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244 THIRD PERIOD—MODERN TIMES

Art."^ The author, after having spoken of the divisions which the
practice of the medical art had undergone from the most remote times,
and after having alluded to the great number of parts into which Medicine
was divided in the time of Galen, adds: "Which may also be seen in
our own times, for as many as are the members of the human body, so
many are nowadays the various kinds of doctors and of medicines.
Some are for the teeth, some are for the ears, some for sexual maladies,
others are ordinary doctors, others cure cataracts, others ruptures and
stone, some make new ears, lips, noses, and others remedy harelips."
As, under the generic name of doctors, Cintio d'Amato also comprises
surgeons, it results from the above passage that in his time, that is, in
the seventeenth century, there were surgeons who dedicated themselves
specially to the treatment of the teeth; there were, in fact, dentists; and
even admitting that the greater number of these were no better than
simple tooth-pullers, this cannot be true of them all indiscriminately.
Cintio d'Amato's book demonstrates in the most vivid manner that even
among the barber and phlebotomist class, that is, among the practitioners
of minor surgery, there were, at that time, men of considerable culture.
This ought to hold good with still greater reason concerning surgeons,
whose professional level was certainly superior to that of barbers;" and
as dentists belonged to the class of surgeons (whence the denomination
still in use of "surgeon-dentist"), it is but natural to admit that besides
the ignorant tooth-puller there were even then more or less cultured
dentists well capable of treating dental diseases and performing dental
operations within the limits permitted by the knowledge of the times.
The six chapters in which Cintio d'Amato speaks of matters referring
to the teeth do not contain anything whatever of real importance; not-
withstanding this, we will here refer to the beginning of Chapter XXXIX,
treating "Of tartar and spots on the teeth," because it is of some his-
torical interest:

' The art of beautifying the human body was comprised by the ancients among the many
and various parts of the medical art, under the name oi decorative medicine. The barbers
considered themselves members of the medical class, as practitioners of decorative medicine
and in a certain degree also of surgery.
\n a chapter entitled "Of the Excellence and Nobility of the Barber's Office," Cintio
-'
d'Amato speaks of several barbers of that period, who were in great repute by their writings,
or by the high offices with which they were invested, or by honors received from princes and
sovereigns. Among the writers, Tiberio Malfi, barber of Montesarchio, deserves mention;
he published, in 1626, a book entitled The Barber, written in excellent style, and giving
proof of solid literary culture, and of much erudition. This work treats of all that
concerns the barber's art (decorative medicine, bleeding, etc.). In it, however, there is
absolutely nothing about the treatment of the teeth or their extraction; and this constitutes
a valid confirmation of our own opinion, that is, that the dental art was not at that time in
any way in the hands of the barbers.