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REVIEW OF DENTISTRY. 225

was introduced for the first time and some attempts made at
treatment of diseased teeth. However, it must be admitted that
any aching tooth was generally extracted and dental prosthesis
confined to the making of rubber work.
In August of 1885, the writer came to Asuncion and remained
five months, and started to practice by condemning the wholesale
extraction of teeth and introduced the crown, the bridge, regu-
lating operations and, in short, all that now constitutes modern
dentistry. Leaving Asuncion in December of 1885, he was
obliged to return in 1887, owing to ill health, and so decided to
establish himself, being the first regularly established North
American dentist in Paraguay.
Barbers, blacksmiths and quacks, generally, are still permitted
to mutilate the human mouth and call themselves dentists. They
have acquired rights, vested interests, and cannot be disturbed in
the exercise of these rights, but all new-comers must submit to
the following laws if they would practice medicine or any of its
specialties:
The candidate presenting the diploma for endorsement and
soliciting examination must be examined by the Medical Faculty
of the University of Paraguay. It is a regular medical examina-
tion, theoretical and practical. (I know of but one who has suc-
ceeded in passing it since the establishment of the Faculty.) He
must operate on the cadaver, or the living subject, and if he has
a specialty as oculist, or aurist, or dentist, he must, in addition to
the medical examination, be examined by an expert in the
specialty to w hich he intends to devote himself in Paraguay.
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Owing to the severe financial crisis from which the country is
suffering, a lack of funds has caused the closing of the medical
school and the Faculty is, at present, doing little more than to
examine candidates for practice.
One of them has started a weekly paper, called the Mentor of
Hygiene.
The Board of Health is still in existence, and when a candi-
date for practice has passed the Faculty, they notify the Board of
Health, but this is merely a matter of courtesy to the Board of
Health. It does not confer any special powers upon it.
The new law is still (January, 1893,) in manuscript, but will
soon be printed.
According to the new tax laws the professional dentist must
pay S200 a year for the privilege of treating the Paraguayan
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