The nature and formation of teeth according to Spanish authors from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

摘要

The aim of this article is to present the state of scientific knowledge that prevailed in the Modern Age concerning the nature and origin of teeth, particularly, the "acquisition of this knowledge by Spanish authors and their contributions to the subject. In the Modern Age, ideas about the nature and origin of the teeth were inherited from the Greco-Roman past and from the contributions made from the Renaissance onward. All of these ideas were directly related to the theories about the constitution of physical matter and the human body which existed in Greece from the 5th century BC. Empedocles of Agrigentum (ca. 495-430 BC) originally developed the theory that nature consists of the combination of four 'roots', called 'elements' by Aristotle (384-322 BC)-earth, water, air, and fire-with each of these elements being a combination of two qualities.