Reply to the "Additional strictures" contained in the first number of the Quarterly medical review, on the Principles of dental surgery : exhibiting a new method of treating the teeth and gums, especially calculated to promote their health and beauty, &c. / by Leonard Koecker.

  • Koecker, Leonard, 1785-1850.
Date:
1827
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reply to the "Additional strictures" contained in the first number of the Quarterly medical review, on the Principles of dental surgery : exhibiting a new method of treating the teeth and gums, especially calculated to promote their health and beauty, &c. / by Leonard Koecker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    those of the head nor of the heart; but be attributed chiefly to my want of a nice knowledge of the English language—though I speak it easily—of English habits, and of the general tone of English feelings. The editor of the Lond. Med. and Phys. Journal, No. 332, p. 373, thus liberally expresses himself on this head :— ** The author of the work before us is a German, who practised for many years in Philadelphia; and in perusing his book, it is but fair to keep in mind that he is a foreigner, not perfectly acquainted with our language or our ways/’ That I doubted my powers in the English language was evident from the following citation :— “ As a foreigner, he has no pretensions to talent for authorship, knowing that he is far from being able to write the English lan¬ guage with correctness. His object, therefore, it will soon be evident, is not literary fame, but the advancement of his profession, in connexion with the best interests of humanity. In publishing this manual, he is, moreover, partly influenced by the desire of proving that he is not unworthy of the confidence with which he has been honoured. However unlucky he may occasionally be in his mode of expression, he hopes that he may, at least, be able to make himself thoroughly understood; and that if indeed there be any superiority in his modes of treatment, it will not fail to be dis¬ covered and acknowledged.” Preface to the Principles of Dental Surgery, p. vil. In th is work I have addressed myself both to the professi¬ onal and to the general reader, and have scrupously avoided all technical terms, as well ie as every thing else that might have the appearance of scientific mystery.” That this work was not believed to be perfect is manifest from a single paragraph. “ Should this Essay be favourably received, and its imper¬ fections meet with the kind indulgence of the public, he (the au¬ thor) may be encouraged to resume his original plan,,,—the com¬ position of a complete System of Dental Surgery. I am anxious, in the outset, to defend myself against another general criticism of our reviewer. In the strictures he accuses me not only of deriding the living, but of violating the tomb, and ignorantly and presumptuously abusing such men as Monro, Hunter, Fox, and Blake; names which must ever be held in reverence by the profession. That I did not deserve such unmeasured censure, will be but too ap¬ parent for the critic’s honesty, from a few quotations : “The French particularly deserve our acknowledgments for their industry to increase the stock of Dental literature; yet they have not produced one original standard work on the Natural History of the Teeth, similar to those of Hunter, Fox, and