e West_, 1850.) First
reference to the fact that tin is adhesive.

"Tin is desirable in all unexposed cavities. It has a stronger affinity
for acetic, citric, tartaric, malic, lactic, and nitric acids than the
tooth has: a good material where the secretions are of an acid
character, it is better that the filling should waste away than the
tooth. One cavity in my mouth was filled with gold, decay occurred, the
filling was removed; cavity filled with oxychlorid, which produced pain;
filling removed; cavity filled with gutta-percha, still experienced
pain; filling removed; cavity filled with tin, and pain ceased in an
hour. A tin filling was shown in New York which was sixty years old;
made in 1811." (Dr. E. A. Bogue, _British Journal of Dental Science_,
1871.)

"I have lately been removing tin pluggings (the juices of the mouth
having oxidated and dissolved away the metal, so as to expose the teeth
to decay) from teeth which I plugged fifteen years ago (1818) for the
purpose of re-stopping with gold, and have in almost every instance
found the bone of the tooth at the bottom of the pluggings perfectly
sound and protected from decay." (J. R. Spooner, Montreal, 1833.)

In 1800 the number of dentists in the United States was about one
hundred, and many of them were using tin foil for filling teeth.

In 1822 tin was employed by the best dentists, with hardly an exception;
it grew in favor, especially for large cavities in molars, and for a
cheaper class of operations than gold, but tin was not generally used
until 1830. ("History of Dental and Oral Science in America.")

"Lead, tin, and silver corrode and become more injurious than the
original disease, and will in every case ultimately prove the cause of
destruction to the tooth, which might have been preserved by proper
treatment." (Leonard Koecker, 1826, and "New System of Treating the
Human Teeth," by J. Paterson Clark, London, 1829 and 1830.)

"Tin in situations out of reach of friction in mastication, as between
two teeth, is like the tooth itself apt to be decomposed by acidity
unless kept very clean." ("Practical and Familiar Treatise on Teeth and
Dentism," J. Paterson Clark, London, 1836.) Refer to what the same
author said in 1829.

"Tin is used as a plugging material." ("The Anatomy, Physiology, and
Diseases of the Teeth," by Thomas Bell, F.R.S., London, 1829.)

"Silver and tin foil, although bright when first put in a cavity, very
soon change to a dark hu