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Every dentist who has ever given any thought to the development of his profession must have realized the growing necessity for an accessible and authoritative history of the dental art. The early efforts in this direction by Duval, Fitch, Carabelli, Snell, Linderer, Harris, and others, followed in this country by the more recent essays of Perine, Dexter, and Cigrand, are out of print and difficult to obtain. The Geschichte der Zahnheilkunde, by Geist-Jacobi, and Notice sur l’Histoire de l’Art Dentaire, by Lemerle, have given to the practitioners of Germany and France valuable information which the English-speaking dentist has often sadly lacked.

Realizing this situation, at the first meeting of the National Dental Association, the late Dr. R. Finley Hunt offered the resolution: “That a Committee of Three be appointed by the President to report at the next annual meeting a measure looking to the preparation of a full history of the Dental Profession.” After a careful consideration of the subject, this committee reluctantly concluded that, “whereas a complete history of dentistry may some day be the result of the effort now being made, this Association must confine its first attempts to the history of dentistry in America.” In a letter to the committee the late Dr. W. D. Miller said: “Of course, a universal history of dentistry would be very interesting and valuable, but its compilation would naturally cost an immense amount of labor.” Aside from this, it did not seem possible that the data for a proper history of the early development of the dental art in Africa and Europe could be collected by an association working in America.

After several years of what may have seemed a policy of masterly inactivity the unexpected happened, and the committee was able to report at the Buffalo meeting of the Association that Dr. Vincenzo Guerini, of Naples, Italy, had written a history of dentistry from the earliest times to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and that this work, translated into English and fully revised, had been generously placed in the hands of the committee for publication under the auspices of the National Dental Association, in token of the distinguished author’s appreciation of American dental development.

The Association, deeply sensible of this high compliment, and fully realizing this opportunity for accomplishing a purpose which had hitherto seemed impossible, gladly arranged for the publication of the book. After the delay incidental to the production of a work of this character, and the necessary subscribers being obtained, this exhaustive history of early dentistry, by the greatest authority on that subject in the world, is presented for the serious consideration of the thoughtful and studious members of the profession.

Dr. Guerini has spent many years of his professional life and large amounts of money in collecting the material for this work. Our historical records are scattered through a vast literature, and much of it is of great antiquity, and it has never before been gathered together and arranged in such a consecutive, logical order.

The importance and value of dental art and science as a humane service are well recognized, but we are so accustomed to view the question from the modern standpoint that we, generally speaking, overlook the immense work done by our predecessors reaching far back in unbroken line to the mists of antiquity. It was they who laid the foundations upon which modern dentistry has been built, and no man can peruse the record of their efforts as set forth in Dr. Guerini’s book without developing a higher appreciation of their work and a keener realization of the worth and dignity of the calling which they in common with ourselves followed.

It has been deemed wise to make a few amendments and commentaries, and when that has been done the amendment has in each case been inserted as a foot-note and designated by the initials of the commentator.

The supervision of the work while passing through the press and the correction of proofs have been entrusted to Dr. Edward C. Kirk, of the Committee; the index has been prepared by the chairman.

Charles McManus, D.D.S.,

Chairman of Committee on History of Dentistry, National Dental Association, U. S. A.

A HISTORY OF DENTISTRY.