Odontology or philologic: medical disputation about the teeth

The dissertation, here rendered, was published at the gymnasium of Hof in 1669. It is remarkable that the respondent, who was probably also its author, declared in the title page that he intends to do his task "following the custom of the blessed Hebrews and any other conventions of true Israelites" and cites in the following text repeated proverbs of Rabbis. Therefore, we suppose him to have been a Jew converted to the Christian faith. His Odontology is a large collection of knowledge about the teeth, the etymology of this term, the question of them belonging to the bones, their anatomy and fixation in the jaws, and their tasks in the crushing of foods and helping in pronunciation, and in animals for self-protection. With respect to their removal, he emphasizes that one read Sennert's Institutiones Medicae. The points of view discussed by the author depended more heavily on philological than on medical authors. Nevertheless, there are mentioned also "paramedical" opinions of the general population. The monograph seems to us important for the history of dentistry.