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HISTORY OF DENTAL SURGERY 329

The "Cosmos" ior June, 1887, says Dr. La Roche, of the First District
Dental Society of ISTew York, presented affidavit to the effect that he had used
a rubber dam as early as 1857, but he did not claim that he had made any effort
to make the discovery known to the profession except his own students. This
attempt to claim the honors previously given to Dr. Barnum proved entirely
futile and brought only condemnation instead, which the profession rightly
judged any man to deserve who should discover anything so valuable as the
rubber dam and selfishly keep it to himself instead of publishing it for the use
of the profession. The rightful and sensible rule in these matters is that the
honors belong to the man or men who are iirst instrumental in bringing some-
thing new and valuable into use by the profession.

CUTTING AND DRILLING INSTRUMENTS.
In the early days, before the establishment of dental supply houses, den-
tists used very few forms of instruments compared to the number used now
by every practitioner, and many made their own, or at least repointed them
whenever they became worn. I have heard my preceptor say that in his early
practice he prepared cavities with a few simple forms of hatchet, hoe and
?hisel excavators, and hand drills, and tilled tlicni (with soft gold foil), using
batchet excavators similar to those used for cutting the cavities, having the
cutting edges blunted and smoothed so as to carry the gold forward without
cutting it. 1 "From the straight, chisel-shaped excavator and scaler of old
to the modern burring engine is a wide space for progress and evolution ; yet
there are, in that history, only four divisions or principles of mechanical ac-
tion to be considered— 1, simple hand cutters and drills; 2, automatically,
rotating drills driven by hand power; 3, the same driven by foot-power; and
4, the same with the power also automatic."
In the first variety, of hand instruments, tliere has been a \ery great in-
crease in the variety of forms and sizes, and what is of more importance, a
greater exactness of nianufactiire, so that now when an instniment becomes
worn it can be exactly replaced, either by a new one or by repointing the old.
Another "principal difference between the cutters of now and then is in the
fact that, where now each instrument is made in one piece, it was then the
mode to have each tool separate, but all fitting into one handle, which was
generally of different material from the implement, as wood, bone, ivory, or
mother of pearl. The last two were in the greatest demand, and were often

History of Dental and Oral Science in America.