Transcriber’s note: No major corrections have been made inthe text, except a few to have consistency in spelling and hyphenations. Captions have been added to the portraitsof dentists for clarity.
The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placedin the public domain.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE NATIONAL DENTAL ASSOCIATIONOF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A
History of Dentistry
FROM THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES
UNTIL THE END OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
BY
Dr. VINCENZO GUERINI, Cav. Uff.
SURGEON-DENTIST, NAPLES, ITALY; DENTIST BY APPOINTMENT TO THE ROYAL HOUSE; DENTIST OF THE
SURGICAL CLINIC OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES; EDITOR OF THE ITALIAN REVIEW
L’ODONTO-STOMATOLOGIA; AUTHOR OF MANY ODONTOLOGICAL WORKS;
HONORARY PRESIDENT AD VITAM OF THE ITALIAN ODONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE ITALIAN SOCIETY
OF SCIENTISTS, LITERARY MEN, AND ARTISTS; OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF THE CROWN OF ITALY; DOCTOR
OF DENTAL SURGERY AD HONOREM OF THE CHICAGO COLLEGE OF DENTAL SURGERY; HONORARY
MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL DENTAL ASSOCIATION, U.S.A.; MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE
COUNCIL OF THE FEDERATION DENTAIRE INTERNATIONALE; TITULAR MEMBER
OF THE SOCIETY OF THE PARIS DENTAL SCHOOL AND DISPENSARY;
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ODONTOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF MALAGA, ETC.
With 104 Engravings and 20 Plates
LEA & FEBIGER
PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK
1909
Copyright, 1909
by the
National Dental Association of the
United States of America
PREFACE.
The idea of writing a History of Dentistry first suggested itself tome ten years ago, when I was charged by the Organizing Committee ofthe Eleventh International Congress of Medicine with the reproductionand description of all the appliances of ancient dental prosthesis existingin the museums of Italy.
The highly interesting researches in which I then became engagedin order to carry out worthily the important mission intrusted to me,awoke in me the desire to gain still further acquaintance with all thatrelates to dental art in the time of the ancients. I was thus urged on toever fresh efforts, not only in the discovery of prosthetic appliances andother objects of ancient dentistry, but in the study, as well, of dentalliterature and of all the written matter that might throw light on dentistryin past ages.
This subject has already occupied many before me, and each one hasbrought to it his contribution of greater or less value, some in the formof short pamphlets, others in that of larger works.
The end I proposed to myself was to write a History of Dentistrywhich should be much more complete, more circumstantial, and moreexact than those published hitherto, and which, instead of being, as aremany of these works, simply a compilation, should represent, at least inpart, the fruits of personal research and scrupulous examination of avast number of works of various kinds containing elements utilizablefor the purpose.
The first part of my