Biorned. 
 
 WU • 
 9 
 A934a 
 
 1874 
 
 G 000 005 893 3
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 DKTilVEKKD KKFORE THE 
 
 ^iiicrjraii ^tailfiiiji of |}ental jdcnte, 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING, 
 
 I^ELD IN ^OSTON, JSePT. 29, 1873, 
 
 BY 
 
 P. H. AUSTEN, M. A., M. D. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 I^K-INTED HY JAS. HARHIS & CO. 
 
 No. 19 Spring Lane. 
 1874.
 
 ADDRESS /^c. 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 ^nurudu ^aitemu 0! |}ental $deute. 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING, 
 
 ]4eld in Boston, ^^pt. 29, 1873, 
 
 BY 
 
 P. H. AUSTEN, M. A., M. D. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 JPR,IT>rTE13 BY J^^S. IiA.IlR,IS & CO, 
 
 No. 19 Spring Lane. 
 
 18 7-i.
 
 Boston, Sept. 29, 1873. 
 
 nn 
 
 Prof. P. H. Austen, — 
 
 Dear Sir: At the Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Academy of 
 Dental Science, held this day, in Uoston, it was unanimously 
 
 Rewlved, "That the hearty thanks of the Academy be presented to Prof. 
 P. H. Austen, of Baltimore, for his very able and excellent address, and 
 that a copy be requested for publication and for preservation in the archives 
 of the Academy." 
 
 Sincerely hoping that you will comply with this request, 
 I am, with high regard, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 EDWARD N. HARRIS, 
 
 Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 Baltimore, Dec. 18, 1873. 
 Dr. E. N. Harris, Cor. Sec^y American Academy of Dental Science, — 
 
 My Dear Sir : I must repeat to you my regret that the paper forwarded 
 for reading before your honorable Society was completed under circum- 
 stances of ill health, which forbade that full and careful treatment of my 
 subject originally intended. A recent relapse will prevent me, for I know 
 not how long, from sending you a revised copy for publication. 
 
 The original manuscript is, however, with all its deficiences, the property 
 of the Society. Should they think its publication calculated to elicit fuller 
 discussion of the very important subjects therein imperfectly presented, I 
 will not, in view of so desirable a result, urge any objection. 
 
 Believe me ever, with high regard for yourself and your fellow Academ- 
 icians, 
 
 Very sincerelv vours, 
 
 P. H. AUSTEN.
 
 ADDR ESS 
 
 Mr. Pvesklent and Fellows of the American Academy of 
 Dental Science : 
 
 Medicixe is as old as liumau disease, which it seeks to 
 cure ; and Mechanism dates as far ]:>ack as the wants of 
 mankind, to which it ministers. 
 
 Youngest born of these two is Dentistry, bearing more 
 distinctly than any known art the impress of its double 
 lineage. For what branch of Medical Art so dependent 
 upon mechanical genius ; and what branch of Mechanism so 
 directly addressed to the relief of those ills which human 
 flesh is heir to ? 
 
 The childhood of Dentistiy has been unfortunate, in that, 
 while disowned by one parent, it has been taught to look 
 down upon the other. For Medicine, in all ages, has been 
 prone to despise Hand-craft, as beneath the attention of 
 those wlio claim that, by pure mi<>ht of intellect, they can 
 conquer the many-headed hydra — Disease. But medical 
 practice is no longer the unit it once was ; and the ' ' Fam- 
 ily Physician" is soon destined to become an institution 
 of the past. 
 
 As the centuries roll on, the boundaries of Science and 
 Art are enlarged, but the measure of indiyidual capacity 
 remains the same. Hence, Medical Practice diyides and
 
 6 
 
 subdivicles, in order to the fullest deYelopment of its several 
 departments . 
 
 The ph^'sieian has no longer time for Pharmacy or Sur- 
 gery ; nor dare he hereafter affect to despise Arts quite 
 as essential to life as his own advice and prescription. 
 Even this advice, to be most effective, grows out of the 
 special study of separate organs. 
 
 Thus the Body Medical, like the human body which it 
 studies, is composed of man}^ members. " The eye can no 
 longer say to the hand, I have no need of thee;" for so 
 close is this union, that when one member sufters, all must 
 suffer ; and when one is honored, all should rejoice. Why 
 in this great family of the ]\Iedical Arts is young Dentistry- 
 so neglected and excluded from the family circle ? Partly 
 because he don't like his books, and this family is proud 
 of its intellect and high education ; partly because he is too 
 fond of his grandfather's workshop. 
 
 The first is a grave fault, to be hereafter noticed ; but is 
 the second a just ground of reproach ? Shall we stigmatize 
 Dentistiy, born in this 19th century — the century of in- 
 vention — for having so large an element of mechanism? 
 Gentlemen of this Academy, guardians of Dentistry, (as 
 A^et a minor) , do you also share in this one-sided pride of 
 lineage? If Mechanism, j)er se, is discreditable, so is Den- 
 tistry ; for it is its very life blood. As well might a man be 
 ashamed of his own mother. 
 
 I have elsewhere divided Dental Art into Medical, Sur- 
 gical, and Prosthetic. The two first connect it with the
 
 healing art, and demand a medical education ;'bnt the char- 
 acteristic element of Dentistry is its Prosthetics, — just as 
 Therapeutics is the specific function of the l^hysician. To 
 remove diseased structure, and replace it Avith gold, — to 
 remove diseased organs, and replace them with porcelain, — 
 is the work Avhich demands nine-tenths of the dentist's time ; 
 success in which gives him his reputation. 
 
 You may call the one Operative Dentistr}^, and the other 
 Mechanical Dentistry, if you choose ; but each consists in a 
 series of operations, and both are purely mechanical manipu- 
 lations of material, by means of instruments ; both, also, 
 are acts of replacement. I think it, therefore, more exact 
 and descriptive to subdivide the peculiar work of Dentistry 
 into — Structural and Organic Prothesis. 
 
 Both are so difficult, that highest excellence in either 
 department is rare, and scarceh^ ever do we meet with a 
 " double first class." Hence, the practice of Dentistry is 
 itself subdivided, following the example of its parent art. 
 But subdivision does not imply less honor in the pursuit, so 
 long as we recognize, in preparation for it, the necessity of 
 a knowledge of the whole art of which it forms a part. 
 
 This brings us to the only valid objection against the 
 recognition of Dentistry as a specialty of Medicine. If it 
 be true that dentists, as a class, have a more defective 
 education than other specialists ; if it be true that a large 
 number of recognized members of the Dental profession 
 have no medical education whatever, there is good reason 
 for this hesitancv.
 
 8 
 
 Is Dentistry, then, a liberal profession ? Yes, certainlvy 
 if the majority of its members are men of liberal education. 
 Medicine numbers among its practitioners very many half- 
 educated and not a few wholly ignorant men. But such are 
 not the men who to-day control that profession; or who, in 
 the past, have given it dignity and reputation. 
 
 I have already intimated that Dentists are too prone to 
 spend in mechanical details time which should be given to 
 study, and to adopt the popular error that a "mechanical 
 turn" is the one grand element of success. It is indeed a 
 si7ie qua non, without which the selection of the Dental 
 branch of medicine would be a sad waste of eifort. But 
 skill without education, art without science, cannot be called 
 a Profession — I mean in the modern sense in which that 
 term is applied to Law, Medicine, and the Ministry. 
 
 How shall we separate from the mass of those who call 
 themselves Dentists such as may justly claim to be members 
 of the profession of Dentistry, and, by virtue of this claim, 
 members also of the Medical profession? This is the most 
 imperative, as it is the most difficult, duty which to-day lies 
 before this Academy. Effort in this direction must be co- 
 operative : it must also be harmonious. 
 
 Personally you are each responsible for your individual 
 reputation ; personally, however, you can do no more than 
 add a unit to the collective reputation of the profession. 
 But, by associate action, you can decide who shall unite 
 wit;h you in establishing a general professional character. 
 
 Dental societies, associations, and academies have here-
 
 9 
 
 tofore suffered other and less important objects to engross 
 the hours of conference. Undoul^tedly much good has been 
 done l)y such meetings. But to what purpose do you im- 
 prove the tiehl of your hil)ors unless you tirst enclose it, 
 and have a well guarded entrance ? What harvest can ]:>e 
 gathered on an open common? 
 
 Gentlemen, I call upon you, first of all, to establish your 
 metes and bounds, and enclose your domain; for then, 
 and only then, can you hope to reap the fruit of your toil. 
 Then, with some hope of general adoption, can you frame a 
 code of professional ethics, and encourage gentlemen to 
 enter the profession by guaranteeing them the courtesy due 
 to gentlemen. Then can you establish a higher standard of 
 work than cheapness, and bring about a more generous 
 rivalry than underbidding and defamation. For you well 
 know that there is a large class whose actions, unnecessary 
 to be here specified, gTeatly damage the character of the pro- 
 fession which it is your pride to honor. You must exclude 
 or reform them — and that by no half-way measures — or you 
 must fall to their level. 
 
 You must also establish a Dental Literature. I do not 
 mean text books, although these might be increased in num- 
 ber, and, in some departments of the art, greatly improved. 
 I do not refer to so-called Dental journals, which, for the 
 most part, are chiefly advertising media of depots or col- 
 leges. Xow and then we find in them an excellent article ; 
 but alas I what an iteration, ad nauseam, of experiences,
 
 10 
 
 which a little more reading, study, and general education 
 might have spared both writer and readers I 
 
 I speak of thouohtful and well written monographs and 
 treatises, which shall not only interest the dental, but 
 command the notice and approval of the medical profession ; 
 articles, showing that there are able and experienced men in 
 your profession willing to spend some hours for its advance- 
 ment, not measured by the golden rule of the operating 
 chair. 
 
 Making ample allowance for difference in the number of 
 physicians and dentists, Ave are forced to the conclusion that 
 Dentistry is the least literary of all the departments of Med- 
 icine. Let us charitably attribute this to the modesty of a 
 young profession, and hope for better da3^s. 
 
 A much neglected yet most important element of Dental 
 art is its ^"Esthetics. It is a fact, much to the discredit of 
 the profession, that many forms of great beauty in ceramic 
 art lie in dental depots unsought for, because of the inca- 
 pacity of dentists to appreciate and use them. Thus artistic 
 genius is repressed in its efforts to benefit Dentistry, and 
 the Art itself suffers in reputation, because it seems to be 
 incapable of what it can really accomplish. Take this in 
 connection with one other fact — that second and third rate 
 appai-atus, implements, and materials find more ready sale 
 than lirst class and higher priced ones — and we are brought 
 to the melancholy conclusion that not only is there too little 
 Science amono^ dentists, but that the much boasted "Art
 
 11 
 
 and skill " which is to take precedence of all other (jualifi- 
 cation, is really not of the highest order. 
 
 I frravelv doubt if the averao^e mechanical skill exercised 
 in dental offices and laboratories would l)e tolerated for a 
 day in any machine-shop in the land. When I said that in 
 mechanism ^er se there Avas nothing degrading, I referred to 
 no such work as this. For there is here an incompetence 
 or a neglect Avhich has nothing to excuse or redeem it, and 
 which is, in the highest degree, disgraceful. It argues 
 nothing against the Dental profession to condemn such 
 workers, for they do not l^elong to it. 
 
 I have reserved for hnal consideration the duty of your 
 Academy in the matter of Dental Education ; for in this 
 work the Academies and Societies of the profession must 
 take the lead, — the Colleges play only a subordinate part, 
 however important. ^Misapprehension on this point has led 
 some of the best men of the profession to censure our col- 
 leofes with undue severitv. 
 
 They have done great good, and their teachers have gen- 
 erously given a vast amount of time, thought, and labor to 
 the cause of education. I say given; for the compensation, 
 as compared with that awarded to dental services, has ever 
 been paltry,, and has often been in the form of actual loss. 
 Had those who blame been half so faithful to their office 
 students, as college professors to theirs, the schools would 
 have had better material to deal with. Had societies en- 
 forced compliance with the standard of the colleges, low as 
 it is, we should to-day have had a far higher standard of
 
 12 
 
 professional education. As it is, the better half of the 
 young men of the profession owe more to the colleges, than 
 to any other single influence. 
 
 Although therefore not failures, in that they have done 
 much good, yet must we Avrite on the walls of our colleges 
 the sad word " tekel." They have been " weighed in the 
 balances, and found wanting," not only because unsustained, 
 but because organized after the model of American Medical 
 schools. ^Medicine gains no honor through the average 
 medical graduate ; and more credit is given to the average 
 dental graduate, only because so mau}^ dentists lack even 
 that amount of preparation. 
 
 The American physician supplements the defect of his 
 education by walking the hospitals of England and Europe. 
 But American dentistry so far excels the transatlantic in 
 her Prosthetics, that Europe comes here to learn. Where, 
 then, can we go to make up our shortcomings in the other 
 branches of Dental Education ? I answer : by remodelling 
 the entire s^^stem of dental instruction. 
 
 All Dental Colleges south of Boston are organized upon 
 the plan of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, ta 
 whose principal founder. President Chapin A." Hakkls, the 
 profession is so greatly indebted. You will, I trust, acquit 
 me of disparagement or disrespect to my college, the Alma 
 Mater of some meml)ers of this Academy, if I tell you what 
 I think are the grave defects of this organization, as time 
 and experience have revealed them. 
 
 First, then : it receives students without preliminary ex-
 
 13 
 
 amination. Xo literary college does this ; aud no pro- 
 fessioual school can do it, without gross injustice to itself. 
 It is hard enough to be compelled to crowd four years' 
 teaching into eight months. . But when the recipients of this 
 teaching have no trained habits of study ; know nothing of 
 the fu'st elements of science, and have not even such slight 
 knowledge of Latin and Greek as enables them to under- 
 stand the necessary technicalities of Medicine, — then is 
 the work of instruction worse than Egyptian bondage ; 
 it is, truly, "making bricks without straw." 
 
 Secondly : it examines for graduation after two terms of 
 study. So much has been said upon this point, that I shall 
 dismiss it Avith one remark. The profession that tolerates, 
 for its raw recruits, less than four years of diligent study 
 (mark me, I do not mean simply four courses of lectures), 
 must be content to allow its colleges to send out many grad- 
 uates imperfectly prepared to enter its ranks. 
 
 Thirdly : the Faculty are the Examiners for graduation. 
 One of three evils is unavoidable. The professor must hold 
 himself sternly aloof from his pupils, thus loosing one of 
 the most effective aids to his teaching — tlie friendly word 
 of advice and encouragement. Or he must do grievous 
 violence to his feelings by rejecting those, whose struggling 
 progress he has watched and aided with such interest. Or 
 he must risk the character of the profession and of his 
 school by giving honor to those unworthy of it. 
 
 No teacher should be placed in this dilemma. The Eng- 
 lish examiner gets handsomely out of it, by retiring from the
 
 14 
 
 room, if the student chances to be even socially and ever 
 so slightly kno>Yn to him. I commend the English custom 
 for American adoption, well satisfied that, until exammers 
 and teachers are totally distinct bodies, no diploma can be 
 quite clear fi*om suspicion of partialit3\ 
 
 It is said that Faculties are afraid to be rigid in examina- 
 tion, for fear students will prefer a more lenient school. 
 Tli^^^e sooner such a school ceases to have graduates the bet- 
 ter. But gentlemen, in justice to students, permit me to 
 give, as the result of my twenty years' experience, that all 
 students, who deserve the name, respect and love most those 
 teachers who put them through the severest drill. 
 
 To the Boston Faculty of Dentistry I tender this word of 
 advice : Be as radical in your profession as you were in your 
 politics. Refusing to compromise with slaver}^ you, with a 
 high hand, abolished it. Do not, then, be yourselves slaves 
 to the past, through timid fear of the consequences of radi- 
 cal innovation. As Alumni of the Baltimore School, give 
 your Alma ]\Iater all honor for what she has done, but do 
 not copy her mistakes. 
 
 Thirt^^-three years is an average human life, but a very 
 short period in the existence of a profession. Dental edu- 
 cation may, without shame, confess the errors of its infancy, 
 especially if this confession throws light upon the pathway 
 of the future. The new experiment can come from no city 
 with better grace, than from the modern Athens. 
 
 May I, gentlemen of the College and the Academy, wish- 
 ing heartily success to your eftbrts, offer for your considera- 
 tion a few parting words.
 
 V) 
 
 Under the shadow of old Harvtird, do not make your 
 connection with her Faculty a pretence and a sham by 
 accepting students, who haA'e not pursued an honoral^le 
 course of literary study. 
 
 Working in harmou}' with the ]Medical School, do not dis- 
 honor your specialty b}^ accepting from your graduates any 
 lower grade of medical knowledge, than is required for the 
 occulist, aurist, or general surgeon. 
 
 Build up for Dentistry what other departments of Medi- 
 cine possess in their magniticent hospitals, asylums, and 
 infirmaries. For medical education is rapidly resolving 
 itself into clinical instruction in specialties. The time, I 
 think, is not very distant when a rigorous examination in 
 the science of general medicine will be demanded as essen- 
 tial to admission to the wards of all hospitals for specific 
 diseases, and when years spent in the best of such institu- 
 tions will be the only recognized qualification for the practice 
 of any medical specialty. 
 
 If the College will thus acquit itself, and the Academy 
 will labor in connection with other societies in the States for 
 the establishment of a " Supreme Court," whose decisions 
 as to professional character shall be final — Dentistry will 
 enter upon its manhood under auspices which will attract 
 her right proportion of the genius, talent, and energy of 
 the country, and will reflect back upon her nieml)ers the 
 honor and dignity which she receives from them.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-116?n-8,'62(D1237s8)444