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136 HISTOEY OF DENTAL SURGERY
his 100,000 men entered Savannah, we were, by practical demonstration, better
informed. From daylight until dark our dental offices were besieged. The
cry was for relief from present suffering; 'Do something for my teeth that
will keep them from aching.' * * * Dental instruments were in great
demand, and a dental depot would have done a smashing business in Savannah
for a few days, at that time. Kow could there have been such a demand, if
there had not been a necessity?
"The innumerable quantity of broken teeth and fractured jaws produced
by bungling instruments and unfamiliar hands, along with stories of rheu-
matic and neuralgic suffering caused by exposed pulps and diseased teeth,
which we were obliged to listen to during the sojourn of the army in Savannah,
were disheartening, and we determined then, should an opportunity ever occur,
lo contribute our mite towards a remedy.
"We cannot but think our general medical director was remiss in his duty
in this respect. * * * At the north almost every state had its society.
The American Association and the American Convention were in full opera-
tion, besides three or four dental colleges, and as many dental journals; yet
with all this array of strength and talent we hear of little or no effort being
made for tlie end in view.
"With us in the south it was dift'erent. We had no dental society or
journal and, owing to the irregularity of the mails and stringency of conscrip-
tion, we could not act collectively, but had to do what we could individually.
As the war went on, and the call for men was renewed, and the conscription
increased to (men of the age of) fifty, we were thinned to almost a corporal's
guard. Many towns of several thousand inhabitants had no dentist.
"Tills state of affairs wrought a change little thought of. The incon-
venience and suffering was too great to be endured, and their appeals became
so numerous and urgent that the surgeon-general was obliged to recommend
the detailing of dentists for many towns and to hospitals.
"The hospital practice was productive of so much good that the appoint-
ment of a dentist to each regiment was strongly urged as a means of increas-
ing the active duty list of the army."
A memorial was presented to the Confederate government, of which the
following is an extract
Our own experience with soldiers, in and around Richmond during the last years,
in connection with the statements of some of the most intelligent physicians and
officers in the service, fully convinces us that out of every one hundred men sent to the
hospital, or those on the sick list—exclusive of those wounded in battle—five, at least,
136 HISTOEY OF DENTAL SURGERY
his 100,000 men entered Savannah, we were, by practical demonstration, better
informed. From daylight until dark our dental offices were besieged. The
cry was for relief from present suffering; 'Do something for my teeth that
will keep them from aching.' * * * Dental instruments were in great
demand, and a dental depot would have done a smashing business in Savannah
for a few days, at that time. Kow could there have been such a demand, if
there had not been a necessity?
"The innumerable quantity of broken teeth and fractured jaws produced
by bungling instruments and unfamiliar hands, along with stories of rheu-
matic and neuralgic suffering caused by exposed pulps and diseased teeth,
which we were obliged to listen to during the sojourn of the army in Savannah,
were disheartening, and we determined then, should an opportunity ever occur,
lo contribute our mite towards a remedy.
"We cannot but think our general medical director was remiss in his duty
in this respect. * * * At the north almost every state had its society.
The American Association and the American Convention were in full opera-
tion, besides three or four dental colleges, and as many dental journals; yet
with all this array of strength and talent we hear of little or no effort being
made for tlie end in view.
"With us in the south it was dift'erent. We had no dental society or
journal and, owing to the irregularity of the mails and stringency of conscrip-
tion, we could not act collectively, but had to do what we could individually.
As the war went on, and the call for men was renewed, and the conscription
increased to (men of the age of) fifty, we were thinned to almost a corporal's
guard. Many towns of several thousand inhabitants had no dentist.
"Tills state of affairs wrought a change little thought of. The incon-
venience and suffering was too great to be endured, and their appeals became
so numerous and urgent that the surgeon-general was obliged to recommend
the detailing of dentists for many towns and to hospitals.
"The hospital practice was productive of so much good that the appoint-
ment of a dentist to each regiment was strongly urged as a means of increas-
ing the active duty list of the army."
A memorial was presented to the Confederate government, of which the
following is an extract
Our own experience with soldiers, in and around Richmond during the last years,
in connection with the statements of some of the most intelligent physicians and
officers in the service, fully convinces us that out of every one hundred men sent to the
hospital, or those on the sick list—exclusive of those wounded in battle—five, at least,
