. Corydon Palmer filled teeth with tin foil, also lined
cavities with gold and filled the remainder with tin. In the same year
he filled crown (occlusal) cavities one-half full with tin and the other
half with gold, allowing both metals to come to the surface, on the same
plan that many proximal cavities are now filled. (See Fig. 3, showing
about one-half of the cavity nearly completed with tin cylinders. The
same plan was followed when strips, or ropes, were used.)

"I filled cavities about two-thirds full with tin, and finished with
gold." (S. S. Stringfellow, _American Journal of Dental Science_, 1839.)

"Tin foil is greatly used by some American dentists, but it is not much
better than lead leaf." ("Surgical, Operative, and Mechanical
Dentistry," L. Charles De Londe, London, 1840.)

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

"In 1841 there were about twelve hundred dentists in the United States,
many of whom were using tin, and there are circumstances under which it
may be used not only with impunity, but advantage, but it is liable to
change." (Harris.)

"I put in tin fillings, and at the end of thirty years they were badly
worn, but there was no decay around the margins." (Dr. Neall, 1843.)

In 1843 Dr. Amos Westcott, of Syracuse, N. Y., filled the base of large
cavities with tin, completing the operation with gold.

"Tin is used in the form of little balls, or tubes, but folds are
better; introduce the metal gradually, taking care to pack it so that it
will bear equally upon all points; the folds superimpose themselves one
upon the other; thus we obtain a successive stratification much more
exact and dense, and it is impossible there can be any void." ("Theory
and Practice of Dental Surgery," J. Lefoulon, Paris, 1844.)

CHAPTER III.

"Besides gold, the only material which can be used with any hope of
permanent success is tin foil. Some dentists call it _silver_, and a
tooth which cannot be filled with it cannot be filled with anything else
so as to stop decay and make it last very long. It can be used only in
the back teeth, as its dark color renders it unsuitable for those in
front. When the general health is good, and the teeth little predisposed
to decay, this metal will preserve them as effectually perhaps as gold;
but where the fluids of the mouth are much disordered it oxidizes
rapidly, and instead of preserving the teeth rather increases their
tendency to decay." (Dr. Robert Arthur, Baltimore, 1845, "A Popu