De dentium affectibus

XLIII.

But that we may remove the fountain of the evil now persisting and suggesting itself at intervals once and for all by the root, nothing is more advisable than that eroded teeth be extracted immediately, since there remains no reason for repairing them, and moreover this inconvenience is added: that being subject to perpetual fluxes, by their contact they affect and pollute even the neighbors, although still uninjured. This, however, as it is done most quickly and universally by iron, so it is done more slowly by caustic medicines, such as aqua fortis nitric acid, which are applied only bit by bit.

XLIV.

Furthermore, the interior Causes, and those more hidden, when both blood and another humor are in motion, and do not yet besiege the part, or at least are not firmly fixed to it, must be led away and removed in the contrary direction by revulsive, derivative, and finally repellent aids.

XLV.

We will be able to achieve this by the section of a vein [phlebotomy] instituted for the sake of revulsion and derivation (such as in the brachial or median vein of the right or left arm, likewise in the vein of the temples, and sometimes that which is under the tongue), besides by cupping glasses with scarification, applied to the shoulder blades, the sides of the neck, or the wrist (which many approve), and these especially by reason of the blood.

XLVI.

For as regards the remaining humors, the body having first been purged, astringent washes mixed from vinegar with oak galls, red roses, and similar things, as those by which all influx is impeded and averted, contribute a great deal. For the same reason, some are accustomed to apply astringent plasters, such as those made from pitch, to the temples, so that the flow may be restrained.