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332 world's history and

SWITZERLAND.

(republic.)

Area, 15,992 square miles. Population, 2,917,740.
Capital, Bern; population, 46,000.
It affords us great pleasure to be able to give the following
sketch of dentistry in Switzerland, kindly contributed by Prof.
Dr. H. I.Billeter, Zurich:
" Dentistry has made in Switzerland nearly the same steps of
development as in other parts of Western Europe.
" The wars of the last centuries, the French revolution and
the campaigns of Napoleon!, were not favorable for the develop-
ment of our profession. So there were but few men occupied
with the practice of dentistry during the first half of the nine-
teenth century in Switzerland; in 1845 there were about twelve.
The operations consisted chiefly in drawing teeth; tooth-filling
was little thought of, and less resorted to, and performed with
rather imperfect instruments and material. The principal thing
done was putting in false teeth. Human teeth were fixed on
bases carved from the tusks of the hippopotamus, or the sea-horse,
or on stamped gold plates, or platinum, or silver. The artificial
teeth being at that time so imperfect, of a single color (brownish)
that they looked like coffee-beans. Later, as the artificial teeth
were improving in form and color and the quantity of human
teeth could not suppl)' the growing demand for artificial substi-
tutes, much bridge work was made, with golden bars, pins and
clasps, till the introduction of India rubber work displaced it for
a long period. All this was done with the utmost secrecy.
" In some of the cantons dentistry was free, every man could
practice it without license. In some others there existed a kind
of examination by a Board of medical men, who, of course, were
not competent in dentistry.
"But as time advanced dentistry advanced also. The dentists
multiplied, as the public more and more required their help. In
1862 I begun my first lectures on dentistry at the University of
Zurich. In the beginning these lectures were better calculated
for dental instruction of practicing physicians in the country
where no dental aid was to be found. In 1885 I was elected pro-
fessor of the dental specialty; and now, in the recently con-
structed building of the Policlinic, I shall have room for the
clinical instruction of dental students. But a technical school is