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4 PATHOLOGY OF THE HABD TISSUES OF THE TEETH.

based, while making progress, has not yet assumed any such
exactness of definition as to be of immediate use in practice.
In the technical procedures in filling teeth, the details of the
adaptation of instruments to the work of cavity preparation
have been brought into close systematization through notes of
practical work at the chair representing actual operative experi-
ence. This has been expressed in forms of nomenclature that are
simple, systematic and effective in teaching, in pointing out defi-
nitely the instruments for use and the manner of use of each.
Every detail of cavity form is systematized and brought under
a system of nomenclature comprised under a very few efficient
rules, which render it simple and effective for teaching purposes
and for general use by practitioners of dentistrj\ All of this has
been systematized and improved through many years of actual
work in teaching and has proven sufficiently flexible to cover all
kinds and varieties of cases presented. The careful classifica-
tion of cavities and of instrument forms adapted to each make it
possible to teach cavity preparation in a way that it is easily
learned; cavities may be more easily prepared, the time con-
sumed is shortened, the operation is more definite in its results.
Taken altogether, these mark an improvement in the effective-
ness of operative dentistry.
Improvements that seem to have been but little thought of
heretofore have been made subjects of careful study and system-
atization. Operative dentistry, particularly when closely pursued
for years together, is extremely taxing upon the nervous system
of the operator, and many men break themselves down purely
through assuming positions at the chair that are unnecessarily
fatiguing. This arises from assuming wrong positions in the
beginning and the failure to obtain that relief which is clearly
and easily possible by change and the rest that change brings,
without ceasing or slowing the work at the chair. Systematization
of these matters and bringing them under forms of nomenclature
in which they may be taught and discussed understandingly
should result in great good.
Dentistry has its own nomenclature which has become dis-
tinct from the nomenclature of comparative dental anatomy.
The nomenclature of dental anatomy from the standpoint of
dentistry and of operative dentistry belongs distinctively to
dentistry, and should in no case be confounded with the nomen-
clature of comparative dental anatomy, nor the one used in the
place of the other, nor should any effort be made to harmonize
them. When the human teeth are under consideration from the