A similar view of the standing of a dentist was taken by the Court in Michigan, when it held that he was a “mechanic.” The Court observed, “A dentist, in one sense, is |170| a professional man, but, in another sense, his calling is mainly mechanical, and the tools which he employs are used in mechanical operations. Indeed, dentistry was formerly purely mechanical, and instruction in it scarcely went beyond manual dexterity in the use of tools; and a knowledge of the human system generally, and of the diseases which might affect the teeth and render an operation important, was by no means considered necessary. Of late, however, as the physiology of the human system has become better understood, and the relations of the various parts and their mutual dependence become more clearly recognized, dentistry has made great progress as a science, and its practitioners claim, with much justice, to be classed among the learned professions. It is nevertheless true that the operations of the dentist are, for the most part, mechanical, and so far as tools are employed, they are purely so, and we could not exclude these tools from the exemption which the statute makes, without confining the construction of the statute within limits not justified by the words employed” [452]. On the other hand, in Mississippi, the Court said, “A dentist cannot be properly denominated a ‘mechanic.’ It is true that the practice of his art requires the use of instruments for manual operations, and that much of it consists in manual operations; but it also involves a knowledge of the physiology of the teeth, which cannot be acquired but by a proper course of study, and this is taught by learned treatises upon the subject, and as a distinct though limited part of the medical art, in institutions established for the purpose. It requires both science and skill, and if such persons should be included in the denomination of ‘mechanics,’ because their pursuit required the use of mechanical instruments and skill in manual operation, the same reason would include general surgeons under the same denomination, because the |171| practice of their profession depends in a great degree upon similar instruments and operative skill; nor could such a pursuit properly be said to be a trade” [453].