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THE EIGHTHUNTH CENTURT 261

only tooth-pullers but also dentists properh so called. Indeed, Fauchard
makes mention also of the examination that aspirant dentists had to
undergo as far back as the year 1700. It nia\ interest our readers if
we here give in detail some extracts in which the author speaks on these
subjects:
"Although surgery in general," says Fauchard, "has been greath per-
fected in these latter times; although important discoveries have been
made in anatomy and in the modes of operating, and many learned
and interesting observations have been published, nevertheless, dentists
nowhere find in works on surger\- sufficient aids to guide them in all
their operations." These last words should be sufficient alone to prove
that the dentists spoken of b\- Fauchard were not mere tooth-pullers.
"The authors who have written on anatom\-, on surgical diseases and
operations, have only treated very superficially the part relating to maladies
of the mouth and teeth. If some w'riters have spoken in particular about
the teeth and their diseases, as, for instance, Urbain Hemard and B.
Martin, they have not done so in a sufficiently ample manner.
"Besides, there does not exist anv public or private course of surgery
in which the theory of dental maladies is amply taught and in which one
can receive fundamental instruction in this art, so necessary for the healing
of these maladies and of those of the neighboring parts.
"This branch of the art having been but little cultivated, if not wholl\-
abandoned by the most celebrated surgeons, their negligence has caused
it to fall into the hands of persons without theory and without experience,
who practise it in a haphazard fashion, guided neither by principles nor
method. In Paris, it is only since 1700 that people's eyes have become
opened to this abuse.
" In this town, those who intend to become dentists are now obliged
to undergo an examination, but although the examiners be most learned
and well versed in all the other parts of surger)-, I think, if I may be
allowed to express my opinion, that as they do not ordinarily them-
selves practise dental surgery, it would not be amiss on these occasions
to admit an able and experienced dentist, who might sound the aspirant
as to the difficulties which have come before him in the course of the long
practice of his art, and who could communicate to them the means of
surmounting them. In this wa\one would not have to acknowledge that
the attainment of the greater part of dental experts' is below mediocrity.
"To supply this want of instruction it would have been of great use
if some able dentist, for example the late Monsieur Carmeline, who, in
his day, practised with general applause, had made us acquainted with

' Experts pour les Dents.
I Ins was probabK' tin- nrlt- which was bestowed in the relative
diploma on those who passed the examination in <|uestion.