Page 9 - My FlipBook
P. 9
uw.i.edical
Library
PREFACE.
The idea of writing a History of Dentistr\- first suggested itself to
me ten years ago, when I was charged by the Organizing Committee of
the Eleventh International Congress of Medicine with the reproduction
and description of all the appliances of ancient dental prosthesis existing
in the museums of Italy.
The highh- interesting researches in which I then became engaged
in order to carry out worthiK' the important mission intrusted to me,
awoke in me the desire to gain still further acquaintance with all that
relates to dental art in the time of the ancients. I was thus urged on to
ever fresh efforts, not only in the discovery of prosthetic appliances and
other objects of ancient dentistry, but in the study, as well, of dental
literature and of all the written matter that might throw light on dentistry
in past ages.
This subject has already occupied many before me, and each one has
brought to it his contribution of greater or less value, some in the form
of short pamphlets, others in that of larger works.
The end I proposed to myself was to write a History of Dentistry
which should be much more complete, more circumstantial, and more
exact than those published hitherto, and which, instead of being, as are
many of these works, simply a compilation, should represent, at least in
part, the fruits of personal research and scrupulous examination of a
vast number of w^orks of various kinds containing elements utilizable
for the purpose.
The first part of my work, which I now offer to the public, comprises
the remote origin of Dentistry and its development throughout the ages
as far as the end of the eighteenth century. In a short time I hope to
publish the second part of it, viz., the History of Dentistr\- during the
last hundred years.
I have carefully collected the greatest possible number of historical data,
keeping in view the consideration that some facts, although of little value
in themselves, may possess a certain importance for the student desirous
of procuring historical information relating to some particular point of
dental science.
If this book should, as I hope it may, contribute to the diffusion of
exact historical knowledge as to the origin and gradual development
of dentistry, my labor will not have been lost, for it will have realized
the object, a highly practical one, which has guided me in writing it.
ViNCENZO GUERINI.
471
^w-^
Library
PREFACE.
The idea of writing a History of Dentistr\- first suggested itself to
me ten years ago, when I was charged by the Organizing Committee of
the Eleventh International Congress of Medicine with the reproduction
and description of all the appliances of ancient dental prosthesis existing
in the museums of Italy.
The highh- interesting researches in which I then became engaged
in order to carry out worthiK' the important mission intrusted to me,
awoke in me the desire to gain still further acquaintance with all that
relates to dental art in the time of the ancients. I was thus urged on to
ever fresh efforts, not only in the discovery of prosthetic appliances and
other objects of ancient dentistry, but in the study, as well, of dental
literature and of all the written matter that might throw light on dentistry
in past ages.
This subject has already occupied many before me, and each one has
brought to it his contribution of greater or less value, some in the form
of short pamphlets, others in that of larger works.
The end I proposed to myself was to write a History of Dentistry
which should be much more complete, more circumstantial, and more
exact than those published hitherto, and which, instead of being, as are
many of these works, simply a compilation, should represent, at least in
part, the fruits of personal research and scrupulous examination of a
vast number of w^orks of various kinds containing elements utilizable
for the purpose.
The first part of my work, which I now offer to the public, comprises
the remote origin of Dentistry and its development throughout the ages
as far as the end of the eighteenth century. In a short time I hope to
publish the second part of it, viz., the History of Dentistr\- during the
last hundred years.
I have carefully collected the greatest possible number of historical data,
keeping in view the consideration that some facts, although of little value
in themselves, may possess a certain importance for the student desirous
of procuring historical information relating to some particular point of
dental science.
If this book should, as I hope it may, contribute to the diffusion of
exact historical knowledge as to the origin and gradual development
of dentistry, my labor will not have been lost, for it will have realized
the object, a highly practical one, which has guided me in writing it.
ViNCENZO GUERINI.
471
^w-^
