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Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 December 1907, Page 14

climatic conditions, but, according to a German authority,.-these ignorant natives take special , care of the teeth, and . are. familiar with many remedies for the treatment of dontal diseases. .They employ many herbs, barks, and juices to prevent damage to tkoir teeth, and to cure them when they aro damaged. -Thus, in Nguinba, it is ..customary, when a child-has finished teething, to rinsethe mouth with an .'infusion of the leaves of tho sson tree,' .with the object of tightening the teeth. The action of the infusion is probably due. to the presence of a styptic (a" remedy that arrests bleeding) .constituent in the loaves, ;which causes the gums to shrink; The natives,living near; the source of tho Nile employ .the roots of a leguminous plant to reliove toothache, while the natives to the; west of the source of the same river "use an infusion of tho . seeds of kasso,. a climbingivine,..for the same purpose.' It .is interesting to notice that the use of the tooth-brush is not-restricted to the so-called civilised .peoples. The African negroes fashion 'tooth-brushes out-el" the wood of a species of adansonia and other trees. In this respect the natives probably have an advantage over those who use an ordinary bristle tooth-brush which, as tho "Lancot" points out, is frequently usod for six months or even longer—indeed, until it becomes . too offensive to be tolerated longer.. 'The sticks of wood such as the natives .employ are, oil the other hand,' ea3y to: make and cost nothing, and they are probably used for only a short time. They would possess the additional. advantage of offering less opportunity for particles ot food and other debris to bo retained mechanically than is the case with a bristle brush. / '