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HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGERY 189

was maligned."" (Meaning the jn'actice of making "face fillings"" instead of
''contour fillings. '")
The paper was long and cannot be fully represented in a sentence or two.
Toward the end Dr. Allan said: "I am ready, though, to say that where all
indications are favorable, contour work is theoretically and practically the
best."' There was a long discussion, participated in by Drs. A. W. Harlan, of
Chicago ; V. N . Pierce, of Philadelphia W. H. Atkinson, H. J. McKellops, of
;
St. Louis; L. D. Shepard, of Boston; Stockton, of New Jersey; W. C. Barrett,
of Burt'alo: G. L. Curtis, of Syracuse; R. Ottolengui, S. C. G. Watkins,
S. G. Perry, and W. H. Dwindle. The latter claimed the honor of being
the "first contourist ever born." He said: "In this book, the 'Amer-
ican Journal of Dental Science' of 18.5.5, I advocated the use of a
plastic gold originated and developed by Dr. Watts and myself, by
and with which I was enabled to construct contour fillings for
the first time in the history of our profession. * * * The first
contour fillings I ever saw were illustrated and described in this book. I
had the good fortune to engrave the illustrations myself, and can vouch for
their correctness. I early recognized the great truth that the nearer we get to
nature the nearer we ajiproach to perfection. * * * When we undertake
to say that contour fillings are against the principles of nature, or that it is
not good doctrine to advocate them, we are getting just as far away from
nature and her examples."' All of the men (previously mentioned) who dis-
cussed the paper, with possibly one exception, contended iov the importance
of preserving or restoring the natural fonns of the teeth and that this ideal
should he al)andoned only when circumstances or conditions made its attain-
ment quite impracticable, instead of being yielded frequently, or even com-
monlv, as the essayist seemed to advocate. It seems a little strange that of
"the great body of the profession" whom the essayist said practiced the making
of "face fillings"' only one should have appeared in the discussion to advocate
them.
At the Midwinter Fair Dental Congress in San Francisco, in 1804, ("Cos-
mos,"" Vol. XXXVI, p. 823) Dr. E. A. Lundy of Hong Kong, China, read a
paper in which the full contouring of fillings and crowns was advocated from
the point of view of the protection of the interproximate gum.

PEEPAKATIOX OF CAVITIES—ENAMEL MARGIX8.
In 1891 there appeared in the "Cosmos," a series of five articles iiy Dr. G. V.
Black of Jacksonville, Illinois, on "The Management of Enamel Margins."