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HISTOKY OF DENTAL SUEGEKY 137

can be traced diieetly, or indirectly, to some derangement of the teeth that might have
been remedied in a few minutes or hours. Thus we have of one hundred thousand men,
five thousand unnecessarily off duty. Now this five thousand in every hundred thou-
sand might be returned to active duty, or prevented from leaving it, by the appoint-
ment of a few dentists, say one to every army division.
Tlie end of the Confederacy came, and with the other "lost cause" this
effort also went into oblivion.
From that time until after the close of the Spanish war and the Philippine
insurrection, the attention of congress was occasionally called to this subject
in a desultory and spasmodic, but ineffective, manner, \intil finally, in 1901,
congress autliorized a corps of contract dental surgeons and attached the same
to the medical department of the army.
The very interesting and exhaustive account of the work of this corps
written by Dr. J. S. Marshall on the following pages, gives a complete history
of this governmental recognition of the profession of dentistry, and its use-
fulness as a factor in the preparations for war and as contributory to the main-
tenance and effectiveness of the firing line.
While, perhaps, it may be humiliating to the professional pride of dentists
that its representatives serving with the army have not yet been given the
social standing, rank and emoluments of officers of the army, yet the profes-
sion has reason to feel very proud that the small band of its members who
have labored with the army have everywhere received the commendation of
commanding officers and superior medical officers, as well as the gratitude of
the rank and file, for their efficient services. There can be no doubt that at
an early date the congi-ess of the United States of America will establish, botli
in the army and navy, corps of dental surgeons, thus taking pre-eminence
among the nations of the world, in the solicitous care bestowed upon the preser-
vation of the teeth of its soldiers and sailors, in proper keeping and accord
with the pre-eminence of the development and skill attained by the dental
profession of this country.

THE UNITED STATES AEMY DENTAL CORPS.
By John S. Marshall, M. D.
Examining Dental Surgeon of the Army.
For many years the dental profession has realized the fact that the benefits
of scientific dental surgery should be extended to the officers and enlisted
men of the armies and navies of all civilized nations, for the reason that