Complete elements of the science and art of the dentist : followed by an historical and chronological notice of the works published on the dental art, from the time of Hippocrates : adopted for the schools of medicine and pharmacy, by ministerial ordinance, rendered upon the report of the Royal Council of Public Instruction, and for the hospitals of the ports and colonies of France, by ministerial ordinance, upon the report of the inspector general of the Marine service of health / by M. Désirabode, assisted by his sons.

  • Désirabode, M. (Antoine-Malagou), 1781-1851.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Complete elements of the science and art of the dentist : followed by an historical and chronological notice of the works published on the dental art, from the time of Hippocrates : adopted for the schools of medicine and pharmacy, by ministerial ordinance, rendered upon the report of the Royal Council of Public Instruction, and for the hospitals of the ports and colonies of France, by ministerial ordinance, upon the report of the inspector general of the Marine service of health / by M. Désirabode, assisted by his sons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    bound together by any doctrine, and seem rather dictated by a desire to undervalue than to instruct. Let the works of M. Delabarre, and those of Maury, now oc- cupy our attention. But the first, ahhough they declare the man instructed, and the practitioner as sincerely the friend of his art, as impressed with the dignity of his profession, form not by their union a complete treatise, since they treat of only cer- tain isolated points ; and, we say it with regret, and the love of truth demands from us this avowal, the most important of these works, that one which bears the marks of most originality, his 7necha}iical denlistrt/, oSers, to whoever would study it thorough- ly, the astonishing contrast of a brilliant theory, and of a prac- tice sometimes so irrational, that it would seem to have been dic- tated by the blindest empiricism. Thus, by the side of a truly elevated scientific appreciation of the reactors (commonly desig- nated by the name of resorts) we find a description given in the most serious tone of an operation, the object of which, is the at- tachment of a part of a set of teeth to the upper jaw, b7/ means of what ?—of a band passing across the thickness of the max- illary bone, 6^c. 6^c. ! ! * As to the work of Maury, written under the influence of that prejudice, which seemed a long time since to confine the dentist within the narrow circle of the part essentially practical of his speciality, everything therein is reduced to the proportions which are rendered useful, only for an altogether summary study of the matter, or to serve as a m,emento to those who know it already. What we have said of the work of Maury, applies with still more reason, to M. Lefoulon's work, which is little more than a repetition, without the precision of certain practical details; it has still more a certain wordy air, which betrays its true desti- nation, and demonstrates that the instruction of dentists was not the chief aim of the author, as we shall often have occasion to prove, and as the practitioner himself proves, who thought hini- • The term reactors applies more particularly to springs, such as are usu- ally employed for retaining in the mouth a double set of artificial teeth; upper dentures were also formerly confined in the uiouth by this means.—Trans- lator. 2