Volume 1

The memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans : recollections of the second French empire / edited by Edward A. Crane, M. D.

  • Evans, Thomas W. (Thomas Wiltberger), 1823-1897.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans : recollections of the second French empire / edited by Edward A. Crane, M. D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/358 (page 18)
    torture which, on several occasions, I was fortunately and most happily able to secure for him almost imme- diately I saw him. But his appreciation of such services was something more than personal. It was not limited to me ; it reached out and included the whole dental profession. He found the dental art to be of great use to him, and, accordingly, had an excellent opinion of dentists in general, and saw no reason why they should not be as proud of their specialty as the practitioners of any branch of medicine or surgery. If it was my privilege to render considerable pro- fessional services to the Emperor, I was richly repaid in many ways ; but more especially by the direct support and encouragement he gave me in the practice of my art, and the social consideration he accorded to me, and, through me, to my profession. Indeed, the immense importance of this can hardly be understood by one not acquainted with the character of the men who practised dentistry when I came to Paris, and the contempt with which they were spoken of and regarded. Those persons who made it their business to treat diseases of the teeth were ranked with barbers, cuppers, and bleeders, just as, a hundred years before, surgeons were, everywhere in Europe. Physicians and surgeons considered the care of the teeth as unworthy of their attention and science ; the rectification of those irregularities of dentition that give rise to defects in speech, or disfigure the mouth, they knew nothing about; and extractions were left to be performed by mountebanks at street corners, or fakirs at fairs, where the howls of the victims were