_Rude Dentistry of Prehistoric Times. Early Instruments for Extraction Made of Lead. Dentistry on the Same Low Plane as Medicine during the First Half of the Christian Era. Dentistry Taught at the School of Salernum. Progress of the Art on the Continent. Prosthesis and Substitutes for Human Teeth. Introduction of Porcelain for Artificial Teeth; of Metal and of Vulcanized Rubber for Plates; of Plaster for Impressions. From being a Trade, Dentistry is now a Profession, in which Americans lead the World. Statistics._ The{330} following is a _synopsis of an address_ delivered at the opening of the session of the Dental Department of the University of Buffalo, in October, 1895. It is appended here because it is certainly apropos of the topics herein considered, the colloquial form being retained. Called upon at short notice to welcome you here, and to offer remarks of general professional interest, it occurs to me to be retrospective for awhile and to consider the steps by which that which was once an exceedingly crude art has been developed until now it is an exact science. In other words, I would invite your attention, for a time, to the history of dentistry. At a time even before our combined art and science had a definite history we find that gold was used among the Egyptians for the purpose both of filling teeth and of supporting and directing them. In the bodies of many Egyptian mummies, especially of the higher class, there have been found teeth filled with gold or with wood which was covered with gold. It is known, also, that the Hindoos and Egyptians inserted artificial teeth and that some of these were made of wood, often covered with gold, and held in place by gold or silver bands and wires. Herodotus, who traveled so extensively in Egypt and wrote most entertainingly of his travels, has noted the division of medicine among the Egyptians into special branches and the existence of physicians, each of whom{331} applied himself to one disease and not to more. "Some," said he, "are for the eyes, others for the head, _others for the teeth_, and others for internal disorders." It is known, also, that about 300 B.C. Erasistratus deposited in the temple of the Delphian Apollo an _odontogogue_, or tooth-forceps, made of _lead_, intimating thereby that only those teeth should be drawn which were loose enough to be extracted with such an instrument. Celsus, who was a contemporary of Christ and of Cæsar, was the first to recommend the use of a file within the mouth for the purpose of removing irritating edges and points of teeth. He also recommended bursting hollow teeth by putting into them pepper-corns, which should absorb moisture, swell, and thus break the teeth in pieces. He also recommended to take particular pains to try to shake or manipulate teeth loose before extracting them.