An introductory lecture on dental surgery : delivered at the Metropolitan School of Dental Science, Wednesday, October 12, 1859 / by Robert T. Hulme.

  • Hulme, Robert Thomas.
Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture on dental surgery : delivered at the Metropolitan School of Dental Science, Wednesday, October 12, 1859 / by Robert T. Hulme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Profession be exalted or degraded. I liave already enumerated, amongst the general causes, the influence of the medical practitioner over public opinion, as well as his own neglect of dental practice. What was it, then, which guided the judgment of the medical man, and led him to disregard so extensive and useful a field of practice ? Gentlemen, try how I may to avoid the harsh and unpleasant expression, I can find no other which will explain the facts than the words, want of knowledge. Ignorance, that barrier to every kind of progress, has been felt no less in our Profession than in every other department of human learning. It does not follow that this ignorance was wilful on the part of the medical man, or that it was otherwise than a portion of that natural darkness through which man is compelled to work his way, until, aided by science, he can dispel it by the light of truth. The answer, then, to the question I have put, resolves itself into this, that, in consequence of the minute anatomy of the teeth being unknown, there arose an incorrect physiology, and, as a necessary accompaniment, an imperfect pathology of the teeth. It will not, therefore, be altogether a matter of unprofitable inquiry, it we take a rapid glance at some of the opinions which have been held with respect to the organisation of these bodies. Passing over the fanciful and speculative doctrines which were pro- mulgated by the Grecian writers concerning the teeth, we find Galen, in the second century, maintaining that they are true bones: in ossium numero denies habendi sunt, etsi secus nonnulli sophistce arhitrentur. This comparison of the Eoman anatomist, under various modifications, has been constantly repeated down to the present time. Eustachius, whose work * De Dentibus,'' appeared in 1563, carefully examined the teeth in the foetus. He not only described the forms of the first teeth, but also those of their successors, and refuted the opinions of those who stated that the roots of the milk teeth are employed in the formation of the permanent ones. Eustachius seems to have had a clearer perception of the physiology of the teeth than Galen, for he says they are nourished in a difierent manner from bones, mentioning, amongst other proofs of this, that their fractures cannot be made to unite. After giving a correct description of the number and forms of the teeth, he compares their adhesion to the gums to that of the nails to the skin. Sicut cutis extremce unguium parti adherescit, ita gingiva dentibus adjunctoesicut. Scaliger calls the ioeih. ho^ic sui generis; he denies they have any proper sensation, and compares them in this respect to the nails. (1) These comparisons involve two opposite if? (1) ' Nasmyth's Historical Introduction,' p. 7.