Page 191 - My FlipBook

HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGERY 159

tlie medical public, * * * b^t in fact, with the exception of Mr. Bell's
admirable work, the books which have been published for some years past,
have been onlj' literary advertisements to the public in general, to whom they
have been most commonly addressed."
At the close of his preface Snell says "he has given Mr. Weiss in the Strand
the patterns of all his instruments, * * * but enthusiastically desirous of
diffusing information and improvement, he takes this opportunity of saying
that it will at all times give him pleasure to show to any respectable member
of the profession, the whole of his apparatus. He feels, and he wishes to
impress that feeling on his professional brethern, that it is by liberal con-
duct alone that either the art or the artists can become respectable. Mystery
and empiricism will degrade both the one and the other."
The book contains about 200 pages, tifty of which are devoted to extracting
teeth and matters relating to it. The author prefers forceps for extracting al-
most all teeth, but admits that skill and much experience in their use are requi-
site, and in the absence of that he advises the use of the key for extracting the
bicuspids and molars. It is interesting to note that he regards the key as the
modern instrument and the forceps the ancient one, having been used and de-
scribed by Celsus and being comparatively little improved since his time. He
says: "In this country (England), during the last century, the use of the for-
ceps, in extracting the back teeth, appears to have been in a great measure dis-
continued in favor of the key instrument, until the former method was brought
again into notice by Mr. Cartwriglit." He says in another place : "As, howevei',
but few persons enjoy the opjiortunity of acquiring the perfect mastery of the
forceps, it will be prudent in tb.e majority of practitioners to resort to the
use of the key." Snell himself seldom had recourse to the key, preferring the
forceps because they give less pain than any other instrument and ai"e lial)le
to fewer accidents. He had a good variety of forms and was careful to have
them shaped most suitably for the special iises of each ; in particular the
beaks, or "chops" were carefully fitted to the necks of the classes of teeth
they were severally used to extract. He says: "The dentist should pay the
most minute attention to the construction of his forceps. Whenever I have
had a new set made, either for myself or a friend, I have invariably ordered
them to be delivered in the rough, in order that I might myself do that wbicli
I have never yet found an instrument maker would do—render them exactlv
what they ought to be."
The author has a short chapter on mouth mirrors, and after describing those
sold to dentists, consisting of an oval piece of looking glass set in a silver frame