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ry, scientific, and professional acquirements. It is to be re-
gretted that our subject has been neglected by a great pro-
portion of the Medical Faculty. They, too generally, con-
sider it as having little or no bearing upon their profession.
As an instance of the utter want of attention to this sub-
ject, by some medical men, I will take the liberty of men-
tioning the following case, which came to my knowledge.
A Lady having her mouth in a very unpleasant state, her
gums inflamed and ulcerated, in consequence of an excessive
accumulation of tartar upon the molar teeth of one side,
applied to a physician who was a Professor in one of the
Medical Universities of this country, for advice and relief
from this disagreeable and somewhat alarming state of her
mouth. The Surgeon was entirely at a loss to determine
what was the real nature of the disease, or what the extra-
ordinary tumour or concretion upon her teeth. The affec-
tion was finally decided to be cancerous, and in a state of
great alarm, the lady was dismissed. She, however, did not
entirely despair, but applied to some others of the Faculty, and
was at last seen by one that had some little knowledge of
the maladies of the mouth, who immediately quieted her fears,
and, by the use of suitable remedies, relieved her from every
symptom of disease.* At present, a spirit of inquiry is
abroad, and I cannot but anticipate a period, when, upon
this subject, prejudices shall be removed, mal practices cor-

Du-
* This ignorance is not peculiar to the physicians of this country.
val says, page 80 Dentiste Jeunesse, " Far different was the conduct of a
" provincial surgeon, who imagining that he had to remove a tumour which
" greatly swelled the cheek, enlarged the opening of the mouth by incision.
"This tumour, however, was nothing more than a mass of tartar, which
" enveloped the teeth. He then attacked it with a hammer and chisel,
" and tlfe piece was sent to the Royal Academy of Surgery in 1789, where
u may be seen the tooth of the patient, and the error of the surgeon.''