INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
DELIVERED 
BEFORE THE THIRD DISTRICT DENTAL ASSOCIATION 
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
AT TH Eli: 
FIRST MEETING AFTER ORGANIZATION, JANUARY 12, 1869. 
BY 
J. BROCKWAY, Sr. 
SYNOPSIS OF 
Bentistrn as it teas, as it is, anti as it ought to be. 
A POWER TO MOVE AND MEND THE WORLD. 
Virida ris animi. 
ALBANY, N. Y.: 
J. MUNSELL, STATE STREET. 
1869. AN 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
DELIVERED 
BEFORE THE THIRD DISTRICT DENTAL ASSOCIATION 
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
AT THEIR 
FIRST MEETING AFTER ORGANIZATION, JANUARY 12, 1869. 
I /B¥ 
J. BROCKWAY, Sr. 
SYNOPSIS OF 
Dentistrg as it teas, as it is, anti as it ougfjt to be. 
A POWER TO MOVE AND MEND THE WORLD. 
Vivida vis animi. 
ALBANY, N. Y.: 
J. MUNSELL, STATE STREET. 
1869. LECTURE. 
The first annual meeting of the Third District Dentist Society of the 
State of New York was held at Temperance Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 
1869. The President, Dr. Young, in the chair. Dr. J. Brockway read, 
by appointment, an introductory address: Subject - Dentistry, as it was - 
as it is-and as it ought to be. 
At the conclusion, Dr. Perkins Moved, That the thanks of the society be 
tendered to Dr Brockway for his very able and instructive lecture, and that 
it be put on file, and 
Resolved 2, That the doctor be requested to furnish the society a copy 
for publication under the direction of the executive committee. 
Both of which were unanimously adopted. 
William F. Winne, Secretary. 
Gentlemen of the profession, all of you my juniors, and most of you by 
many years. It is my pleasure to congratulate you on the prospect that 
isolation, with all its repellant forces, is among the things that were; and 
fellowship, association, and mutual reliances, among the things thatare, and 
shall remain as the foundation of our future increase in all that is lovely 
and of good report. And let us cherish the hope and the faith, that the 
transactions of this day may leave an impress, giving delightful promise, 
that unity of purpose, counsel and action, shall characterize the future. 
Within the half century of my practice, dentists have increased, from 
a single score, to ten thousand four hundred in the United States and 
Canadas. This is equal to a double every five years. The same ratio 
of increase for another half century would give us ten millions of dentists. 
But we may well suppose that in numbers, apportioned to population, we 
have reached, if not passed, our zenith. While we possess attainments and 
power for good, let us cherish the hope, that we are but in the morning 
of our existence. 
The term dentistry, is appropriately used to denote the business, or the 
place, of business. As a business it includes both the science and the 
art of treating, preserving and artificially substituting teeth. Den- 
tistry is both a science and an art, while it evolves much that is purely 
mechanical. Science is the architect; mechanical art, the builder; science 
discovers the want and the means of supply; art attains the end. Science 
prevails, art avails. Science, like " charity, seeketh not her own, vaunteth 
not herself;" but art is fond of pecuniary reward. Hence, the scientific 
are few, the artists many. Consulting ease of enunciation, we say, " arts 
and sciences," but, iu fact, science occupies the foreground, art following, 
reaps the harvest. Science acquaints herself with the whole economy 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 4 
Dentistry as it was the first 
of animal teeth, with their matter and their manner; their origin and 
their end, with all their facts, in all their forms and in all their varieties, 
their connection with and adaptation to the varied modes of animal ex- 
istence. And why, properly formed teeth, are unnecessary to some forms 
of existence, and indispensable to others ? Why wanting, in reptiles, 
creeping things and flying fowl ? Why the higher order of animals scarcely 
subsist without them ? W hy, with many, the duration of the teeth is the 
measure of their existence? 
Science would know why the infinite variety of form and size, from the 
thistly jaw of the smaller aquatics, to the movable envenomed fang of 
the serpent, up to the powerful war weapon of the tiger, the lion, the 
bear, the whale, and the mastodon. And why the peculiarity in number, 
in structure and form, of the human teeth ? Why both deciduous and 
permanent ? Why come in the time and order they do ? Why partly 
vital and partly not ? Why incapable of extension and growth and of 
repairing their fractures or abrasions ? Why subject to decomposition 
and rottenness ? Why the medium of so much pain ? And what are 
remedies for their diseases ? Science, too, must understand the chemical, 
as well as vital, organism of the teeth ; the matter and the manner of 
their composition and formation , the arteries, veins and nerves, and all 
the ramifying capillaries, and nerve-fibrils, as well as the corpuscles, tis- 
sues and granules, that enter into their composition and organism. 
Science would understand the entire functions of the teeth and the 
means of securing them in their normal condition and appropriate use. 
Mechanical dentistry, as such, has little or nothing to do with the 
animal economy; but, as an art, dentistry seeks the hand of science and 
by her would be led and guided. It would supply the artificial remedies 
and mechanical appliances agreeably to the teachings of science; adopt 
and adjust all her fixtures and mechanical powers and agents; remove all 
obstructions to the health of teeth, and supply losses in accordance with 
the laws of nature as discovered by science. 
The dentistry of the operating chair is no less mechanical, though 
more artistic, than that of the laboratory. Indeed mechanical skill and 
artistic display make their happiest efforts in perfecting the form and 
external condition of the natural teeth. While some operations are more 
strictly surgical, the whole class of operations of the dentist, when per- 
formed in accordance with scientific principles, deserve as they have 
received, the appellation of dental surgery. 
DENTISTRY AS IT WAS THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
Both the dental science and art are of European birth, but of Ameri- 
can growth. It was not until the latter part of the eighteenth century, 
that France began her survey of this hitherto uncultivated field. It was 
in Paris; the source of scientific inceptions, as well as fashion, that dent- 
istry was conceived. It was cradled in England, while it required the 
atmosphere, the soil and the culture of America to mature it. 
High on the catalogue of American pioneer dentists, will be written, 
in unfading colors, the name Parmly. Two Vermont families have 
given our profession, one for each day of the week. But Eleazar, whose 
professional days are numbered, stands in the eye of the public as did the Quarter of the Nineteenth Century. 
5 
father-in-law of David a head and shoulders above his brethren. Always 
a gentleman. Now a retired millionaire. But, as he has favored me 
with a few items of his own and his family history he shall speak for 
himself: 
No. 19, West 38th street, New Fork, Dec. 3d, 1868. 
My dear sir : 
I commenced practice in Montreal in the spring of the year 1815, 
with my brother Levi Spear Parmly one of the pioneers of the profession 
in this country, who was one of the first of his day and a very remarkable 
man. He had the advantage previously of the instruction of Dr. Petrie 
and Dr. Randall of Boston. The latter, with Dr. Greenwood, had the 
control of the practice in Boston. Mr. Parkhurst, Wooffendale, Gaeten 
and Greenwood had all that was worth having in New York. Phila- 
delphia was more fortunate, having Gardette, Hudson and Koecker, 
all of whom in that day were remarkably clever men. The two first 
having the advantage of being educated to the profession. The second 
being the son of a distinguished dentist in Dublin, Ireland. Hayden of 
Baltimore was an exceedingly clever man, being a mineralogist as well as 
dentist. 
In 1817, I met with a young gentleman by the name of Shymanski. 
Gentlemanly in every respect, who had studied and practiced dentistry in 
Poland as they understood it there. 
These were the principal dentists of that day. 
I met with no other person who even called himself dentist from Phila- 
delphia to New Orleans, and I practiced in the principal towns going west 
between the two places ; but feeling my total want of a knowledge of the 
profession, I then went to Europe to study, where I became thoroughly 
acquainted with silicious teeth. On my return to New York in 1822, 
my brother Levi S. Parmly settled in New Orleans. My brother Jehial 
going south during the winter. My brother Samuel settled in New York. 
My cousins Jehial and David are still in New York; their brother Ludolph 
settled and died in Mobile. 
I have already given you the names of the principal men of 1815, and 
now at seventy-one I have seen the profession grow from an art to a science, 
with societies, colleges and schools, where little else is taught, and the 
number of dentists beyond counting; and of this number, a few have been 
successful, but the greater number have lived along as you see them now.1 
Very truly yours, 
E. Parmly. 
Dr. Eleazar Parmly, for some eight years after his return from Europe, 
and up to about 1830, sought his pleasure and his profit in occasional 
itinerant practice. Troy was among the places visited by him. 
So early as 1810, an elder brother of mine, Wm. Wolston Brockway, 
went from Newbury, Vt., near the birth-place of the Parmlys, and went 
into the practice of dentistry in the city of Boston. In about one year 
1 Some isolated historical facts have been cited as evidence of a knowledge of 
dentistry among the ancients, especially the Egyptians. The time and the occasion 
forbid an investigation of the dubious evidence. That different tribes of men have 
manipulated their teeth agreeably to their tastes and superstitions, and, occasion- 
ally, by accident, or design, filled their cavities, there is no doubt. One of our 
encyclopedias records a case where a boy pressed a leaden shot into a carious 6 
Dentistry as it was the first 
death ended a prosperous and prospective business. I inherited his 
instruments, and ultimately, his profession, although I did but little 
until 1822. But at that time I was about the only dentist known from 
Canada to Albany, and from the Rocky to the White mountains. I 
knew of but one other who visited that territory anterior to 1822, and 
that was a Dr. Lyscomb, educated to medicine, from whom I received 
some instructions. 
The little state of Vermont, whose population was less than three hun- 
dred thousand, supplied more of the early dentists than all the other 
states. Seven Parmlys, two Brockways, Fitch, Brewster and Davidson, 
who itinerated in Vermont. Of the three first dentists of Philadelphia, 
I think neither were of American birth, and but two of the New York 
and two of the Boston pioneers. 
The dentists who occupied the field during the first quarter of the 
century gave a better average of educated training and capacity than 
those of the present. Hudson, as a practical operator, has no superior at 
this day, being educated by his father, the best dentist in Dublin, Ireland. 
Gardette too, was a European and well educated. And Keoker, as every one 
who has read his Practice will admit, was not behind the best of his day ; 
while Hayden, of Baltimore, was an educated and scientific practitioner. 
The New York and Boston dentists were but little behind them. Randal 
and Greenwood gave character to the profession in Boston. And Green- 
wood of New York immortalized his name by an entire set of teeth for 
the greatest and best - Geo. Washington; he extracted and wore, as a 
watch seal, his last tooth. And Dr. Parmly yields to Wooffendale of 
New York the credit of introducing, in this country, the use of gold foil, 
for plugging teeth. I had supposed it to be due to Hudson. But the 
gold foil of 1830 and 1840 was. as a whole, superior to that made since. 
That manufactured by the elder Kearsing was not less cohesive than the 
best now made. Fitch, of Vermont, was the first American writer on the 
teeth who ventured upon a large royal octavo volume. And Brewster, 
after having attained some notoriety in this country, obtained royal favor 
in France, and a knighthood from the emperor of Russia. 
The junior, as well as senior class of dentists, were largely from the 
north and east. Of these, six were students of mine. I will name them 
in the order of seniority: First, Bigelow ; who opened the practice in 
Buffalo, and was successful. Second, Blakely; who settled in Utica, and 
tooth, where it remained, doing valuable service, as a plug, for ninety years, until 
the centenarian died. This suggested the idea and utility of plugs. In our own 
days, leaden and iron balls have been found in the teeth of elephants and whales; 
gunpowder, no doubt, was the savage operator. 
But of dentists, no doubt, the ancients could boast, 
Though much that they gained, to us is now lost; 
Old Noah's aching tooth, he tied to his foot, 
And with a good kick threw it out by the root. 
Solon, to his arrow his tooth he would tie, 
And telegram like, from his mouth let it fly. 
Women, when weded, filed their teeth like a saw, 
Others, when widowed, plucked them out of their jaw'. 
Even men have been drilled to the tactics of wooing, 
By dyeing their teeth, their faces tattooing. 
Modern Japs, in science and arts more refined, 
If to aching their incisors or molars inclined, 
Batter their walls with mallets and rams, 
Wrenching them out with fingers and thumbs. 
Their dentists as best their arts now afford 
Artificials, supply from the walrus and gourd. 
See American Journal of Medical Science, article by Dr. Alex. M. Vedder. Quarter of the Nineteenth Century. 
7 
sustained a good reputation. Third, Clute; the first located in Louisville, 
and the first in Kentucky; as a plugger he has had few equals. Fourth, 
Robert Nelson, who, in a double sense, was first, permanently located on 
North Pearl street, Albany. Fifth, Williams; who settled in New York 
city, but since left the profession. He, together with Bigelow, Blakely 
and Nelson,sleep with the fathers. 
Clute survives, but has retired with money, reputation and gray hairs. 
My sixth was my son, Wm. W., whose practice in the city and country, 
has been successful. Besides the above, Gedney left Albany for England 
about 1827, acquired a fortune and returned ; he is now in this vicinity. 
Dr. Young, who, it will do to call our venerable president, commenced 
practice in Troy, in 1829, where he has remained a valuable fixture. 
Douglass was, for years, the only dentist in Albany; his first colleagues 
were Cuyler and Nelson. And now, in 1869, their successors number 
fifteen. My place in Vermont was first supplied by Read and Stratton, 
both of whom are long since dead. Vermont, with little increase of popula- 
tion, now supports about sixty respectable dentists. Of the junior class to 
which I have referred, were four of the Parmlys; and of the sixteen I 
have named as my northern successors, seven only survive, and of the 
seven but three remain in practice. From 1826 to 1829, I was alone in the 
practice in Troy, leaving it in 1839 to be supplied by a respectable corps of 
twelve, in 1868. It has been my pleasure and privilege partially to fit and 
send into the field, eighteen young men, who, nearly all, have profited by a 
profession and a religion which honors all who honor them. I stand before 
you to-day, broken, though little bent, under the weight of three score and 
fourteen years, the oldest of any one now in practice in the United States. 
I have now briefly sketched the history of nearly all the first class of 
dentists in the United States, and given the names with little comment, of 
sixteen northern successors, who, I think, were all in the field in 1832. 
Of these two generations, but eight survive, and but four remain in prac- 
tice. Two generations of dentists have come and gone, since my elder 
brother, W. W. Brockway, a very remarkable young man, learned and 
talented, operated in our American Athens, the city of Boston. As with 
every enduring edifice, so with dentistry ; its foundation was laid by skill- 
ful hands. England to-day, with her increase of material, can scarcely 
supply a match for Hunter and Fox and Bell. 
We are not quite in the position of the Jews when the second temple 
was built. Their young men shouted and their old men wept. The 
glory of Solomon was not there. But I have seen myself many of Hud- 
son's plugs after a service of thirty years as clean and as clear as the 
very best specimens of this day.1 Dr. Parmly and Clute bear the same 
testimony. Surgical dentistry may have advanced in some particulars, 
and possibly as a whole, but has no demonstrator to take the crown from 
the head of Hudson. 
1 Scarce a month now passes but my attention is called to teeth, with plugs in 
good order, that I put in thirty and thirty-five years ago. In 1823 I plugged a 
molar tooth with tin foil for Rev. Dr. Merril of Vermont. He died about ten years 
since, with that plug and tooth remaining, the sole representative of an entire 
sound set thirty-six years before. During the first decade of my practice I think 
I averaged ten plugs a day of tin foil. In cases exposed to wear by mastication, 
tin foil wears dishing, otherwise it preserves the teeth equal to gold, and for 
most cases is preferable to amalgam ; but no dark plug should ever be used in the 
incisor teeth. 8 
Dentistry as it was the first, etc. 
Nor is it singular. The architect is always greater than the builder, 
and the builder greater than the workmen. The corner-stones of nations, 
religions, professions and arts, have always been laid by strong hands, 
and on shoulders par oneri. Judaism had an Abraham and Christ- 
ianity a greater. The Jewish state a Moses, and Egypt her Pharaohs. 
Media and Persia her Cyrus and Darius, Macedon her Philip and his son, 
Rome her Romulus and Caesars, modern France her Napoleon, Russia 
her Peter, and America a greater and a better, our Washington. De- 
monstrative sciences and literature in England and America were swaddled 
by a Locke, a Bacon, a Newton and a Franklin. The Protestant faith 
glories in her Luther and Calvin, and Reformation in her Wesley and 
Whitefield, and American theology in her Edwards and Dwight, while 
the law delights in one Story, and medicine in her Rush. And as early 
demonstrators of American skill in the dental art, the name of Hudson 
and Heydon will always stand at the head. The force that removes the 
inertia of a ball, a pendulum or loconjotive, will, if continued, accelerate 
their motion. We needed none greater or better than our founders in 
France, in England and America, to carry our art to its culminating point. 
But this leads me to call your attention to the opposing forces which 
had to be met and overcome by the founders of dental art and science; and 
1st. It was opposed by the history of the world. For nearly six thou- 
sand years, and two hundred generations, the nations had lived and 
flourished without dentistry, why not follow the foot-prints of the fathers? 
The molar teeth of the antediluvians for sixteen centuries served them 
as their only and sufficient flouring mills. And from Egypt, entire sets 
of sound teeth that have served the octogenarian, have come down 
to us grinning in mummies, embalmed three thousand years ago. And 
in the days of Solomon, the teeth of his spouse were likened to arches of 
ivory, and still more poetically to a flock of sheep coming up clean from 
the washing, whereof every one beareth twins. They were well without 
dentists, why not we ? 
2d. Science and the arts, with instincts long petrified, would have it 
that teeth were the better the more they were left alone. 
3d. Superstition cried loudly, protesting against all attempts at frustrat- 
ing the plans of him who takes but what he gives. It were wickedness 
to attempt to restore what God has taken away. 
4th. And ignorance, always clamorous, was loud in asserting the utter 
worthlessness of all dental help, save the relentless hawk's bill and turnkey. 
Having got her key-note from science, she could raise and fall a dozen 
octaves. A concern, equaled only by ignorance, for the tooth's enamel, 
induced a horror of tooth brushes and dental instruments. Above all 
things their swollen gums must be saved from the touch of a brush lest 
fatal bleeding should follow. Such were some of the prejudices of edu- 
cation and habit. 
But another class of difficulties was found in the absence of tried and 
approved instruments and appliances for proper treatment. And here 
art was slower than science. The disease was seen and understood, the 
remedy indicated, but the means and the manner of treatment was yet in 
abeyance. But Hunter and Fox, and their colaborers applied themselves 
diligently to the work. Their first effort was to seek the cause, and then 
the remedy. But in the mean time the difficulty, as it already existed, 
called for treatment. They soon learned, that the removal of extraneous Dentistry as it is. 
9 
matter from the teeth, and excess of blood from the gums, must be effected ; 
and to this end, they summoned to their aid the tooth brush, the astringent, 
and the alkali, as well as the scaler, the excavator and the plug. But last 
and least, artificial substitutes for the teeth. But the necessary instru- 
ments and agencies were to be invented and proved, before there could be 
progress. 
The desirableness being admitted, the practical method of supplying 
artificial teeth was long in abeyance. The first method, practiced only in 
a few cases, was transplanting from the heads of the poor to the rich, 
this soon lost all favor, as by it disease was sometimes transplanted. This 
practice was succeeded by pivot teeth, and blocks of sea horse teeth at- 
tached, first by silken, and afterwards by gold, ligatures, these succeeded 
by clasps. Entire sets were very rare, but were set upon ivory base, with 
sea horse, animal or human teeth. These were held to the jaws first by 
plain, and afterwards by spiral springs. The use of impression cups 
and of plaster of paris and swadges were unknown to our early dentists. 
From 1824 to 1828,1 occasionally got up teeth on gold plates, raised and 
fitted to the mouth with a hammer and pliers. I never saw or heard of a 
swadged gold plate till about 1830. Mineral teeth were used occasion- 
ally in France and England as early as 1810, but I never saw one till 
1829, when I inserted the first two fbr Philip Dorian, Esq., of Troy, 
which I believe remain to this day. They were a coarse clay half tooth 
with platina clasps baked in, to which I soldered a gold pivot, and having 
filled the pivot hole, in the root, with red cedar, and pressed a small 
instrument into its centre, shoved up the artificial crown ; the roots, with 
the teeth attached, remained unmoved the last time I saw Mr. Dorian. 
This is, doubtless, the best method ever adopted for setting pivot teeth. 
Had this method been skillfully carried out in connection with thorough 
surgical treatment it would have greatly diminished the demand for artifi- 
cial dentures. And now having glanced at dentistry " as it was," we will 
give a passing notice of 
DENTISTRY AS IT IS. 
The length and breadth of this field will scarcely allow us a birds-eye 
view of its outlines, much less a survey of its apartments. Our time 
forbids to follow the progress of dentistry through the second quarter of 
the nineteenth century. We can barely indicate results. Indeed, we can do 
no more than garner the fruits of forty years' labor, which yields us the 
whole success of the manufacture and use of silicious and aluminous or mine- 
ral teeth, as well as the adaptation and use of metallic and suction plates as 
their base. The invention and use of impression cups, of plates, of plaster 
of Paris for dental purposes, of metallic swadges and counter-swadges, or 
hard fac similes of the jaws, with all the varieties of teeth with and without 
gum, rivetted, soldered, keoplasty, continuous gum, or en masse. This period 
yields us no unfruitful history of dental literature. We now have our 
schools and colleges, our periodicals, our dictionaries, and, with the help of 
England and continental Europe, our libraries; and in almost every state and 
city, our societies and fraternal associations, our dental depots and museums, 
our operating chairs, and almost the entire paraphernalia of the receiving 
room, the operating room, and the fixturesand furniture of the laboratory. 
I am thankful that our subject, broad as it is, necessarily includes no per- 10 
Dentistry as it is. 
sonal criticisms. Our profession can be viewed and reviewed in the 
concrete. Nor could I wish to say more than to relieve myself of all 
sympathy with those who find their daily bread in personal detraction. 
The place which mineral or porcelain teeth now occupies will not allow 
us to pass them without notice. Their history would require a volume. 
France introduced, England improved, America perfected them. But 
America and England, no less than France, invented them. Neither 
built on the foundation or with the material of the other. The first 
teeth, properly silicious, were introduced into this country by Dr. Villars, 
now of New York, about 1830. Dr. Clute and myself paid him five 
hundred dollars for recipes, etc. Before this, and as he left for France, 
1 hid bought C Starr Brewster's recipes, and a thousand of his teeth. 
The Villars teeth were two-thirds silex. The Brewster teeth chiefly clay, 
chalk, and glass of borax. While Brewster was experimenting in Charles- 
ton, S. C., Dr. Mclthenney was experimenting in Philadelphia. He 
claims to be first in success. He says he succeeded satisfactorily in 
1827 : does not state the material of his teeth. He also states that about 
1850, he invented and patented the present method of enameling in the 
mould. About 1830, Stockton, of Philadelphia, came up as manufacturer- 
in-chief of teeth. His teeth were substantially clay and feldspar, strong 
and good. But to these have succeeded the present, chiefly feld-spar 
teeth. What they have gained in beauty is lost in strength. 
Douglass of Albany was among the early manufacturers of teeth ; his 
were pretty, but not well colored. Vitrified at a low heat, he obtained 
a better gum than Villars, which required intense heat. Neither stood 
the blow pipe well; they were rivetted to their base. I was first to mingle 
gold and tin for gum color. I took the medal for the best gum at the 
American Institute, in 1848. 
Dr. McClelland of Louisville, Ky., has recently brought into notice, 
collodion, to supply the place of metals and rubber, for the base of dent- 
ures. The success is hopeful, though not yet fully established. 
The manufacture of porcelain teeth has become an important business 
in the United States. The most extensive establishments are in Phila- 
delphia. Dr. S. S. White's dental products of teeth, material and fix- 
tures, overleaps a million dollars a year; he largely supplies the European 
market. This prince of teeth manufacturers gives, and he may be sup- 
posed to know, the number of dentists-10,000 in the United States, and 
400 in the Canadas. And to this statement he adds : " I have no doubt 
there are more artificial teeth used in the United States than in all the 
world beside." And yet we are but about a three-hundredth of the world's 
population. 
For the education of our annually increasing corps, we now have nine 
colleges; the first opened in Baltimore, November 1st, 1810; to this has 
succeeded, two in Philadelphia, two in Boston, one in New York city, one 
in Cincinnati, one in St. Louis, and one in New Orleans. We have about 
an equal number of dental periodicals. That the number of dentists, of 
colleges, and of periodicals equals the present demand, I think may be con- 
ceded. But that the majority of dentists, now in the field, are improperly 
educated and trained, will not be questioned. Nor could it be otherwise 
expected of the infancy of a profession, especially so long as there was a 
demand for so rapid an increase. Among the older professions- medicine, 
law, divinity - there is now, as there ever has been, a plebeian majority. 
Scarcely a dozen are to be found in any age or country who are num Dentistry as it is. 
11 
bered with the giants. The masses of professional men are of and for 
the masses of the people. Our young country has produced but one 
Franklin, one Dwight, one Washington, two Websters, and a Clay. No 
Shakspeare, no Locke, no Newton. Nor has America produced a 
Hunter, a Fox, a Bell, a James, or a Nasmyth on the teeth. To them 
we can but oppose a triplet of H's, Hudson, Hayden and Harris. There 
are, indeed, among the living operators, many whom posterity will delight 
to honor, but to name them now would be invidious. 
Although we have no scientific writers, like the English authors named, 
still our Harris has done good service. He has translated, collected, col- 
lated and published much that is now, as it has been of great value to 
the profession. Keoker's Dental Practice, and he was a colleague with 
Hudson, is still in advance of any other in the same line. Perhaps no 
writer has done more for surgical dental practice in Europe or America. 
Fitch, too, showed industry and intelligence, although much that he 
wrote has lost its value as greater lights have sprung up, Bond, Robert- 
son, Taft, Richardson, Henley, and Pigot, are among the recentand worthy 
contributors to dental science and literature. As in every great enterprise, 
so in dentistry ; the fountain head of supply has been in the north. The 
little state of Vermont supplied full one-half of the early dentists, several 
of whom wrote a little, and well. But Baltimore and Philadelphia were 
the radiant points from which light and heat went out to every portion 
of the dental world. Boston and New York have followed close in their 
wake. 
I do not propose to criticize our dental periodicals, although they have 
sometimes taxed our discriminating powers to sever the chaff from the 
wheat. They have, perhaps, not improperly, been open to the maiden 
efforts of juveniles, who take pleasure in unearthing and revitalizing fos- 
selized remains, and clothing them with the cast off garments of the past, 
and sometimes they have seemed to betray an interest in the advertise- 
ment of favored names and specialties. But they have published much 
that has been worthy of the cause and of the patronage they have gained, 
and I am happy to know that their patronage increases with their power 
for good. And their power for good will always be equal to their ability 
to instruct. Progress has marked their history. 
Operative surgical dentistry has made little advance upon the practice 
of Keoker, as every reader of his book will be constrained to admit. 
Indeed, I know of nothing essential added to what was known and prac- 
ticed fifty years ago. Much that is said of restoring lost periosteum and 
alveoli and of healing diseased pulps, is doubtless but the boast of empiri- 
cism. The treatment of diseased antrums of the gums and alveolar 
abscesses was as well understood then as now; free ventilation is the 
remedy, nature usually effects the rest. True, in the dreaded operation 
of extraction, there has been improvement in instruments; but this is 
mechanical. Whether the introduction of anaestheticsis an improvement, 
is questionable. That they are productive of as much pain as they relieve, 
and lessen security to life, will hardly be questioned. 
I think the history of the profession justifies the conclusion, that the 
chief improvement in surgical dentistry, for the last fifty years, is in an 
increase of numbers, who come up to the standard of Keoker, Hudson 
and Hayden. But to their honor let it be said, a few have nobly con- 
tended for a practice, as it should be; although the popular ear has not been 
open to them. 12 
Denistry as it is. 
But in mechanical dentistry, improvement has kept pace 'with the 
increased demand. Yet, in its onward march, it has left behind much 
that should have been advanced. It has been too much the policy of 
dentists to create wants, in order to supply them, and to this end comes 
the advice so popular with the people : " Have out all your old roots and 
teeth, have in a full set, new and beautiful, and see how much art is 
ahead of nature." There is now fifty entire sets of teeth put in, where 
there was one twenty-five years ago. And why ? It is not that the 
want of them has so much increased. But the advice and the practice of 
dentists has been the motive power in this rapid movement. And now, 
instead of the advantage of surgical remedies, the people will accept 
miserable substitutes, pay for anaesthetics, and jeopardize their lives, 
for the sake of a show of silex instead of nature's own ivory. 
It has been the policy of a large number of dentists, to increase the 
sore in order to enlarge the plaster. Sweeping extractions have been En- 
couraged and fillings and pivot teeth c/zscouraged, and the practice has 
been suited to the advice. Plugs, properly put in, with suitable after 
treatment, are for life; and pivot teeth, inserted skillfully, will average 
fifteen years of hard service; but, as recently set, they will hardly serve 
for one year. 
I will mention two, out of several, methods of inserting pivot teeth, 
which should never have gone into disuse. First, the old style of pivot 
teeth, as made by myself, half silex, with a deeply threaded screw pivot 
hole, into which was screwed a strong straight-grained hickory pivot, with 
a gold wire passed through its centre. The hole in the roots being drilled, 
all its length of a size, was then enlarged at the upper end by means of a 
spring-reamer. The drill and the pivot should be passed through the 
same hole in a wire plate; one end screwed into the crown, the other 
pressed into the root. To part them is impossible, without drilling. 
The other method, I would name, is this. Use the plate tooth, made of the 
old strong material, with two good pins, solder on a strong gold pivot, 
drill the root tapering, fill it with red cedar, pierce the centre, and drive 
the tooth home. In either of these ways skillfully done, the tooth will 
last on an average fifteen years, and give more satisfaction than any 
plate tooth ever can. For teeth inserted in this style we used to get five 
dollars each, and they were worth it. This practice has been superseded, 
it may be, for the profit of the dentist; but not for the people. 
It is not then in pivot teeth, or in substituting plate teeth instead, that 
mechanical dentistry has advanced. But in the plate teeth, and the 
manner of adapting them to the mouth, there has been confessedly a 
radical improvement. The metallic plates, as got up for the last twenty- 
five years, are a decided improvement upon the ivory or sea horse base. 
Rubber, as a godsend to the poor, would deserve more favor of the pro- 
fession, but for the sharks, whose insatiate maw is not satisfied with its 
pound of flesh. Men, without genius to invent, or wisdom to improve, like 
starving leeches, have fastened upon us; and we deserve, as we shall have, 
their contempt rather than sympathy, if we refuse to unite to shake them 
off. United we could stand and withstand them, but isolated and divided 
we fall an easy prey. Monopolies and patent rights are on the increase; 
before one is gorged a hungry swarm succeeds. And yet, as a body, we 
refuse to defend ourselves against them. Even now, while I am writing, 
an agent of a patentee appears, with an instrument bearing the seal of the 
patent office, for a method of using aluminum precisely as used by me for Why was Denistry so long unknown? 
13 
three years, and shown to hundreds of dentists. Continuous gum, air 
chambers, keoplasty, sets of teeth, en masse, were all patented years 
after I had them in use.1 But it seems to have been left to the present 
rubber company, to demonstrate the power of money, and the dread of 
law suits. This company, having learned their power, will use it under 
some pretense of right, just as long as dentists will submit. They demand 
of the dentists about $750,000 a year, and that for fourteen years to 
come, and by that time, they will find some new claims, that they can 
with equal justice sustain ; they will have put down all opposition, and 
accumulated an immense fund, with which to compel future concessions. 
But this is among the things that are, but one that hangs heavily upon 
the verge of dental progress. 
But while I must deplore the still lingering tendency to isolation, and 
standing aloof from each other, I cannot but regard as among the most 
hopeful of the things that are, the growing disposition to harmony and 
united action, in many things pertaining to the common good. Dental 
associations and societies are formed, or are now forming, in almost every 
state and district of the union. Light is disseminating, knowledge is dif- 
fusing, and our art and science is gathering strength and respectability. 
If but one in ten, now in the field, are equal to the original three in the 
city of brotherly love, we then have an increase in fifty years, of three 
hundred fold. No other profession has ever exhibited so vigorous a 
growth. The salt has not lost its savor, nor the leaven its diffusive power. 
With the experience, the means and the men, now in the field, we have 
only to go forward to dentistry as it should be, a mighty power for good. 
Fifty years ago we were without the helps and facilities of the present. 
We knew of no impression cups, no plaster of Paris, no swadges, no for- 
ceps, of practical value, no dental depots, no books, no periodicals, no 
colleges, no societies. Indeed, we were without help, entirely dependent 
on our own individual exertions. Now we are armed and equipped with 
not a little of the sinews of war; we are able to " move upon the works," 
building up the fortifications of ivory, and subduing every power that attacks 
them. Fifty years ago, we were in tutelage to France and England. 
Now we are giving them their lessons, and furnishing them men and 
means. Indeed, Europe is now proud to follow in the footsteps of America 
in dental art. He that would decry the enterprise that has taken posses- 
sion of such vantage ground, does but belittle himself. But 
WHY WAS DENTISTRY SO LONG UNKNOWN ? 
Before attempting a definition of dentistry as it should be, we may 
profitably consider the question, Why was dentistry so long unknown, 
1 It was in 1824, in Woodstock, Vt., that I put in the first gold plate, fitted to 
the jaw, as a base for artificial teeth, that I ever heard of. In 1835, I designed 
and used the air chamber as now in common use. In 1833, I commenced manu- 
facturing mineral teeth, more than half quartz, very strong, after the Villers recipe, 
and soon after, adopted the practice of making under sets, en masse, a platina 
wire, only, running through the middle. Several sets of this kind, made more 
than thirty years ago are still doing service. At the same time I made many sets 
of upper teeth, " continuous gum," nearly like those now got up. Keoplasty, 
I used and sold numbers of sample cases to dentists in 1849. At the same time 
I manufactured for myself, and for sale, quite largely, moulded block gum teeth;. 
the first ever made, for which I received a medal at the American Institute, New 
York city. 14 
Why was Denistry so long unknown? 
and so long unneeded ? It is not enough to say ignoti nulla capido. 
No desire is felt for a thing unknown. Pain seeks relief; and where 
there is a want, there is a way. Nature abhors a vacuum. Wants are 
never long felt before they are supplied. Why, then, for six thousand 
years, and two hundred generations, were dentists unknown and unneeded ? 
and why the want so imperative now? What is it that has wrought a 
change so great and so sudden in the oral and masticatory apparatus of 
the human family ? and especially of the inhabitants of this new world - 
North America. 
Possibly, we may find our fall in the rise of the culinary art. It was, 
doubtless, left for Europe and America, to disgrace and degrade the 
natural appetite, by cultivating an unnatural and abnormal one, and then, 
stimulating that, by the health destroying devices of the cook. And, 
still worse, by the introduction of excessively hot drinks. As the heart 
panteth after the cooling water, so did the thirsty man. But now the 
stomach is converted into a boiling cauldron in which our food is cooked 
not digested. The tender and active fibrils of the stomach lose their 
sensitiveness, to the healthful touches of nature's true beverage, and seem 
to demand the stimulant of boiling hot tea and coffee. It was nearly 
simultaneous with the introduction of tea and coffee, that the dental art, 
was called in requisition, and, it is in this country, where tea and coffee 
are used most and hottest, that dentistry reaps its richest harvest. It is 
certainty worthy the most diligent inquiry, whether it may not be the 
par-boiled stomach that refuses the proper work of digestion, and instead 
of generating alkaline secretions, produces only acidified, to demolish the 
marble arches that labor to support the whole structure. We know that 
all animal instincts are opposed to hot drinks. The only case within 
my knowledge, where animals have been for any considerable time, forced 
to the use of hot drinks, is the cows, fed upon hot slops, from the dis- 
tilleries. In this case, the hot liquid runs through the milk capillaries, 
and comes out a white poisonous fluid, sold for milk; the cows soon loose 
their teeth, their health, and their lives. This certainly, strongly cor- 
roborates other evidence, that hot drinks are unnatural and hurtful; and 
have the effect to produce that acid state of the secretions which destroy 
the teeth. This state of the stomach is transmitted. Hereditary disease 
is the consequence. A very large proportion of existing diseases have been 
handed down. It would require generations of correct habits, to correct 
the evil. But, although diseases of the teeth, as well as other diseases, 
are often hereditary, yet, it may be doubted, whether original sin has 
anything to do with the premature failure of the teeth. Diseased teeth 
were not always, as now, the chief of the ills that flesh is heir to. We 
might give several reasons for supposing that the primeval races were not 
seriously troubled with rottenness of the teeth. About all we know to 
be sure of the antediluvian is, that it was with the teeth, that our first 
mother, divided with her husband, the apple, that brought on us tooth- 
ache and all our woes. But the primal constitution made stout resist- 
ance to disease and death. 
It was not till after the Noachian flood had fertilized the earth, with 
the teeth and bones of a world of sinners, that it brought forth abun- 
dantly its thorns and thistles, and levied so large a discount upon the 
health and life of man. And, still longer, did the teeth defy the acids 
of Eve's apple, and the sour grapes of Sodom and of Noah, as the grinning Why was Denistry so long unknown? 
15 
mummies of Egyptian octogenarians, deposited in their catacombs three 
thousand years ago now testify. Nor, does toothache enter much into 
the history of the Babylonians, or of the Medes and Persians. Nor yet 
of Greek and Roman citizens, or soldiers. It was not till after the 
imprecation, upon his enemies, of Israel's glorified king, " Break their 
teeth, and let rottenness enter into their bones." Nay, it was not till 
after the eloquence of the first Christian martyr, so enraged his persecutors 
that they gnashed on him with their teeth, that this organ began to feel 
the full power of the curse; but now it comes as if engendered by the 
serpent's tooth. 
But diseases of the teeth rapidly developed as the civilization of 
Europe culminated. And no sooner had young America sprang to 
her feet, than she was taken by the teeth, and in her agony cried out 
for dentists. 
The fact that dentists were unknown, is of itself evidence that they 
were little needed in the olden times. Nature is never slow to supply 
a want that is felt. Toothache would have sought a remedy as earnestly 
in the days, and in the teritories of Confucius, and among the early 
Chinamen, as here and now, had the plague been as common and as 
cursing. 
Many are wont to ascribe the slow march of improvement to the igno- 
rance, the sparseness or poverty of the people. But it was not the 
darkness of paganism, or the poverty of the ancients, that incubated 
diseases or neglect of the teeth. The pyramids and the catacombs of 
Egypt, no less than her chariots and her armies, testify of her wealth, of 
her wisdom and her skill. Nor could the mighty prince of Media and 
Persia, whose palace was of ivory, and his bedstead, as well as his 
drinking cups, of pure gold, either disregard or neglect the teeth of his 
Vashti and his Esther. 
And it is certain, that the man who lavished upon the temple of his 
God, an amount of silver and of gold, scarcely less than has yet been gathered 
from the placers of California, and the mines of Australia and Russia, 
was not lacking in taste or appreciation of the teeth, since it required no 
less than forty oxen to supply the teeth at his daily table. 
Nor money, nor learning, nor taste, was wanting in the mightiest king of 
that great Babylon, whose walls and temples, and towers, golden images, 
gardens and fountains, together with twenty years of stored provisions, have 
been estimated equal to the entire wealth of our great republic. It was 
only necessary that his pride should be subdued, when with his teeth he 
was made to eat grass as an ox. 
Nor was it that the earth's population was sparse, when Xerxes could 
number soldiers by millions, and the little domain of the Jews, not a 
tenth part as large as the state of New York, counted a population of 
seven millions. 
The population of the old world had probably reached its zenith when 
the queen of the south was attracted to the harem of Solomon, to admire 
the ruby lips and ivory arches of its thousand inhabitants. 
At this time, the old world was teeming with venerable fathers whose 
only flouring mills were their molar teeth. These, enriched the earth by 
sewing it broad-cast with humanized flesh and bones. Races grew and 
multiplied, and in the days of Xerxes literally filled the earth with men 
and women who knew not, nor needed doctors or dentists. Their history was 16 
Why was Denistr y so long unknown? 
no more summarily written than ours. They, like us, lived, got mar- 
ried, died. They with mouthsful of natural, we with artificial teeth. 
But the question still presses upon us why ? Why was it left for 
Europe, in these ends of the world, first to evolve the doctrines and duties 
of dentistry? and why the United States, the hardiest of her offspring, 
made the great field of development of the dental art ? 
It was when the United States were poor, and lived on porridge, corn- 
bread, and pork and beans, that Dr. Randal, of Boston, said of their teeth : 
" They exhibit more the appearance of broken down sheep racks and 
fortifications of tobacco quids than ivory arches." Corn bread and hard 
fare refused them assurance of good teeth, although for the time, their tea 
was thrown overboard; but despite poverty, hard fare, and corn bread, 
rottenness entered into their teeth and broke down their jaw teeth ; and 
hence the urgent demand for dentists. Doubtless dentistry had been 
needed for many centuries, but now the want became pressing. It is not 
therefore, the richness or poverty of living that originates bad teeth, nor 
yet is it climate, for the cattle upon our thousand hills feel not the evil; 
but it is to be looked for in some peculiarity of cookery or diet. Indeed, 
the causes of diseases, their changes and divers phases are involved in 
mystery, nec scire fas est omnia. Why the tardy progress of all the 
noblest arts and sciences during fifty-seven centuries and near two hun- 
dred generations ? And why now in this fifty-ninth century, this rapid 
advance in all that is humanizing and fraternizing ? 
It is not for ordinary minds to comprehend the far-reaching designs of 
a master-move upon a chess board ; and who shall comprehend the infinite 
reach of design, in the moves of Him whose chess board is the universe ? 
It is only as designs develop that lesser minds are brought into sympathy 
with the greater. We may, indeed, count ourselves happy if permitted 
to see the connection of a few links of the infinite chain. Some of the 
designs of the wonderful and unprecedented movements of the fifty-ninth 
century are now less a matter of augury than of vision. Men like 
matter usually gravitate to a centre; great cities, centralization, gathering 
around a mighty tower, seems instinct in man. But the whole world was 
made for man, and in order to populate it, men must scatter. Diverse 
tongues, diverse interests and tastes must first be cultivated until man 
should possess the earth, and every part of it feel the impress of humanity. 
This done, the higher end must be developed - the civilizing and frater- 
nizing of the entire race. The United States is, doubtless, intended to 
be the key stone in the grand social arch. That the design of filling the 
earth might not fail, peoples and populations have always first cropt out 
in the hardest portions of the world, that the people might be attracted 
by interest, to search out and fill up the remote and better regions. 
Had we begun to people the rich placers of California or the fertile valleys 
of the Mississippi, who would ever have gone east, with his pick-axe, to 
dig potatoes out of the granite pavements of New Hampshire and Maine. 
But by a hardy New England growth we were enabled to stretch a sinewy 
arm across our own continent, and seize upon its vast treasures, while the 
other, nerved and warmed by the heart of kindness, grasps the nations of 
the earth and offers to gather them around our central fires and social 
hearths. Yes, young America, whose gymnastics were the rocks and 
brakes of New England has come up, and is now prepared, with a strong 
arm to sweep away the fog and debris of crumbling dynasties. She is Dentistry as it ought to be? 
17 
now qualified to anoint the gouty limbs, rub open the eyes of dotage, and 
bring to her own warm bosom the fossilized nations of the earth. Our 
United States have a destiny. It is theirs to renovate, quicken and 
revitalize the old world ; and to this end American dentistry has a proud 
work to perform. Already we supply the old world with her silicious 
teeth and with her best dentists. 
It is but a few days since I saw a beautiful specimen of American 
dentistry got up in one of the cities of the celestials. American dentists 
are to be found, not only in the European states, but in all quarters of 
the world. Indeed, American dentistry is adding new power to the 
civilizing arm of the United States, already nerved to the work of gathering 
the nations around one common centre, and cementing again a common 
brotherhood. With these views of our work and our destiny, we address 
ourselves to the question 
DENTISTRY AS IT OUGHT TO BE ? 
We have already seen that dentistry was healthy in her childhood, and 
vigorous in her youth, what then must she be in the fullness of her 
strength and beauty ? 
As already intimated, it is the work of the dentist, not only to assist 
nature in giving beauty and symmetry to the human face, and perfection 
to the oral organism, but to redeem our race from the pains and penalties 
of toothache, the greatest and commonest ache that flesh is heir to. To 
learn the cause and the cure, to secure to humanity what is common 
to brutes, the enjoyment of all the pleasures of a healthy masticatory 
apparatus. This we conceive will be dentistry as it should be. In two 
particulars, at least, dentistry in the United States has attained its cul- 
minating point. We have nearly one dentist to every three thousand 
of our white population. In numbers we are equal to, if not in advance 
of the demand; but to perpetuate this supply, it will be necessary to 
educate, train and add to the corps, from eight to twelve hundred a year, 
for the next generation, to supply losses by death and otherwise, and 
keep pace with a population doubling every thirty years. 
And for the education of these, we already have nine colleges, a number 
quite sufficient for all who seek their benefits. For the present then, we 
have dentists enough, and dental colleges enough. 
But hitherto dentistry has failed in her aims. It has been regarded 
as sufficient to arrange the deranged, arrest decay, by fileing or filling, 
remove successfully incurables, and ingeniously supply losses with artifi- 
cial substitutes. But it should be the first aim of the dentist to prevent 
derangement, prevent decay, prevent the necessity of extraction, and sub- 
stitution of artificial. Dentistry will not be as it should be, until it seeks 
this as a chief end, and is able in the main to attain it. No doubt, as 
already seen, the primary cause of dental derangements and decay is to 
be looked for in improper diet and drinks, although a proper allowance 
of the fat and sweets of the land are not to be denied us. But were we 
to follow the dictates of reason, as do the brutes their instincts, we should 
need dentists as little as they. 
Undomesticated animals are not troubled with toothache. But the 
cow, as we have said, confined to the stall and fed upon hot slops loses 
health, teeth and life. Hot drinks, fine flour and excess of sweetmeats, 18 
Dentistry as it ought to be? 
levy a tax, upon health and teeth, which indulgence is compelled to pay. 
It belongs to the physician and the dentist to educate the people on this 
subject, but how can they do this, themselves uneducated. These 
causes, so far as they have a debilitating effect upon the muscle, bone and 
teeth, concern the physician no less than the dentist. Rottenness of 
teeth is not the result of diseased action in the circidation. If it were the 
bones would rot with the teeth. But the effect of improper diet and 
drinks is to vitiate secretions, particularly the salivary and mucus. It is 
these that destroy the teeth by chemical action.1 
Here, then, we come to the specialty of the dentist: it is his business to 
destroy the powers of these chemical agents, and prevent the destruction 
threatened. The man who is unprepared to meet this exigency is not 
fit to practice dentistry. The teeth being substantially lime, acidity is 
the agent that destroys them. Hence the remedy is obvious: the frequent, 
and if need be, the constant use of an alkali. When the condition of the 
teeth indicate acid secretions, the use of a dentrifice, both alkaline and 
astringent, should be made habitual and very frequent. 
There is no age when the dentist can do so much, as in childhood and 
youth ; from five to fifteen, the teeth should come under the close inspec- 
tion of the dentist as often as quarterly, at least. Tendency to derange- 
ment and decay should be carefully watched, the symptoms noted, and 
the proper remedy applied. The teeth properly attended to, from five to 
twenty, there would be, the youth being formed to correct habits, little 
occasion for dentistry thereafter. This is dentistry as it should be. To 
this work the dentist should be educated, and to this high aim, his tal- 
ents and energies should be directed. But his duties, can not, so long 
as man is depraved in moralsand appetite, end here ; diseases will still arise 
requiring varied treatment, to which, none but the educated and trained 
dentist, can properly address himself. Caries will sometimes steal upon a 
patient, when the use of the wedge, the file and the plug, may be indicated ; 
giving occasion for the exercise of common sense, of science and of art. 
But, that dentist is most worthy the name, who most escapes the necessity 
of artificial substitutes, for this most important organism. The time will 
come, and let it come soon, when the reputation of the best dentist, will 
attach to him who most successfully prevents the use of all instruments 
of torture, and secures the normal condition of the teeth to the octogena- 
rian as well as the child. And he will be, only, second rate, who success- 
fully treats the decaying, while the man who knows only to furnish sub- 
1 In 1829, I published a disquisition on the "causes of the decay of teeth and 
the remedy," and fully demonstrated what was then a new theory, that caries 
was the result of chemical action, and not of inflammation, as before held. The ar- 
gument was summarily this. Teeth are substantially lime salts. In all cases where 
they decay, the secretions of the mouth, for the time, are in an abnormal state, more 
or less acid; and hence in all places where this lime solvent finds lodgment, de- 
composition is the result. Hence, decay in teeth never commences internally, nor 
where the teeth are most exposed to friction ; but always in fissures, indentations, 
at the lips of the gums, or near latteral contact. Forty years of close observation 
has confirmed my early convictions. Indeed, this theory is the basis of all correct 
dental practice. Teeth are plugged to shut out external solvents, not to arrest 
internal disease. In 1839,1 published, in pamphlet form, a dissertation, an abstract 
of which was published in the only dental periodical of the age, on galvanic bat- 
teries in the mouth, showing the consequences of using two or more metals, differ- 
ing in degrees of affinity for oxygen, in the same mouth. Amalgam, in close 
proximity to gold fillings should be avoided. Dentistry as it ought to be? 
19 
stitutes, must be content with his chosen work and wages, and be written 
a mere mechanic. This, gentlemen, as I can understand it, is dentistry as 
it should be. And how is this desideratum to be attained ? 
When, fifty years ago, the great work and want begun to be felt, time 
for proper education might not be spared, and so long as the necessities of 
the people demanded the doubling of our corps every five years, there 
was, at least, an apology for giving indulgence to empiricism. But this 
necessity can be plead no longer. If dentists hereafter double with the 
population, once in thirty years, the people will not suffer for want of 
numbers. Now there is time, and the times demand, that no more should 
enter this field until fitted for the work. What then are we to demand 
as necessary qualifications for entrance to the gateway of dental practice ? 
We answer; First of all, good moral character, probity, truthfulness, 
honesty. 
Second. Aptitude, talents, taste and tact for the profession. 
Third. Suitable education. 
No one should be admited as a student in dentistry, without, at least, a 
good common school education, and let it be remembered, that a common 
school education, has had and still has its upward tendency no less that 
dentistry. When dentistry made its debut, to read, write and cipher to 
rule of three, was the maximum of the common schools in the United 
States; but now, in this latter part of the ninteenth century, a good com- 
mon school education offers, and demands, a thorough knowledge of com- 
mon arithmetic and English grammar, and, at least, the rudiments of 
geography and history, ancient and modern. With a knowledge of the 
common school books, on geology, natural and moral philosophy, physi- 
ology, mineralogy, general anatomy, hygiene, chemistry and astronomy. 
With less than this, no dentist should admit a student to his laboratory or 
library: and while his muscles, his hand, his eye and his taste, are in 
training, he should be required to devote every leisure hour to the study 
of his specialty ; making himself thoroughly acquainted with the physi- 
ology and anatomy of the head, the face and the teeth, and of the dis- 
eases and treatment of the teeth and their surroundings. So much is 
necessary in order to enter to advantage, or hear, with profit, the lectures 
of a dental college. 
And these necessary attainments of the student in dentistry, suffi- 
ciently indicate the duties and the qualification of censors. Of course no 
one can examine beyond the reach of his own knowledge. No one is 
fi'tted to act as a censor, who has not all the qualifications to be exacted of 
the student. And when it shall come to pass that all who practice our 
specialty shall come, fully, up to the standard I have indicated, then will 
dentistry be as it should be, the offspring and the offering of science and 
art. Then will the natural teeth be saved, as a rule, not substituted. It 
will be only when men are old, that the grinders will cease because they 
are few. 
In thirty years our home field will give employment to twenty thou- 
sand dentists, and, possibly, we may need to educate as many more to go 
out as missionaries into all the world. Let them be educated and every- 
where they will do honor to the name of America. 
Every dentist should acquaint himself with the natural history of the 
teeth, from the beginning of bony formation; certainly, as far back as their 
condition can be affected by treatment or art. 20 
Dentistry as it ought to be? 
Analytical and microscopical investigation belongs to dental science, 
rather than practice; in this, our advance has not been slow. Science 
delights in the arcana of nature; is elated as she finds in the house-fly 
the real Argus, and, in the appaiently attenuated thread of the spider a 
rope of a hundred strands. And, her researches are not less fruitful of 
pleasure, when she traces the small nerve and artery, in their passage 
at the point of a tooth's fang, until the nerve divides, branches, and 
ramifies, the pulp and dentine, ultimating in numberless fibrils, which 
defy the investigation of a microscope of a thousand diameters, and 
weave themselves into the thin membrane that unites the dentine to the 
enamel. Such researches, while not wholly barren of interest to the 
operator, are exceedingly fruitful of enjoyment to the scientific. Such 
are the developments of the microscope, that science is at loss which 
most to admire, the smallness of the work or the greatness of the work- 
man; the infinitude of contrivance, or infiniteness of the contriver; the 
wisdom of the design or the ingenuity of execution ; while she wonders 
at the stupidity, and the credulity, that sees in these displays of infinite skill 
only the blindness and the blunders of chance. 
Practical men are not often disposed to spend time in search of pri- 
mary corpuscles, of flesh or tooth pulps, or the elementary particles of 
dentine, enamel or cementum. Deep research into the arcana of nature, 
is less profitable than curious. When the microscope has done its best 
we are no nigher the life spring than natural vision carries us. Nor is 
our power to make one hair white or black at all increased. 
The practical surgeon, physician or dentist, will direct his studies, 
chiefly to the attainment of the best practice, and best results. To know 
that a hair is a barbed cylinder, and that animal corpuscles are cellular, 
is interesting to the curious, but of little use in treatment. But to know 
precisely when and how to apply the forceps, the file, the excavator and 
the plugger is of vital importance to every dentist. 
Whether the enamel is formed from lime-salts, held in solution in the 
tooth-sack, and precipitated upon the cementum, or whether it be a 
capillary deposit, is of much less importance than to understand the fact 
that enamel is given to protect the highly organized and acutely sensitive 
dentine, and that it is substantially lime, easily decomposed by acids. 
And that when abrazed by mechanical or chemical agents, can not be 
restored, and is, therefore, to be carefully preserved, unless, as is sometimes 
the case, the removal of a part will subserve the health of the whole. 
It is important, too, that every dentist should know that there is an 
acutely sensitive membrane uniting the enamel to the cementum or 
dentine, and still more important is it to understand the danger of de- 
nuding a pulp, or breaking the delicate membrane, that envelops it. The 
most skillful treatment of an exposed pulp can never atone for its need- 
less exposure.1 
'A practice has prevailed, and does still, among good operators, to remove 
from a cavity all soft bone, although by so doing they bare the pulp. This prac- 
tice is founded upon the false theory, that caries is cancerous, or gangrenous. All 
that is necessary to arrest caries is to shut off the bone solvent. Hence, every 
fissure, crack or lodgment must be guarded against, the plug made perfectly level 
with the enamel and air tight; then whatever soft bone lies at the bottom, soon 
hardens and encourages a new deposit of dentine, and is far better than any capping 
or soft filling ; although a soft, temporary filling may be often necessary while the 
soft bone is hardening. A Power to Move and Mend the World. 
21 
But as it comes not within my design, I will not further open the wide 
field of dental practice; and what I have now said is intended simply to 
indicate the proper field of dental investigation and study. As the 
surgeon, before introducing his knife, should know what muscles, veins 
and arteries, tendons and nerves, lay about the parts, so the dentist, should 
understand the living organism of the parts upon which he operates. 
When dentistry shall have attained its perfect status it will be, indeed, 
A POWER TO MOVE AND MEND THE WORLD. 
I have not dwelt upon the short comings of our profession, for two 
reasons. First, Because I do not think them greater than the necessities 
of the case ; had we waited to educate, our operative force, to-day, would 
not have been a tenth of what it is. Our founders, like the original 
Master, and like Wesley, and Whitefield, had a great work before them. 
Time to educate up to the present demand could not be spared. But my 
second reason is, I have observed that adepts at fault-finding are usually 
among the most faulty. Hence I leave that work for those who like the 
wages. I would fain do what I can to drive back the darkness and let 
the full light of education shine upon all. 
I have shown, I think, that the foundations of our profession were well 
laid by men of learning and skill. That we have built rapidly, with some 
wood and stubble, but generally, with granite and marble, not all well 
hewn and fitted, but in the main with good material. 
I have endeavored to show that we are a link in the great chain which 
is to bind the nations of the earth in one common brotherhood. That it 
has been left for the new world, especially for these United States, to show 
an energy and a power in the work of elevating humanity that shall 
attract, while it wakes up. the slumbering energies of the old world, and 
draws around its intelligent and working power, all nations and kindreds 
of men, whose scattering was demanded by the yearnings of an unpopulated 
world. America has restored what was lost at Babel, a common tongue, 
by her telegraph; by our steam power, we have annihilated distance, while 
our improvements in the printing press enable us to teach all nations, 
and our engines for ameliorating the physical and moral condition of the 
world are no less efficient. Let us then appreciate our destiny and our 
mission. Dentistry has an important work in the great missionary field, 
which is to operate the moral and physical cure of the world. Let us 
then send out our dentists, educated and fitted to the work, and worthy 
the wages of benefactors. 
I have intimated, that the great design of confounding human design 
at Babel, was to populate the earth; and while this design was carrying 
out, socializing and fraternizing agencies were in abeyance, until about 
the time of the discovery of this continent, the discovery of gunpowder 
and the printing press. This gave us the field and the great humanizing 
powers, with which to begin and carry on the work of restoring the 
world to its family relations. It was about, then and there, the centrifugal 
forces were expended, and the centripetal began to act. It was left to 
the energy and inventive genius of Americans to complete the attractive 
forces, that are to give to the world one motto, E pluribus mum. But 
while the stronger forces must control the weaker, each part that is 
attracted must have its own attracting power. Every nation and tribe of 22 
A Power to Move and Mend the World. 
men must bring its offerings. Even the most savage have something to 
contribute to the common weal. The Hottentot, the Esquimaux and 
the American Indian, each and all, have lessons of instruction, and can 
contribute a moccasin, or sledge, or a canoe. China comes with her 
teas and her porcelain; Japan, with her numerous samples of art. The 
Indies with her spices, her medicines and her rubber. The Andes and 
Cordilleras, with their Peruvian bark, and quinine, and Europe with her 
varied sciences and arts. But all will ultimately do homage to American 
enterprise, science and art, and especially to our dentistry. 
To some it may seem incongruous that powder, Paixhan guns and moni- 
tors, should come in, as peacemakers, with the printing press and the 
missionaries of science, of morals, and of religion, to hasten the world's 
millennium. But this is no less true, than that the dental art has come in 
its time, and in its place, to act as a power to this end; and that the 
teeth occupy the very gateway of animal and of social life, is apparent to 
all. Men must be in a condition to eat and enjoy, as well as to do good 
and communicate, before swords are beaten into ploughshares and spears 
into pruning hooks. As the great powers of earth are consolidating, dis- 
cord must cease among all the subordinate organisms and agencies; not 
only must tribes and sects cultivate peace and good will, but, the friends 
of the sciences and the arts must unite with each other, and with all others, 
to advance the world's chief end - social happiness. The dentists of the 
United States must stand together, a solid phalanx, and then will their 
power be felt. 
That the United States has become the radiant point, and the well- 
spring of civilizing and socializing currents, is but a justly discriminating 
providence. We were the first nation, baptized in infancy, into the name 
of him whose mission was peace and good will to man; and on whose pro- 
mise we do well to rest. " He that honoreth me shall be honored of 
me." Let our dentists, in concert with every civilizing and Christianizing 
agent, go out, with this faith, under a banner bearing the cross, the stars 
and the stripes, encircled by a galaxy of American improvements, in arts 
and sciences, with the motto of newly christened Rome, In hoc signo 
vinces, and all the world will read and understand it. Already the 
skilled hands of American dentists have pressed the heads of kings and 
emperors. A dentist, who grew up at my side, in Vermont, enjoyed the 
royal favor of France, and was summoned to the presence of the autocrat 
of the Russias, and having done the honors of dentist to the royal family, 
received from the emperor, a knighthood and a princely fee. And hav- 
ing made a fortune and married a fortune, as did the gentlemanly I)r. E. 
Parmly, their names will be written high on the scroll of dental fame. 
The royal mother of our mother country, whose praises are written on 
the marble of progress and civilization, has endorsed the superiority of 
American dentists. 
Those hitherto isolated, wonderful and multitudinous peoples, inhabit- 
ing China and Japan, are now kissing the hand that America has 
stretched over them, and there American dentists are holding them by 
the teeth. 
The inhabitants of the Indias, and the islands of the Pacific are opening 
their mouths to the American dentist. The field is the world; and let 
but the enterprise of the past characterize the next twenty-five years, and 
we shall have twenty-five thousand educated dentists to supply it. In A Power to Move and Mend the World. 
23 
this there is no empty vaporing, it is within the legitimate inferences 
from the facts of the past. 
By means of our telegaaph, American progress is already photographed 
upon the lintel and door posts of civilization. Let the American den- 
tists go out, with our reapers and mowers, our jennies and sewing machines, 
our steamers and monitors, to challenge and draw after them the admira- 
tion of the world. And in the whole galaxy of American improvements 
in the progressive and socializing arts and sciences, than dentistry, there 
is no brighter star. By harmony in action, steadiness of purpose, and 
persevering aims at excellence, we may acquire a name, and become a 
praise wherever genius has an altar.