Note 29 — AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH-AMERICA; AND A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THEIR DISEASES AND REMEDIES WITH THOSE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. Read before the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, on the 4th of February, 1774.
Reading edition
Bad teeth are observed chiefly in middle latitudes, which are subject to alternate heats and colds. The inhabitants of Norway and Russia are as remarkable for their fine teeth as the inhabitants of Africa. We observe fine teeth to be universal likewise among the inhabitants of France, who live in a variable climate. These have been ascribed to their protecting their heads from the action of the night air by means of woollen night-caps, and to the extraordinary attention to the teeth of their children. These precautions secure good teeth; and are absolutely necessary in all variable climates, where people do not adopt all the customs of the savage life.