In the third object, “The reading and discussion of papers on Dental Surgery and Mechanics,” the surgery you will notice is placed first, and justly so, as the higher branch; though in early times, and I fear even to a more recent date, the order in importance was more frequently reversed in practice. The mere mechanical calling of former times—for in its infancy Dentistry was little else—has now been developed into a profession and gained admission within the sacred portals of the College in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and it is for the present and future generations to prove by the exercise of their highest mental as well as mechanical faculties, that the profession is worthy of the position which has been accorded to it. It has been noticed by those who most frequently attend the meetings of our speciality, that papers on mechanical subjects are more easily procured, and often prove more attractive than those on surgical subjects, but this will no doubt become less as the educational facilities of the present day are brought to bear more and more on the whole body of the profession. Surely the preservation of the natural organs is of far more importance and value to the patient than the substitution of others, however efficiently supplied. What should we think of the surgeon who allowed himself to be deterred from directing all his energies to the preservation and restoration to health, of a diseased or injured limb, by the thought that an artificial substitute could be provided for it. No! No! Whatever our politics may be let our surgery be conservative. Far be it from me to appear to undervalue any branch of my profession, for no one can have been long in practice without having experienced the well earned gratification derived from noticing the relief from pain, and in many instances the perfect restoration to health, that follows the substitution of efficient members in the place of useless and diseased ones; but far greater is the credit and higher the appreciation of the patient, when the diseased natural organs themselves can be preserved and restored to a state of efficiency; and how great are the facilities for so doing in the present day, compared with the early reminiscences of many of our older brethren. All of us who were fortunate enough to hear the interesting paper read before the General Meeting of the Society in August last, must have been forcibly struck with the contrast between the paucity and quality of the instruments there mentioned, and the appliances of the present day. What would have been the feelings—I might almost say the bewilderment of the practitioner therein described, could he have been transported into one of the large depôts with which we are so familiar. The numerous and beautifully adapted instruments for the variety of operations unknown in those days. The admirably adjusted forces for each form of tooth, the endless variety of excavators and