviving writings were perhaps never intended to be read;

4
for it seems likely that the treatises which we possess were made up
from Aristotle’s lecture notes. The notes were made for his own use
and not for public dissemination. They were no doubt tinkered with
over a period of years. Moreover, although some of the treatises owe
their structure to Aristotle himself, others were plainly put together by
later editors – the Nicomachean Ethics is evidently not a unitary work,
the Metaphysics is plainly a set of essays rather than a continuous
treatise. In the light of this, it will hardly be a surprise to find that the
style of Aristotle’s works is often rugged. Plato’s dialogues are finished
literary artefacts, the subtleties of their thought matched by the tricks
of their language. Aristotle’s writings for the most part are terse. His
arguments are concise. There are abrupt transitions, inelegant
repetitions, obscure allusions. Paragraphs of continuous exposition are
set among staccato jottings. The language is spare and sinewy. If the

The Man and His Work

treatises are unpolished, that is in part because Aristotle had felt no
need and no urge to take down the beeswax. But only in part; for
Aristotle had reflected on the appropriate style for scientific writing
and he favoured simplicity. ‘In every form of instruction there is some
small need to pay attention to language; for it makes a difference with
regard to making things clear whether we speak in this or that way. But
it does not make much of a difference: all these things are show and
directed at the hearer – which is why no one teaches geometry in this
way.’ Aristotle could write finely – his style was praised by ancient
critics who read works of his which we cannot – and some parts of the
surviving items are done with power and even with panache. But fine
words butter no parsnips, and fine language yields no scientific profit.

The reader who opens his Aristotle and expects to find a systematic
disquisition on some philosophical subject or an orderly textbook of
scientific instruction, will be brought up short: Aristotle’s treatises are
not like that. But reading the treatises is not a dull slog. Aristotle has a
vigour which is the more attractive the better it is known; and the
treatises, which have none of the camouflage of Plato’s dialogues,
reveal their author’s thoughts – or at least appear to do so – in a direct
5
 and stark fashion. It is easy to imagine that you can overhear Aristotle
talking to himself.

Above all, Aristotle is tough. A good way of reading him is this: Take up
a treatise, think of it as a set of lecture notes, and imagine that you
now have to lecture from them. You must expand and illustrate the
argument, and you must make the transitions clear; you will probably
decide to relegate certain paragraphs to footnotes, or reserve them for
another time and another lecture; and if you have any talent at all as a
lecturer, you will find that the jokes add themselves. Let it be admitted
that Aristotle can be not only tough but also vexing. Whatever does he
mean here? How on earth is this conclusion supposed to follow from
those premises? Why this sudden barrage of technical terms? One
ancient critic claimed that ‘he surrounds the difficulty of his subject
with the obscurity of his language, and thus avoids refutation –
producing darkness, like a squid, in order to make himself hard to
Aristotle

capture’. Every reader will, from time to time, think of Aristotle as a

squid. But the moments of vexation are outnumbered by the moments
of elation. Aristotle’s treatises offer a peculiar challenge to their
readers; and once you have taken up the challenge, you would not
have the treatises in any other form.

6
Chapter 2
A Public Figure

Aristotle was no recluse: the life of contemplation which he commends

is not to be spent in an armchair or an ivory tower. He was never a
politician, but he was a public figure and lived often enough in the
public gaze. Yet in the spring of 322 he retired to Chalcis on the island
of Euboea, where his mother’s family had property; and in the last
months of his life he lamented his isolation.

The preceding thirteen years he had spent in Athens, the cultural

capital of the Greek world. There he had taught regularly, in the
Lyceum. For he believed that knowledge and teaching were
inseparable. His own researches were frequently carried out in
company, in a research team; and he communicated his results to his
friends and pupils, never thinking of them as a private treasure-store –
after all, a man cannot claim to know a subject unless he is capable of
transmitting his knowledge to others, and teaching is the best proof
and the natural manifestation of knowledge.

The Lyceum is sometimes referred to as Aristotle’s ‘school’; and it is

tempting to think of it as a sort of modern university: timetables and
lecture courses and a syllabus, the enrolment of students and their
examination, and the granting of degrees. But the Lyceum was not a
private college: it was a public place – a sanctuary and a gymnasium.
An old story tells that Aristotle lectured to his chosen pupils in the
7
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 Water ” 1”

At page 89 of the papyrus4 we find two other remedies, having the

same object, that is, “to cure the bennut blisters in the teeth and to
strengthen the flesh.”
The first is compounded in this way:
“Cow’s milk Part 1
Fresh dates ” 1
Uah corn ” 1
To be left stand and then to be masticated nine times.”

This is the second receipt:

“Anest-plant Part 1
Dough ” 1
Green lead ” 1
Sebests5 ” 1
Cake ” 1
Dâm-plant ” 1
Fennel seeds ” 1
Olive oil ” 1
Water ” 1
To be used like the preceding one.”

In this same page 89 many other remedies corresponding to various

indications are prescribed.
“To strengthen the teeth:
Powder of the fruit of the dum-palm Part 1
Green lead ” 1
Honey ” 1
To be mixed and the teeth rubbed with it.”

The following is another remedy for the same purpose:

“Powder of flint stones Part 1
Green lead ” 1
Honey ” 1
 To be rubbed on the teeth.”

Next comes a remedy “to cure the growth of uxedu in the teeth,”
that is:
“Dough Part 1
Beans ” 1
Honey ” 1
Verdigris ” 1
Green lead ” 1
To be powdered, mixed, and applied on the teeth.”

The word uxedu recurs more than thirty-five times in the Ebers’
papyrus, in relation to affections of the most different parts of the
body. By confronting all the passages of the papyrus in which one
finds the word uxedu, Joachim deduces that it does not indicate any
special disease, but has the general signification of “a painful
swelling.” According to Geist-Jacobi, by “growth of the uxedu in the
teeth” may be understood an alveolar abscess and the consequent
swelling of the surrounding parts.
Another remedy is intended for “the cure of the tooth that gnaws
unto the upper part of the flesh.”
The translator of the papyrus remarks that by the “upper part of the
flesh” is to be understood the gum. The remedy would, therefore,
correspond to the indication of curing a tooth “that gnaws or gives
pain unto the gum.” But as one sees, even putting it in these words,
the meaning is anything but clear. Perhaps the destructive action of
the carious process, reaching as far as the gum, is what is here
meant to be alluded to. Meanwhile here is the receipt:
“Cumin Part 1
Incense ” 1
Onion ” 1
To be reduced to a paste, and applied on the tooth.”

Besides the remedies already given, the two following are prescribed
for strengthening the teeth:
 “Incense Part 1
Verdigris ” 1
Green lead ” 1
Mix and apply on the tooth.”

The other is compounded of:

“Water Part 1
Absinth ” 1
To be used as above.”

We next find a formula, preceded by this very vague indication:

“Chewing remedy for curing the teeth.”
“Amaa-plant Part 1
Sweet beer ” 1
Sut-plant ” 1
To be masticated and then spit on the ground.”

Another masticatory is intended to “strengthen and cure the teeth,”

and is compounded thus:
“Saffron Part 1
Duat-plant ” 1
Sweet beer ” 1
To be masticated and then spit on the ground.”

Finally, we have a medicament “for curing the gnawing of the blood

in the tooth.” It is complicated enough, being compounded with:
“The fruit of the gebu Part 1/32
Onion ” 1/64
Cake ” 1/16
Dough ” 1/8
Anest-plant ” 1/32
Water ” 1/2
One leaves it to stand and then chews for four days.”

But what meaning is to be attributed to the “gnawing of the blood in

the tooth?”
It is almost certain that this figurative expression referred to the pain
deriving from caries and pulpitis. It may have had its origin in the
observation of two phenomena, that is, first of all, the pulsating
character which the pain alluded to often assumes, and the eventual
issuing of blood from the cavity of a tooth affected by caries and
pulpitis, when the pulp is exposed. At any rate, the Egyptian doctors
of remotest antiquity undoubtedly did not ignore the presence of
blood in the interior of the tooth.
From what we have related, it clearly appears that at that remote
epoch many remedies were already in use for combating dental
affections. These must consequently have been frequent enough,
which demonstrates the erroneousness of the opinion held by some,
who affirm, as does Mummery,6 that in ancient times diseases of the
teeth were extremely rare.
Besides this, it is fully evident, from the Ebers’ papyrus, that at the
time in which this was written, dental pathology and therapy were
still in a very primitive condition, and formed a part of general
medicine, from which they showed as yet no tendency to separate;
so true is this, that the remedies intended for the treatment of the
teeth do not constitute a special section of the work, but are to be
found among medicaments of an altogether different nature. Thus,
at page lxxii of the papyrus7 we find, first, three remedies against
the itch; then five remedies for the cure of pustules in various parts
of the body; next an ointment and a potion for the bennut blisters in
whatever part of the body they may occur; after this, three
medicaments against the bennut blisters of the teeth; and lastly, a
plaster for curing crusts and itching in whatsoever part of the body.
One finds no mention of dental surgery in the Ebers’ papyrus. No
conclusions could be drawn from this fact if the work only spoke of
medical treatment, for then it might reasonably be supposed that
the compiler had purposely occupied himself with this subject only;
but, on the contrary, the Ebers’ papyrus frequently makes mention of
operative interventions, and among these, of the use of the knife
and of the red-hot iron for the treatment of abscesses and of certain
tumors. Therefore, there being no mention made in the papyrus of
any dental operation, not even of extraction, gives us reason to
suspect that at that remote epoch no surgical operation was carried
out on the teeth, and that, as yet, no instruments existed for
practising extraction.
In the time of the celebrated historian Herodotus, of Halicarnassus,
who lived in the fifth century previous to the Christian era (about
from 500 to 424 B.C.), that is, more than a thousand years after the
time in which the Ebers’ papyrus was written, the dental art in Egypt
had made remarkable progress, and was exercised by specialists. In
fact, in the second book of Herodotus we find the following passage:
“The exercise of medicine is regulated and divided amongst the
Egyptians in such a manner that special doctors are deputed to the
curing of every kind of infirmity; and no doctor would ever lend
himself to the treatment of different maladies. Thus, Egypt is quite
full of doctors: those for the eyes; those for the head; some for the
teeth; others for the belly; or for occult maladies.”8
Having here had occasion to refer to the History of Herodotus, we
will quote two passages of this famous work, which have a certain
interest for our subject;
“Whilst the tyrant Hippias, after having been driven out of Athens
(510 B.C.), was marching against Greece at the head of the Persian
army and had already arrived at Marathon, he happened one day to
sneeze and to cough in a more vehement manner than usual; and
he being already an old man, and his teeth all shaking, a violent fit
of coughing suddenly drove one of them out of his mouth, and it
having fallen into the dust, Hippias set to work, with great diligence,
to search for it; but the tooth not coming to light, he drew a long
sigh, and then said, turning to those who were standing by: ‘This
land is not ours, neither shall we ever be able to have it in our
power; what clings to my tooth is all of it that will ever belong to
me.’”9
In another part of the History, that is, in the ninth book, Herodotus
recounts as follows:
“When the corpses buried after the battle of Platea were already
despoiled of their flesh, a curious fact was seen; for the people of
Platea having collected the bones of those who had perished, there
was found amongst them a skull altogether devoid of commissures,
and composed of one single bone. A jaw was also found, the teeth
of which, comprising the molars, appeared to be made all of one
piece, as though composed of a single bone.”
Relative to this last passage of Herodotus, we may remark, as does
Stark, that the total synostosis of the skull bones is certainly very
rare, but that, nevertheless, one has authentic examples of the
same, not only in ancient but also in relatively modern times,
witness the famous skull of Albrecht von Brandenburg, surnamed the
German Achilles, who died in 1486, and was buried in the monastery
of Heilbronn. As to teeth united together and forming a single piece,
no example exists save in very ancient authors, for instance, in
Valerius Maximus, who recounts a similar marvellous fact of Prusia,
King of Bithynia, and in Plutarch, who attests to a similar fact in the
person of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus.
It is very difficult to establish within what limits the activity of the
dentists alluded to by Herodotus was displayed. It has been affirmed
by some that dental art in ancient Egypt was very far advanced, and
that not only the application of artificial teeth, and even of pivot
teeth, but also stoppings, were practised by the Egyptian dentists of
those days. Here are some data on this subject:
Joseph Linderer10 tells us that, according to Belzoni11 and others,
artificial teeth made of wood and very roughly fashioned have been
found in Egyptian sarcophagi.
George H. Perine, a dentist of New York, in an article on the history
of dentistry,12 says: “Both filled and artificial teeth have been found
in the mouths of mummies, the cavities in the former stopped with
gold and in some cases with gilded wood. Whether these fillings
were inserted during life for the purpose of preserving the teeth, or
after death for ornamentation, it is, of course, impossible to say.
That the Egyptians were exceedingly fond of embellishing their
persons with gold ornaments and bright colored materials is a fact
which has been clearly established, and the discovery of mummies—
of exalted personages no doubt—some organs of which were gilded
and embellished with showy colors proves that their fondness for
display accompanied them even to the grave.” To this may be added,
that after an embalmment of the highest class13 it was usual to gild
the eyebrows, the point of the nose, the lips, and the teeth of the
corpse, and place a gold coin between the teeth, or cover over the
tongue with a thin gold plate.
Dr. J. G. Van Marter, a dentist in Rome, in an article on prehistoric
dentistry,14 writes, among other things, that the renowned
archæologist, Mr. Forbes, had seen mummies’ teeth stopped with
gold.
The great defect of all the assertions referred to is that of not being
accompanied by any element of proof, wherewith to demonstrate
their truth. When, for example, we are told that Mr. Purland
possesses, in his collection of antiquities, a tooth pivoted on to the
root of a mummy’s tooth, the question suggests itself naturally: If
this tooth is, as it appears, separated from the jaw of the mummy to
which it is said to have belonged, how can we be certain that the
tooth itself is really that of a mummy? Until sufficient proof of this be
furnished, we cannot but consider the above assertion as absolutely
without value.15
The same may be said as to the assertions of Wilkinson and Forbes
with regard to mummies’ teeth stopped with gold. Where and by
whom were these mummies found? And where are they preserved?
Was the stopping, too, verified at the time of the finding of the
mummy, in such a manner as to exclude all possibility of fraud, or
was it discovered afterward, in circumstances such as to suggest the
possibility of a mistification? It has, in fact, been reported16 that the
pretended Egyptian stopping in a mummy existing in an English
museum was nothing else than a practical joke, carried out, besides,
in a very awkward manner.
In opposition to the above assertions, we have the most absolute
contradictory statements on the part of the most competent
authorities.
The celebrated Egyptologist, Prof. George Ebers, has only been able,
in spite of the most accurate research, to arrive at completely
negative results in all that has reference to the dental art of the
ancient Egyptians.17
The distinguished craniologist Prof. Emil Schmidt, of Leipzig, who
owns a collection of several hundred mummies’ skulls, writes thus on
the question now before us: “In no jaw have I ever found anything
that could be attributed to the work of dentists: no fillings, no filing
or trepanning of teeth, no prosthesis.”18 Virchow, who also
examined a great many Egyptian skulls, among which were several
belonging to royal mummies, did not find any indications of dentists’
work;19 and Mummery, as well, although he made the most
conscientious researches on this subject, could not arrive at any
positive results whatever.20
Between the affirmations of some and the negations of others, it is
very difficult to say on which side the truth lies. For my own part, I
fail to find that there is the least proof of the ancient Egyptians
having known how to insert gold fillings and still less to apply pivot
teeth. But at the same time I think it cannot be doubted that the
Egyptian dentists knew how to apply artificial teeth. And even
though it may not be possible to demonstrate this by direct proof,
one is equally prone to admit it when one considers, on the one
hand, the remarkable ability of the ancient Egyptians in all plastic
arts, and, on the other hand, the great importance they attributed to
the beautifying of the human body; so much so, that even in so
ancient a document as the Ebers papyrus, one finds formulæ for
medicaments against baldness, for lotions for the hair, and other
kinds of cosmetics. Is it likely, therefore, that so refined and
ingenious a people should not have found the means of remedying
the deformity resulting from the loss of one or more front teeth?
Fortunately, however, we are not bound to content ourselves with
simple suppositions, for a well-authenticated archæological discovery
made in the month of May, 1862, has put us in possession of an
irrefutable proof.
The discovery to which we allude is registered in Renan’s Mission de
Phénicie, and was the result of researches made in the necropolis of
Saida (the ancient Sidon) by Dr. Gaillardot, Renan’s colleague in his
important scientific mission. In a grave in one of the most ancient
parts of the necropolis, Dr. Gaillardot found, in the midst of the sand
that filled the grave, a quantity of small objects, among which were
two copper coins, an iron ring, a vase of most graceful outline, a
scarab, twelve very small statuettes of majolica representing
Egyptian divinities, which probably formed a necklace, to judge by
the holes bored in them. But among the objects found (which,
together with that we are about to mention, are now in the Louvre
at Paris), the most important of all is “a part of the upper jaw of a
woman, with the two canines and the four incisors united together
with gold wire;21 two of the incisors would appear to have belonged
to another individual, and to have been applied as substitutes for
lost teeth. This piece, discovered in one of the most ancient tombs
of the necropolis, proves that dental art in Sidon was sufficiently
advanced.”22

Fig. 3

Phœnician appliance found at Sidon, as represented in a cut of Renan’s

Mission de Phénicie.
To these words, literally translated from Renan’s work, we will only
add the following considerations:
Egypt was, in its time, a great centre of civilization, whose influence
was strongly predominant in all the neighboring region, and
especially in ancient Phœnicia and in its large and industrious cities
Tyre and Sidon. The remains discovered in many of the Phœnician
tombs would of themselves alone be sufficient to demonstrate
luminously the enormous influence exercised by the Egyptian
civilization on the life and customs of that people. Now, if there were
dentists in Sidon capable of applying false teeth, it may reasonably
be admitted that the dentists of the great Egyptian metropoli Thebes
and Memphis were able to do as much and more, the level of
civilization being without doubt higher there than in Tyre or in Sidon,
or in other non-Egyptian cities.
 CHAPTER II.

THE HEBREWS.
In the Hebrew literature, as principally represented by the Bible and
by the Talmud, there does not exist any book on medicine.
Notwithstanding the vicinity and the close relations of the Hebrews
with Egypt, medical science never reached the degree of
development among this people that it did in the land of the
Pharaohs.
In the Bible we do not find the least trace of dental medicine or
dental surgery. Indeed, although the books of Moses contain a great
number of exceedingly wise hygienic precepts, there are not any
that refer directly to the teeth or to the mouth. We may therefore
conclude, with a certain degree of probability, that the Hebrews had
in general good teeth and that dental affections were very rare
among them.
The word tooth or teeth occurs in the Bible more than fifty times,23
but very few of the passages in which it is to be met with present
any interest so far as our subject is concerned.
That the Hebrews attached great importance to the integrity of the
dental apparatus is plainly seen from the following verses of the
book of Exodus (xxi: 23 to 27):
23. ... thou shalt give life for life,
24. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid,
that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27. And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth or his maidservant’s
tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
These legislative measures show clearly enough that among the
Hebrews the loss of a tooth was considered a lesion of great gravity,
as they thought it of sufficient importance to be named in the same
category as the loss of an eye, of a hand, or of a foot. If anyone
caused the loss of an eye or of a tooth to his servant, the
punishment was the same in both cases; that is, he was obliged to
give him his liberty, thus undergoing the loss of his purchase money.
Beauty and whiteness of the teeth were also in great repute. Thus
we read in the Song of Solomon (iv: 2):
“Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came
up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is
barren among them.”
In another part of the Song (vi: 6) he repeats these same words,
thus giving it to be understood how great was his admiration for the
beautiful teeth of his beloved.
From various passages of the Bible, one perceives that integrity and
soundness of the teeth was considered a prime element of force and
vigor. In Psalm iii: 7 David says: “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God:
for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou
hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.” (That is, reduced them to
impotence.) And in Psalm viii: 6 we read: “Break their teeth, O God,
in their mouth.”
On the other hand, in one of the Proverbs of Solomon (xxv: 19),
broken or decayed teeth are taken to symbolize weakness:
“Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken
tooth, and a foot out of joint.” (In the Latin translation, instead of
“broken tooth” stands “dens putridus.” Perhaps the corresponding
expression in the Hebrew language, signifies in a general sense a
decayed or injured tooth.)
The uncomfortable sensation produced on the teeth by acid
substances (teeth on edge) is to be found several times alluded to in
the Bible. In the Book of Proverbs (x: 26), one reads: “As vinegar to
the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that
send him.” And Jeremiah says (xxxi: 29, 30): “In those days they
shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the
children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own
iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set
on edge.”
As is apparent, there is nothing in the passages quoted that can be
in any way connected with the treatment of dental affections;
neither is it to be wondered at, when one reflects that even in the
Talmud—which is much less ancient—medicine in general is hardly at
all spoken of. This famous code as to practical life is almost silent
with regard to therapeutic medicine, and only recommends hygienic
practices. An axiom of the Rabbi Banaah is worthy of note, and may
be quoted here as bearing on the subject, and also because many
Christians might be found to conform willingly thereto:
“Wine is the best of all remedies; and it is in places where wine is
wanting that one is in need of pharmaceutic remedies.”24
 CHAPTER III.

DENTISTRY AMONG THE CHINESE.

For above 4000 years science and religion among the Chinese, as
well as their customs, have remained quite unchanged. The
inhabitants of the Celestial Empire can vaunt a most ancient
civilization; which is, however, altogether stationary; neither has
their medicine made any progress, and its actual state represents
with sufficient exactness what it was in primitive ages.
In Europe, various works have been written about the medicine of
the Chinese, one of the best being that of Dabry,25 taken from the
most celebrated medical books of China,26 and which may be
considered as a compendium of the medical science of this people.
In this work we find two chapters relating to our specialty: the first
of these (p. 286) speaks of toothache, the second (p. 292) treats of
all the other dental and gingival diseases.
The Chinese call the toothache ya-tong, and distinguish a great
many varieties of the malady, that is:
1. Fong-je-tong. This kind of toothache is caused by sudden cold,
and has the following characteristic symptoms: Red and swollen
gums, which after a little time discharge purulent and fetid mucus;
abundant salivation; acute pain; swelling of the cheek. It is to be
cured with draughts, mouth washes, and various kinds of frictions.
We consider it useless to give the particulars of the various receipts,
because Dabry hardly ever translates the names of the drugs of
which they are compounded. These formulæ are therefore
incomprehensible by most people.
2. Fong-lan-tong. This kind of toothache is also caused by cold. The
pain is very great, but the gums are neither red nor swollen.
3. Ye-tong. Is also produced by chill. The gums are red and swollen;
there is no discharge of mucus; great pain, which is aggravated by
cold liquids. If the malady lasts for some time, the gums end by
becoming black, and the teeth are loosened; the pain becomes more
intense in spitting. In this stage of the malady the sufferer no longer
fears cold drinks, but rather desires them, to soothe the pain. The
cure varies according to whether the malady be of recent or of old
date; it consists in the use of internal remedies (pills, potions), or of
frictions on the part where the pain is situated.
4. Han-tong. This is also owing to the action of the cold. Pains in the
cheek and forehead proceeding from the teeth; no diseased
condition either of the gums or of the alveoli.
5. Tou-tan-tong. Violent cough and toothache at the same time;
difficulty in masticating.
6. Yn-hiue-tong. The gums are pale, or violet-red, hard and lumpy,
sometimes bleeding; the toothache is continuous. Among the
numerous remedies recommended against this malady (mouth
washes, frictions, draughts, pills), one particularly deserves mention:
it is the urine of a child used as a mouth wash.
7. Tchong-che-tong. Pain in the teeth after mastication; there is also
sometimes excoriation of the gums; flow of purulent mucus mixed
with blood; bad-smelling breath; the tooth falls; it is decayed, and
one can perfectly well distinguish a small hole; the root is unsound;
in extracting the tooth one sometimes brings away together with it a
little white worm, with a black spot on the head, which can be
distinguished by the aid of a magnifying glass. A remedy must
immediately be administered to destroy these worms, otherwise the
patient runs the risk of having his other teeth attacked in the same
manner, and of their falling out. The remedies against this affection
are most numerous, and belong for the most part to the oftentimes
cited categories. One of them presents a certain interest, its basis
being arsenic.
In Dabry’s book it is described in the following manner: “Arsenic (gr.
1.80), houang-tan (gr. 3.60); pulverize, mix with water, and with a
part of the mass form a small pill, which put close to the aching
tooth or into the ear, if afraid of the arsenic; then sleep. Cure
certain.”
8. Toothache, the effect of general weakness, following principally on
abuse of coition. It is to be cured by the use of internal medicine, or
by local remedies to be rubbed on the painful spot. Some of the
medicaments registered in this paragraph have reference to the
special case, in which the teeth are loosened through excess of
coition. Among others there is a prescription for a dentifrice powder
for strengthening the teeth, to be used every morning.
9. Toothache following on a blow. It is to be cured by using a certain
dentifrice powder, composed of six ingredients. Another medicament
consists in heating about an ounce and one-half of silver in some
recipient, and then pouring wine upon it, and rinsing the mouth with
it.
Besides these nine kinds of toothache, the Chinese doctors
recognized a peculiar morbid condition of the teeth and their
surrounding parts, which is thus described in Dabry’s book:
“It sometimes occurs, after recovery from illness, that convalescents,
in order to acquire strength, drink too great a quantity of wine; and
that this after a certain time produces a beginning of inflammation
of the stomach. In such cases the teeth often fall out, the breath
becomes fetid, and if the patient eats hot food, the empty alveoli as
well as the cheeks are painful.”
Various internal medicaments and dentifrice powders are prescribed
for combating this morbid condition. One of these latter includes a
great number of ingredients in its composition; among others, the
bones of mice.
Mention is also made of certain remedies, to which recourse may be
had at times, for allaying violent dental pains, of whatsoever kind, or
whatever be the cause that occasions them.
One of these remedies is composed of different substances (among
them, garlic and saltpetre), to be pulverized and made into pills. If
the pain be on the left side, one introduces one of the pills into the
right ear, and vice versa.
The formula is also given for a very complicated medicated powder,
to be snuffed up in the left nostril if the person suffering from
toothache be a man; in the right if a woman.
Another powder is to be smelt with the right nostril or with the left,
corresponding to the side on which the pain is located.
Abscesses and fistulæ of the gums are spoken of as follows:
“It sometimes occurs that an abscess forms in some one point of the
gum; this communicates great pain to the tooth near it; the abscess
is white, with discharge of purulent matter.” The treatment consists
in the use of different medicated powders, to be rubbed on the
affected part. Two of the powders contain musk, besides several
other ingredients. A lotion is also prescribed.
In the next chapter the following affections are described:
1. Ya-heou. Gums are red, soft, and swollen, and a fetid and
purulent matter exudes from them; the teeth are not painful; if the
gums are lanced, blood of a pale red color flows from them in
abundance. This malady is to be treated with various internal
medicines and sometimes with scarification.
2. Ja-suen. Gums swollen; little by little they are corroded and
destroyed by ulceration, which leaves the roots of the teeth bared;
the patient has an aversion for hot food; continued pain in the teeth;
discharge of purulent and fetid mucus; by the slightest exposure to
cold the pain becomes very violent. This affection is to be combated
with internal remedies and local treatment (frictions with medicated
powders; application of an ointment of very complicated
preparation).
3. Tchuen-ya-kan. The gums are painful for a few days; apparition of
the root of the tooth; absence of ulceration. Children of five or six
years of age are frequently exposed to this malady. The best means
of cure consists in the extraction of the tooth. There are, besides,
various internal and external remedies prescribed. One of these
latter contains verdigris and three other ingredients. Among those to
be used internally there is a decoction prepared with twelve different
drugs, two of which are mint and rhubarb. The quantity of rhubarb
is about seven and one-half grams; therefore, this prescription is
certainly intended to act as a purgative.
4. Ya-ting. The right or left gum suddenly swells; a tumor forms of
about the size of a grain of sorgo; in the beginning it is red,
afterward black; severe pain in the cheek and neck; itching in the
cheek; the tumor afterward bursts, giving exit to blood, and
becomes black; it ought to be pricked directly (before it opens of
itself) with a silver needle; blood of a violet color will flow from it,
which should be left free course until it regains its ordinary color.
The sufferer has at the same time pains in the stomach, great thirst,
abdominal pains, and sometimes even delirium.
5. Ya-jong. Gums swollen and painful, abscess, fever, swollen
cheeks; great thirst, and vomiting of a liquid kind; dejections dry.
The treatment consists in the methodical use of certain medicines to
be used internally, among which is rhubarb. If one neglects to make
use of this treatment, an ulceration sets in with discharge of a
purulent and sanguine mucus; it is then necessary to rub the part
with a medicinal substance called by the Chinese, ping-pang-san.
Should the tooth be somewhat loose, it ought to be extracted and
the gum rubbed again with the substance just now named.
6. Tso-ma-ya-kan. An illness common to children after the smallpox;
ulceration of the gums, which turn black; fetid breath. In certain
cases the gums are hard and the mucous membrane of the cheek is
also attacked; all the teeth shake; there is flow of blood from the
gums, upon which certain spots begin to form that are clearly
distinguishable as small holes. These holes must be filled with a
particular medicinal substance (named lay-ma-ting-kouei-sse), and,
besides, one ought to make use of various other internal and
external remedies.
This is a very serious illness. In the case of recovery, the patient
ought to abstain from taking any heating aliment for one hundred
days.
7. Tsee-kin-tong or tsee-ly-tong. Gums swollen; slight but continuous
pain, aggravated by the effort of the wind; the gums become
ulcerated little by little, with discharge of purulent and sanguine
mucus; and the root of the tooth is afterward seen to be uncovered.
This malady is to be treated by means of draughts, pills, mouth
washes, and frictions of various kinds.
After the treatise on the maladies referred to above, we find in
Dabry’s book a long series of “general remedies for every kind of
toothache.” There are about forty of these, and decoctions and
powders predominate among them, the latter to be rubbed on the
painful spot. Decoctions are the form of medicament most in use
among the Chinese. In this list of about forty anti-odontalgic
remedies we find as many as eighteen decoctions, seven for internal
use, and the others to be employed as mouth washes. Some of the
latter are compounded with vinegar instead of with water.
Four remedies of the above list are to be made into a paste and
formed into pills, to be applied upon the aching tooth.
Another medicament is also to be formed into pills and applied inside
the ear.
The following remedy is particularly worthy of note:
“One roasts a bit of garlic, crushes it between the teeth, and
afterward mixes it with chopped horseradish seeds, reducing the
whole to a paste with human milk; one then forms it into pills; these
are to be introduced into the nose on the side opposed to that
where the pain is situated.”
Two other remedies, in powder, are to be snuffed up through the
nose.
A powder to prevent the progress of caries is prescribed, with which
the tooth should be rubbed every day, or it may be applied on the
decayed spot.
Finally, two powders are also prescribed for whitening the teeth. One
of these is compounded of seven ingredients, among which is musk;
the other has only three substances in its composition: salt (gram
25), musk (gram 1.8), tsang-eul-tsee (gram 36).
A therapeutic method much in vogue among the Chinese is
acupuncture, which is used in the treatment of the greatest variety
of affections, including those of the dental system. The doctors of
the Celestial Empire have the greatest faith in this operation, which
they hold capable of removing obstacles to the free circulation of
humors and vital spirits, thus reëstablishing that equilibrium of the
organic forces which constitutes health, and the absence of which
causes disease.
The Chinese doctors prefer to use gold or silver needles for
puncturing; but they also frequently use needles of the best steel.
These instruments vary very much in length, in thickness, and in
form, and there are not less than nine distinct kinds of puncturing
needles.
Every doctor who intends dedicating himself to the practice of this
operation has to begin by the most accurate study of the elective
points for puncturing according to the various affections; he should
also know to what depth precisely to drive the needles in each case,
in order to reach the site of the morbific principle and procure
convenient exit for it; he ought to know equally well how long to
leave the needle in the affected part, so as to obtain the best
possible therapeutic results in each case.
The points of election for carrying out puncturing in various maladies
are spread over the whole superficies of the body, and amount in
number to 388. Each of these is known by a special name. Each site
of election stands in determinate relations, as to distance, to the
known anatomical points, and may, therefore, be easily and precisely
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