Skip to content

Please be aware that some material may contain words, descriptions or illustrations which will not reflect current scientific understanding and may be considered in today's context inaccurate, unethical, offensive or distressing.

Description

Tomes shares observations on microscopic examinations of human and animal teeth, concluding that their bony portions are formed of minute tubes, in a radiated arrangement, in lines proceeding everywhere perpendicularly from the inner surface of the cavity containing the pulp. He suggests that these tubes are surrounded by a transparent material, which cements them together into a solid and dense mass.

Annotated in pencil throughout.

Subject: Dentistry / Odontology / Osteology

Received 14 June 1838. Communicated by Thomas Bell.

Written by Tomes at King's College [London].

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 4 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the structure of the teeth, the vascularity of those organs, and their relation to bone'.

Reference number
AP/21/21
Earliest possible date
31 May 1838
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
41 pages
Format
Manuscript

Use this record

Citation

Unpublished paper, 'On the structure of the teeth: the vascularity of those organs and their relation to the bone' by John Tomes, 31 May 1838, AP/21/21, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_21_21/unpublished-paper-on-the-structure-of-the-teeth-the-vascularity-of-those-organs-and-their-relation-to-the-bone-by-john-tomes, accessed on 16 January 2025

Link to this record

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/ap_21_21/unpublished-paper-on-the-structure-of-the-teeth-the-vascularity-of-those-organs-and-their-relation-to-the-bone-by-john-tomes" title="Unpublished paper, 'On the structure of the teeth: the vascularity of those organs and their relation to the bone' by John Tomes" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • Archived Papers

    Dates: 1768-1989

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    View collection