The study of dental surgery, and the means thereto / by John Tomes.

  • Tomes, John, 1815-1895.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The study of dental surgery, and the means thereto / by John Tomes. 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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    I) ciatioii with the g-eneral student in the stu(]y of suljjeets eominon to general and dental surgery. The separation of the students by his limitation to a special school, en- gendered a distinction of social position to the obvious disadvantage of tlie dental practitioner, whose pretention to the necessary amount of medical or surgical knowledge would be challenged by those who had studied under more favourable circumstances and under the guidance of estab- lished teachers. For however little professional education may be forced upon the individual student, there has never been a time when a diligent and determined student could not acquire a complete knowledge of his profession in the medical schools of America or of our own country. The educational position of tiie medical schools, '6'6 in number at the time (1840) the dental college came into existence, would inevitably influence the organization of the latter, and it is not reasonable to suppose that the dental could, even if they would, become more exacting in their requirements than the general schools. Between 1840 and 187G, 15 dental colleges had been formed, and medical colleges to the number of 80, 04 of which remain ; the population of the United States having passed from 17,060,88 to over 40,000,000. Even a casual study of the organisation of the American dental colleges leads to the fixed impression that the Americans were, and indeed still are, strongly and rightly impressed with the absolute need of thorough special training; and although not in a position to enforce the acceptance, yet felt bound to offer to students every induce- ment to acquire a sound knowledge of the special subjects, and of the requisite manipulative skill. The general sub- jects appear to have received less attention, or. at all events, occupied in the college prospectus a less prominent posi- tion. To some cases, indeed, it would almost seem that a college faculty thought that a sufficient knowledge of general surgery could be acquired in the study of the special subjects of dental surgery. It may be so ; but those English dentists who bent upon