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388 HISTORY OF DENTAL SUEGERY —
it will find its limitations, will depend, as in the practice of every other
specialty, on the inclination and capabilities of the practitioner.
"If, as suggested by the London 'Lancet,' it fuids its boundary in 'stopping
and extracting teeth,"—limited to a routine of mere mechanical manipula-
tion,—the attempt to appropriate on such a basis of work or merit the honors
of a learned profession is simply to court ridicule : while, on the other hand,
to attempt to be an oral surgeon without the foundation of a medical educa-
tion is neither more nor less than quackery. The 'Lancet,' familiar apparently
with only that class of dentists who are known among us as 'tooth carpenters,'
is astonished when a dentist aspires to do anything higher than 'to stop and to
extract teeth.' Query. Is London dentistry not yet beyond the days of
Pare? But, though unknown to the 'Lancet' there are in England, as well
as in this country-, those in the dental profession not unknown to fame
men who have earned, by study and practice, the title of oral surgeon; whose
experience and proficiency in the treatment—medical, surgical, artistic and
mechanical—of all lesions of the oral cavity entitle them to a name indicative
of special knowledge and sk'Il equally with those to whom are freely accorded
the titles of aural or ophthalmic surgeons. * * *
"If the student of today is willing that his professional sphere shall find
its limitations inside the lines which bounded our predecessors, he has not
comprehended the meaning of the doctorate which is the object of his ambi-
tion. The standard is being steadily elevated, whether the profession is or
not, and the man who is under measure must give way.
"It must not be inferred that the change prophesied is to he expected this
week or nest, nor without discouragements and opposition,—such is common
history ; but that dentistry, or oral surgery, as we prefer to call it, is to be
universally recognized as a specialty of medicine, and its capable practitioners
as worthy of the highest honors, we are quite confident, notwithstanding the
query, 'What is meant by this new specialty ?'
An editorial in the same journal on page (640) is devoted to a reply to
a criticism contained in the ''Philadelphia Medical Times," in which that paper,
as one of its objections to oral surgery, uses this language : "There is a fur-
ther argument against oral surgery as a specialty, because 'it has no natural
boundaries to limit it ;' for, 'This very day, chancing to be at the clinic' of
the lecturer upon oral surgery at the University of Pennsylvania we saw pres-
ent three cases, two of which were tumors on the head. What does this prove,
except the advantage of such a general medical education as will qualify for the
practice of any branch? One who makes oral surgery a specialty, need not,
388 HISTORY OF DENTAL SUEGERY —
it will find its limitations, will depend, as in the practice of every other
specialty, on the inclination and capabilities of the practitioner.
"If, as suggested by the London 'Lancet,' it fuids its boundary in 'stopping
and extracting teeth,"—limited to a routine of mere mechanical manipula-
tion,—the attempt to appropriate on such a basis of work or merit the honors
of a learned profession is simply to court ridicule : while, on the other hand,
to attempt to be an oral surgeon without the foundation of a medical educa-
tion is neither more nor less than quackery. The 'Lancet,' familiar apparently
with only that class of dentists who are known among us as 'tooth carpenters,'
is astonished when a dentist aspires to do anything higher than 'to stop and to
extract teeth.' Query. Is London dentistry not yet beyond the days of
Pare? But, though unknown to the 'Lancet' there are in England, as well
as in this country-, those in the dental profession not unknown to fame
men who have earned, by study and practice, the title of oral surgeon; whose
experience and proficiency in the treatment—medical, surgical, artistic and
mechanical—of all lesions of the oral cavity entitle them to a name indicative
of special knowledge and sk'Il equally with those to whom are freely accorded
the titles of aural or ophthalmic surgeons. * * *
"If the student of today is willing that his professional sphere shall find
its limitations inside the lines which bounded our predecessors, he has not
comprehended the meaning of the doctorate which is the object of his ambi-
tion. The standard is being steadily elevated, whether the profession is or
not, and the man who is under measure must give way.
"It must not be inferred that the change prophesied is to he expected this
week or nest, nor without discouragements and opposition,—such is common
history ; but that dentistry, or oral surgery, as we prefer to call it, is to be
universally recognized as a specialty of medicine, and its capable practitioners
as worthy of the highest honors, we are quite confident, notwithstanding the
query, 'What is meant by this new specialty ?'
An editorial in the same journal on page (640) is devoted to a reply to
a criticism contained in the ''Philadelphia Medical Times," in which that paper,
as one of its objections to oral surgery, uses this language : "There is a fur-
ther argument against oral surgery as a specialty, because 'it has no natural
boundaries to limit it ;' for, 'This very day, chancing to be at the clinic' of
the lecturer upon oral surgery at the University of Pennsylvania we saw pres-
ent three cases, two of which were tumors on the head. What does this prove,
except the advantage of such a general medical education as will qualify for the
practice of any branch? One who makes oral surgery a specialty, need not,
