Dental quackery : an address before the American Dental Convention at Niagara Falls, August 5 1859 / by E. T. Wilson.

  • Wilson, E. T.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dental quackery : an address before the American Dental Convention at Niagara Falls, August 5 1859 / by E. T. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Toronto, Harry A Abbott Dentistry Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harry A Abbott Dentistry Library, University of Toronto.

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    every operalio7i. These are the men, found in every State of the Union, who assure you that ^uloanizers arc the great in- vention of tlie day, and vulcanite the greatest blessing vouch- safed fallen humanity. These are the men, who making gas and ether the pivots upon which their whole practice turns, ex- tract their twenty, thirty and even sixty teeth daily, that there- by a knowledge of the beneficent qualities of this delectable compound of gum, sulphur and mercury may be more widely extended, and their dear patients thus spared the ^^extortionate^^ demands of some hard working, conscientious practitioner, Avho unfortunately believes that God's wisdom and handiwork is i^reater than man's. These are the men who fill all sorts of cavities in all classes of teeth, with amalgam and os artificiel; gravely assuring their trusting victims that it is just as good as gold, while it costs onlv half as much. But enough I I only waste words in thus attempting to de- lineate characters you are all familiar with. Their devilish work speaks for them, and is scattered all over our broad land, and their baleful influence presses with the weight of a mill- stone upon our whole profession, daily standing as an impass- a])le barrier before the purest and highest efforts. Wliat shall be done? The evil is before us, and it must be met. If this class is numerous now, what will the next ten years bring us to ? The same open gateway is before them ; the same class of deluded dupes stand ready to receive them. Already these worse than charlatans and quacks swarm in upon us as did Austrian pandoras upon Great Frederick's har- assed and bleeding armies, and unless we, as did Frederick, strike our blows for their dismemberment or utter annihilation, not the memory of Fox or Harris, or fame of Owen or Tomes, or scores of Dental Colleges can save us from derision and scorn. The world furnishes but few samples of reform, or great good accomplislicd, save through a spirit of self-sacrifice and a willingness to labor. This well trodden patliway alone is open to us mny, Pei)tisti? vf honor and integrity owe it to