ADDRESSES 
AT THE 
% 
fifth; annual session 
OF THE 
gunman gatal gMsurintiun 
BY 
W. W. ALLPORT, D. D. S.; 
DANIEL BRAINARD, M. D. ; 
N. 8. DAVIS, M. D., 
AT 
Chicago, July 25th, 26th and 27th, 1865. 
CHICAGO : 
JOHN C. W. BAILEY, PRINTER, 164 CLARK STREET. 
1865. ADDRESSES 
AT THE 
FIFTH ANNUAL SESSION 
OF THE 
gunman gatnl giijMMtinn 
BY 
W. W. ALLPORT, D. D. S.; 
DANIEL BRAINARD, M. D.; 
N. S. DAYIS, M. D., 
AT 
Chicago, July 25th, 26th and 27th, 1865. 
CHICAGO : 
JOHN C. W. BAILEY, PRINTER, 164 CLARK STREET 
1865. DR. ALLPORT S 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME, 
DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OP 
THE FIFTH ANNUAL SESSION 
> 
OF T1IE 
AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION, 
AT 
CHICAGO, JULY 25, 1865. 
Mr. President, 
And Gentlemen of the American Dental Association: 
In bidding you welcome to the city of Chicago, on an 
occasion so interesting and auspicious to our profession as the 
present, it may not be deemed inappropriate to the time and 
place of our meeting, to indulge in a brief retrospect of the 
past. 
In the summer of 1859, twenty members of the Dental 
Profession met in convention at Niagara Falls, to consult to- 
gether as to the expediency of forming a National Association 
upon the representative basis. All, I believe, who were pres- 
ent felt that if such an association could be formed, and it 
should receive the sanction and co-operation of any consider- 
able portion of the better class of practitioners, the best in- 
terests of the Profession would be promoted, and great good 
result to the public. DR. ALLrORT’s ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
The number of state or local societies, then existing, to send 
delegates to the annual meetings of an association of this 
kind, was so very limited, that but tew even of the small num- 
ber present felt at all sanguine of the ultimate success of such 
an enterprise. But in view of the many great and good re- 
sults anticipated from such association, in case it should be 
crowned with success, and in the hope that the formation of 
local societies would be stimulated thereby, it was determined 
to take the initiatory steps for the organization, deferring final 
action until the following year. 
At the appointed time, July 31st, 1860, tieenty-three dele- 
gates only, of the various Dental societies and colleges then 
existing, met in the city of Washington, and the American 
Dental Association was organized, and entered upon its work. 
Five years only have passed, and from what was a small and 
doubtful beginning, by the steady and well-directed efforts of 
those who were instrumental in its formation, this association 
has become one of the most successful enterprises of the Pro- 
fession, and one of the most useful and influential Dental so- 
cieties in the world. 
Of the professional standing of those who have attended, 
as delegates, the annual meetings of this Association, and 
have been accustomed to take part in its proceedings, it is not 
necessary for me to speak. They are universally acknowl- 
edged as standing among the most scientific and successful 
operators of our time and country, and as belonging to the 
class progressive. The Essays and Discussions of the mem- 
bers of this Society have passed into the literature of our 
Profession and become a part of its history. In point of 
ability, they have been by far the ablest and most instructive 
that have ever emanated from any body of dentists in our 
country, and will suffer little, if any, in comparison with the 
essays and discussions of the American Medical Association. 
Should this Association adjourn sine die to-day, and never 
hold another meeting, yet sufficient good has already been ac- DR. ALLPORT’S ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
3 
complished by it to fully vindicate the wisdom and foresight 
of those who first projected it, and have done the most to 
sustain it. 
As we east our mind’s eye over the history of Dentistry, 
and see how, in the last forty years, it has risen, from a tinker- 
ing, catch-penny calling, to the dignity of a noble profession, 
in whose ranks may be found men of high moral and scientific 
culture, commanding alike the confidence and respect of the 
educated and refined, we can but attribute much of this 
progress and pleasing result to the influence of our various 
local and national associations. All of these associations have 
their influence for good, and are important, but none is so well 
calculated, in every respect, to allay that spirit of jealousy and 
distrust in each other, none so well calculated to strengthen 
the bond of a common interest and brotherhood, that should 
bind the Profession of the Past with the West, the North 
with that of the South, and make all to feel their mutual de- 
pendence upon each other, as a representative National Asso- 
ciation. In it are embodied the principles that underlie the 
structure of our national government, which has demonstrated 
to the world, that for the protection of a community of inter- 
ests, or for the development of resources, whether material or 
mental, no organization or government is so strong as that 
based upon the principles of a representative Republic. 
You are all familiar with the advantages of association and 
combined labor in the various avocations of life, no matter 
whether it be mental or physical labors. You assemble here 
to-day, as delegates and members from different parts of our 
extended land, and in the discussions here elicited you will 
find new illustrations of the old familiar truths that ‘‘knowl- 
edge is power,” “union is strength,” and “in a multitude of 
counselors there is wisdom.” By the contact of mind with 
mind both will be strengthened, and embryo ideas and theo- 
ries will be developed into full maturity. ** There is a mag- 
netism in such contact, full of creative energy. Flint and 4 
dr. allport’s address of welcome. 
steel are passive in themselves, but clash them together and 
they give out tire, and brightness dazzles upon the sight. The 
positive and negative poles of a battery never come together 
without a remit. By friction of different mental organiza- 
tions together, an idea is evolved, a new law is discovered, a 
new creation is added to the wealth of knowledge, and the 
long-coming rays of new truth, like those of a far-off star in 
the laboratory of heaven, reach and illumine the world.” 
Gentlemen, this Society was organized for a purpose. Its 
mission is not yet fulfilled. It has a great work yet to do—a 
destiny to accomplish. The men who were instrumental in 
its formation were not discouraged because it was so small 
and unpromising at first. They knew that in the Profession it 
had a strong and vigorous mother to nurse it, and that its 
growth was certain, but they did not expect it to mature so 
rapidly. Nor will those who are now engaged in it be so 
elated by its unexpected success as to allow it to sink under 
that supine and careless indifference, which so often follows 
prosperity. Its course will be onward and upward—its mot- 
to, Union and Progress. 
As the scourge of war passes away from our country, and 
peace “ with healing in her wings returns to bind up a na- 
tion’s wounds,” and those who have hitherto stood arrayed 
against each other in deadly conflict shall engage in the vari- 
ous pursuits of industrial activity; as that portion of our 
country which lias been laid waste by the desolating hand of 
war shall be rebuilt, and the millions, North and South, in 
trust and harmony, shall once more labor to develop the untold 
treasure of our broad domain, we may look forward to a 
period of unexampled prosperity in the history of our 
country. 
The rich cotton plantations and rice fields of the South, 
with the broad prairies and fertile valleys of the North, shall 
yield an abundant reward to the freeman’s hand; the slave 
pen and human auction block shall give place to the church DR. ALI.PORt’s ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
5 
ami tlie school-house: with human slavery, the source of all 
our troubles, forever extinguished from our land, honest 
pay shall be awarded for honest toil, and we may look for 
a season of prosperity such as the country has never known. 
Wealth, education and refinement will become more gene_ 
ral; and our Profession will be called upon to administer to 
the wants of a higher civilization. As specialists in medicine, 
to ameliorate suffering and contribute to these wants should 
be our aim. 
To be the better prepared to do this we should divest our- 
selves of all selfishness and vanity of opinion; and with un- 
covered heads drink of the fountain of knowledge, from 
whatsoever source it may flow. We should measure ourselves 
with ourselves, not to show that one,man is stronger than his 
fellow, or to pull down those who have been more successful 
than ourselves, but to give just confidence to the timid, and to 
strengthen and raise up the weak. None should be ashamed 
to learn, or afraid to teach. Freely to give and freely to re- 
ceive should be our object. 
Some of you, before reaching home, will have traveled 
thousands of miles to attend this meeting. It may be you 
have come burdened with the rich treasures of experience and 
skill, to lay them upon the common altar of your Profession," 
for other’s good ; or, it may be you have come to drink from 
the fountain of thought which others have prepared for you. 
Here as ever, he who would freely receive should freely give. 
And here, too, the “widow's mite” is as acceptable as the 
rich man's treasure. Whether you have come to give or re- 
ceive, gentlemen, as Chairman of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments of the American Dental Association, Ibid you welcome 
to the Garden City of the Lakes—to the Commercial Metrop- 
olis of the North-West. 
Many of you visit to-day, perhaps for the first time, the 
city of Chicago. As you walk our streets, and see our mag- 
nificent and well-filled stores, our palatial residences, our 6 
DR. allport’s ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
splendid elm relies, our model schools and colleges, our grain 
elevators and warehouses—the largest in the world—our ship- 
ping and railroad interests, branching out in every direction, 
our magnificent Chamber of Commerce, with its massive and 
solid proportions, and this artistic and imposing opera build- 
ing, in which we meet; as you look around and see here the 
largest grain depot on the continent, a city stretching out for 
miles in every direction, with a population of two hundred 
thousand souls, it may not be amiss for me to that it is 
not yet thirty years since Chicago was known only as a mili- 
tary post, with a few Indian traders, who were supplied with 
the comforts of life from the East. 
The very spot on which we are assembled to day, in this 
splendid temple devoted to the fine arts, in the centre of this 
great commercial emporium, thirty years ago was but a hunt- 
in r ground, covered with prairie grass, through which the In- 
dian pursued his game. 
And yet last year, our city sent forward to the seacoast and 
to European markets, nearly fifty million bushels of grain, 
enough, if placed in freight cars, to make a train extending 
almost to the city of Philadelphia. The growth of only a 
quarter of a century has made Chicago the largest original 
grain market in the world, not excepting Odessa, the famous 
grain market on the Black Sea. 
From whence comes this prosperity—this rapid growth ? 
It may all be told in one word, and in it is taught us an im- 
portant lesson—Enterprise—Enterprise ! 
To Chicago, then, as the Metropolis of Illinois, and to Illi- 
nois, the leading State of the great North-West, I again bid 
you welcome. The soil on which you stand to-day is too new 
to boast of ancient or classic memories, yet it is rich in the 
most sacred and patriotic associations. It is the home of 
statesmen, heroes and patriots, that have stood forth nobly in 
defence of the institutions founded by our fathers, and whose 
fame has gone forth over the whole world. 
In the suburbs of our city, on the shore of Lake Michigan, DR. allport’s address of welcome. 
you will stand by the giave of the gifted and patriotic 
Douglas, whose eloquence once thrilled our halls of legisla- 
tion, and who, dying just as the greatest rebellion the world 
has ever known, was bursting upon the nation, left as an in- 
heritance to his children, and to his countrymen a legacy, 
which so long as tune shall last, shall stand out brightly on the 
page of history, the immortal words, “Tell them to obey the 
laws and support the constitution of their country.” 
And here, too, in his quiet Illinois home, engaged in the 
duties of civil life, was found the great soldier and military 
leader, whose genius and heroism, after carrying the armies of 
the Republic through the bloody battles and victories of Don- 
elson, Shiloh, Yicksburg, Chattanooga, Spotsylvania and 
Richmond, finally won for us an honorable and lasting peace, 
and made the name of Grant immortal as is the history of his 
country, and of whom it may be said, as of one of England’s 
great leaders, “he never fought a battle that he did not win, 
and never encamped before a city that he did not take.” 
And finally, in this city, five years ago last month, in a 
building erected for the purpose, and which is still standing, 
was placed in nomination for the Presidency, Illinois’ honest 
and cherished son, whose sagacity and statesmanship guided 
our country safely through the perils of a gigantic rebellion, 
and whose untimely death left a nation in tears. Millions yet 
unborn will tread these streets, as they wend their way over 
the Western prairies, on their pilgrimage to the grave of 
Liberty’s noblest martyr, Abraiiam Lincoln. 
To our State, gentlemen, I again bid you welcome. Wel- 
come to your duties—welcome to your pleasures—welcome to 
Chicago. 8 
DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRESS. 
SPECIALTIES AMI SPECIALISTS IN MEDICINE. 
BY DANIEL BKAINARD, M. D., 
Professor of Surgery in Rush nVTeclical College, Chicago. 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION, IN CHICAGO, 
July 26th, 1865. 
Gentlemen of the American Dental Association : 
It gives me great pleasure to meet here the members of so 
honorable and useful a profession as yours. The profession 
of Dentistry is one of very modern origin, and is that branch 
of the medical profession which owes its development and 
perfection most essentially to our own country, and is indeed, 
I think I may say, the one branch of the profession in which 
we Americans can claim especially the pre-eminence. To be 
an American dentist is a recommendation in all the principal 
cities of Europe, and although the medical profession in gen- 
eral, and the surgical department especially, has an honorable 
position in the literature and among the profession in foreign 
countries, it can hardly be said to have a claim to the title of 
any pre-eminence. 
I have said that your profession was of comparatively re- 
cent origin. It is almost, I think, within the memory of many 
persons here present when it was regarded as a merely me- 
chanical operation, little better than the higher branches of 
mechanical employment. Step bv step it has developed it- 
self to a degree that, in perfection, in usefulness, it does not DR. BR.AINARd’s ADDRESS. 
9 
in my opinion, rank second to any of the single branches of 
medical or surgical science, [applause] ; so that at the pres- 
ent day, to be without a dentist would be to be without one 
of the essentials of civilized life. [Renewed applause.] 
Now, in speaking of its having a mechanical origin, I do 
not intend anything disrespectful to it. My own especial 
branch of the profession is surgery, and, I might say, a part 
of surgery; and it is not very long since surgeons, as a class, 
occupied a position far less honorable and important than that 
occupied by dentists at the present day. In the middle ages 
in Europe, so called, or rather in the latter part of the middle 
ages, from the fourteenth to the end of the fifteenth century, 
or thereabouts, surgical operations were performed by bar- 
bers. There was no distinction between those that performed 
a surgical operation and those that cut hair, and curled hair, 
and powdered hair. The duty of the surgeon was con- 
sidered to be to perform an operation when he was 
directed, and as he was directed by a physician, and, 
when he had performed the operation, to retire and leave 
the case to the physician. And it happened, after a cer- 
tain period of time, that these operators acquired a certain 
amount of knowledge beyond the immediate needs of ope- 
rating, and were called upon to advise about operations, and 
about the treatment of cases after operations. And this was 
considered a great innovation upon the profession. It was 
considered something outrageous and disgraceful to the pro- 
fession ; and the man who should have consented to meet a 
surgeon in consultation would have been expelled from the 
faculty for consulting with a quack. I have in my library a 
work published by the President of the Faculty of Medicine, 
in Paris, entitled k‘ The Brigandage of Burgeons,” setting 
forth that they were asserting claims which, if allowed, would 
be the destruction and disgrace of the medical profession. 
This comparison I bring forward for the purpose of sustain- 
ing the assertion that I make, that the difficulties under which 
the dental profession labors are nothing new. By speaking of 10 
DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRESS. 
the difficulties under which you labor, I mean this: the difficulty 
and length of time which it has taken for the honorable, and 
educated, and competent men of that profession, to assert and 
maintain full equality in professional standing with members 
of the medical profession who practice other branches of it. 
That difficulty has existed in regard to every particular branch 
of the profession that has at any time been embraced by any 
particular class of men, and is not peculiar to the dental profes- 
sion. It results from that deep seated prejudice, for I can call 
it by no other name, that has existed from the earliest times 
and is inherent apparently in the nature of every profession 
and that is to resist innovations or changes in regard to the 
doctrines or the practices of that profession. This peculiar 
aversion tQ changes results from the nature of professional 
education, and is one of those things that is treated of by 
Lord Bacon in his Novum Organum, under the name of 
“ Idols of a Class,” or those things which prevent members 
of a particular class from seeing the truth in regard to their 
own profession. It is, and has been, one of the great 
obstacles to the progress of the medical profession. It 
is an obstacle which at the present day is partially, 
but only partially, overcome. It is the thing which has 
prevented a large number of men of genius and industry 
in the profession from embracing and following out the study 
and practice of a particular class of diseases, in such a way as 
to have perfected our knowledge of the nature and treatment 
of such diseases. 
Now, the principle that I wish particularly to assert here is 
this, that the medical profession, in order to be most useful, 
in order to acquire its due influence over the community, in 
order to perfect its knowledge of the nature and treatment of 
diseases, must adopt a special course of study ; each individ- 
ual member embracing that course which he judges on the 
whole to be best adapted to his faculties, and leaving out to a 
certain extent others for which he has no qualifications. I 
advocate special studies and special practice; and, although DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRESS. 
11 
the words have been somewhat discredited, I advocate “ spe- 
cialties” and “specialists.” 
Now, I undertake to say that the very great opposition 
which this doctrine has mot in the profession, is not founded 
upon reason or justified by the experience of the profession. 
It is an opposition which is working to the disadvantage of 
the profession as well as the public, and to the manifest dis- 
advantage of a very great number of the individual members 
of the profession ; and therefore I wish to insist a little upon 
the point. 
What are tlie natural divisions of the science and practice 
of medicine? Is there no natural division ? I hardly think 
that any one would be 60 bold as to assert that there are, and 
ought to be, no natural divisions. For a long time, when the 
science of medicine was in a very rude and imperfect state, 
the members of that profession did study and practice all its 
branches ; and in the older works on Surgery, Pharmacy and 
Chemistry were as much treated of as the operations of sur- 
gery. Still, even at that time, there was the commencement 
of division, and the first was into Pharmacy, Surgery and Ob- 
stetrics. The next division which came was into Medicine 
and Surgery, Surgery being, as I have stated, the mechanical 
application in the manner already indicated. At a later 
period, there commenced to be apparent the distinction be- 
tween the Obstetrical department of the profession, and the 
separation between Pharmacy and Medicine was accomplish- 
ed entirely. I3y degrees the distinction between obstetricians 
and medical practitioners came to be recognized in particular 
localities, in large cities especially, to a very considerable ex- 
tent ; so that medicine, towards the middle of the last cen- 
tury, might be said to be divided into Pharmacj7, Medical 
Practice properly so called, Surgery, and Obstetrical Prac- 
tice ; whilst yet it remained true in regard to the greater por- 
tion of the civilized world—the country in general, in Ame- 
rica as well as in Europe—that the larger number of practi- 
tioners continued to practice all tis branches, to collect and 12 
DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRESS. 
prepare tlieir own medicines, to practice Pharmacy, Surgery, 
and Obstetrics. And at the present day, this is the case with 
a very large part of the profession throughout the civilized 
world. 
Now, it is manifest—all experience and reason show—that 
men who practice medicine in this way practice it only in a 
rude and imperfect manner ; that they neither understand 
Pharmacy, nor Medicine, nor Obstetrics; that, from the na- 
ture of things, they are incapable of acquiring skill in any 
one of those branches; that it is absolutely necessary, in or- 
der that there should beany progress in regard to the science 
or practice of medicine, that some of these should be exclu- 
ded, and others proceeded with especially, by each individual 
member of the profession. 
Let us examine the question for a moment. The Dentists, 
as a body, have, according to m37 own knowledge and observa- 
tion, perfected the mechanical means of performing operations 
beyond what has been done in any other branch of the profes- 
sion. They are better mechanics than the Surgeons, and their 
instruments for accomplishing the different objects which they 
have in view are more numerous and better suited to their pur- 
pose than are the instruments of surgeons. Now this is essen- 
tial to the proper performance of dental operations. And how 
this has happened ? It has been simply that there have been 
dendists, as a class, who have devoted their attention to that 
purpose; and we as surgeons never could have invented or 
perfected these instruments, and consequently could never 
have perfected dentistry. And that division of labor is a thing 
which, at the present day, is manifestly necessary, and which 
no one now disputes. 
In regard to surgical instruments, there are two depart- 
ments in which they have been singularly perfected. The 
one is in regard to those instruments which are used for 
crushing urinary calculi, which are the most admirably adap- 
ted to their purpose. How did that come about ?— 
Three men of genius at the same time happened to DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRESS. 
13 
devote their whole attention to that thing—the crushing of 
stone—and they especially perfected those instruments. And 
without that perfection of these instruments, the crushing of 
urinary calculi must have remained forever, as it had up to 
that time, a mere phantom floating in the mind without any 
practical application whatever. Therefore it was necessary in 
this particular that there should be special studies. The 
other branch in which I consider the mechanical means to be 
wonderfully perfected, is that regarding instruments for opera- 
tions upon the eye. These instruments have been brought to 
such a degree of perfection, of delicacy and accuracy, that 
they are capable of accomplishing things almost inconceive- 
able, and accomplishing them regularly, constantly, and with- 
out difficulty or danger. Now, how has this happened ? 
It has happened in the same way; there have been a 
class of men who have devoted their attention to that subject 
exclusively, have thought of nothing else, have worked at 
nothing else but the perfection of means for the accomplish- 
ment of that which they saw before them to be done. But 
when you come to other things that have not been made spe- 
cialties, the condition of our science is singularly rude and 
imperfect. There is nothing in our science at the present day 
which has the slightest claim to be respectable apparatus for 
the treatment of fractures. Particular individuals, by the 
attention which they have paid to it, and by an excess of su- 
perior mechanical talent or ingenuity, have been able to ac- 
complish with the instruments which they use a considerable 
degree of success, but there is no instrument for any given 
fracture that can be mentioned, that can be taken by a pereou 
of ordinary good education of the profession and put upon 
the member in such a manner as to accomplish any perfect 
result. The greater number of the instruments which are 
used in the profession for fractures of the leg and called 
“fracture boxes,” are not anything better than dry goods 
boxes, [applause,] and simply serve to accomplish the re- 
sult of concealing from the surgeon the position in which a 14 
DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRESS. 
limb may happen to lie. [Renewed applause.] What is the 
reason of that? The reason is, that there never has been as 
yet any instance that a man devoted himself to fractures as a 
speciality, and nothing else, and this is the one branch in 
which a specialty is most needed. They are the species of 
accident which are the most frequent, and which disable a 
man more than any other, and entail untold miseries upon 
him if unskillfully treated ; but the instruments for the ac- 
complishment of this purpose never will be reduced to any 
great perfection, until it shall be known that the devoting of 
time and talents to one subject leads to honor and not to 
being partially thrown out of the profession. [Applause.] 
If I should be unfortunate enough to meet with a 
fracture of the jaw, the first thing I should do would 
be not to send for a surgeon at all. I should send for a 
dentist. [Cheers.] They have directed their attention to 
the mechanical means and apparatus necessary for holding 
the jaws in their place, to such an extent, that they are better 
qualified to make them than surgeons are as a general thing,* 
and, perhaps I might sajq more than any surgeons are. 
I might go on and point out to you that with regard to no 
one thing about them are the instruments used by surgeons, 
the best adapted to their purpose. 
We are disputing, at the present day, all over the world 
what kind of sutures are the best to use. A great many of 
our instruments for the purpose ligating arteries and per- 
forming similar operations, are singularly rude and imperfect, 
and their imperfection is only remedied by the skillful use of 
the fingers of the surgeons. 
Iiow is this to be remedied? It is to be remedied, gentle- 
men, by special study; by the profession changing its views 
upon that subject, and saying to the young men, when they 
are entering the profession and when they are about to leave 
the schools, that it is better for them to devote themselves to 
some particular branch of the profession and try to under- 
stand it. I often have young men from various parts DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRE8S. 
15 
of this country, who are here to visit the west for the 
purpose of locating themselves in their practice. They very 
frequently come to Chicago, and we are always glad to see 
them. Wo are very proud of our city, and if you want to 
get into the good graces of any Chicago man or woman, yon 
have nothing else to do but to tell them it is a nice place. 
[Laughter.] But these young men come here and they say : 
“ What kind of a place is Chicago for a professional man ?” 
Now that is a very hard question to answer, because politeness 
does not permit me to ask another question. I could say to 
the young man, that if you know any one thing better than the 
generality of the profession, it is a good place tor you ; but if 
you do not, it will be a bad place for you. And for those 
young men who are incapable of applying their knowledge 
in such a way as to earn their daily bread, incapable of using 
their knowledge for the benefit of any particular class of men, 
so as to make it desirable for them to call upon them, Chicago 
is not the place. That is the difficulty under which mem- 
bers of the profession labor when they would enter into 
practice. 
How is this to be remedied? It is to be remedied, in the 
first place, by acting upon public opinion. The profession 
which listens with leaden ears to the propositions which come 
from members of it to change the time honored usages to 
which it is subjected, is sensitively alive to intimations which 
come from the people who employ them. Public opinion in 
this country is law, and in order that the laws he made good, 
public opinion must be enlightened. Individuals are power- 
less, but ideas are irresistible ; and the way to remedy it is to 
take the idea or fact that in order to make the profession use- 
ful and powerful, it must be developed and perfected in all its 
branches, constituting each one of these branches one body, 
each part of which co-operates in its proper sphere and most 
useful manner in advancing the interests of the whole pro- 
fession. [Cheers.] 
Now, in saying that I am in favor of special studies and 16 
DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRESS. 
practice, in that way, I do not commit myself to anything; 
and the profession won’t regard this as anything but a “ glit- 
tering generality.” Therefore, I state that I think there ought 
to be Dentists to attend to the teeth, Oculists to attend to the 
eye, Aurists to attend, to the Ear, and special Physicians to at- 
tend to diseases of the heart and lungs and make the physical 
examinations which are so difficult, and a special class who will 
be able to use the microscope for special examinations, that 
there should be not only practitioners of obstetrics, but those 
especially devoted to different branches, I mean that the in- 
capable obstetrical practitioners never should be allowed to 
use instruments; that there should be men qualified for that. 
And then in regard to surgery, that it should in addition have 
a number of branches. That in these there should be one 
branch devoted especially to the treatment of fractures. That 
there should be another branch devoted to the treatment of 
tumors, without absolutely circumscribing these departments 
by definite lines at the present time. When that is done, 
then the profession will cease to occupy the principal part of 
the time in its meetings or associations with quarreling with 
quacks. The man who is thoroughly accomplished in any 
particular department of his profession, is very little troubled 
by quacks. [Applause.] Then the public will come to know 
the usefulness of the profession. 
The dental profession, at the present time, is not consulted 
in one case in a hundred, or one in a thousand of those which 
require the care of a dentist. That is because the medical 
profession is not educated to the proper standard, and does 
not tell these people as they ought to do, that in cases of dif- 
ficulties about the teeth, they should apply to a good dentist. 
The same is true in regard to Surgery. There are opera- 
tions enough that ought to be performed, in every populous 
county in the State of Illinois, and which are not performed, 
to give employment to all the surgeons in those counties. 
They do not know that there is any man who applies himself 
to that particular kind of disease, and when they look around DR. BRAINARD’s ADDRESS. 
17 
for information they look to that particular kind of advertise- 
ments in the newspapers ; and you know what kind of infor- 
mation they get there. [Laughter.] I repeat, then, that the 
way of progress in the medical profession is in the way of 
special studies. 
How is this to be brought about ? I would not have you 
to suppose,by any means, that there should be a special school 
tor every department of medicine and surgery. On the con- 
trary, I would very much prefer that there should be no 
divisions whatever. And if I might be permitted to express 
an opinion upon a subject which may be delicate, it would 
be an opinion with regard to the dental profession, that they 
had better not be separated from the medical profession. I 
think it would be better for them to receive their education 
in the same schools and to the same extent as other members 
of the profession. And I think that in order to effect their 
education there ought to be and will be, perhaps not in my 
day, but there will be professorships of diseases of the teeth 
in every respectable medical school in Christendom. [Cheers.] 
What is taught at the present time in most medical schools in 
regard to teeth, is the order and time of dentition ; and then, 
in case the child is sick during that period, that the gums are 
to be lanced. [Laughter.] In some schools there is a little ad- 
vance upon that. But there is no medical school, so far as I 
have any knowledge, where the diseases of the teeth and the 
causes which produce them, the means of obviating them, the 
irregularities of the teeth and the means of correcting them ; 
the best thing to do in case of any particular appearances of 
the teeth ; I am not aware that in any institution, even to that 
extent, it is properly taught. 
Of course there must be colleges of dental surgery, so long 
as dental surgery cannot be learned elsewhere. This is a 
want, and until we can supply, it the practice of surgery must 
be necessarily more or less imperfect. It is necessary, in my 
opinion, that the dentist should be an educated physician. 
[Cheers.] It is necessary that he should understand the 18 
DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRESS. 
structure of the body beyond the teeth. [Cheers.] And I 
will mention this curious thing about anatomy and quackery. 
Anatomy in itself would not seem to teach a man much of a 
practical nature; but I have never yet seen an accomplished 
anatomist who was a quack, or a quack who was an anatomist. 
There is an incompatibility between the pursuit of that sub- 
lime science, which makes the two incompatible ; and if yon 
will fetch before me any man, whether he be a dentist or 
otherwise, and he will tell me all that is known in reference 
to anatomy, I will accept that man as a scientific man, 
without asking him another question. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] That is the foundation of all medical science, and 
therefore you must have that; and you must have, in addi- 
tion to that, the knowledge of physiology. You must have 
an especial knowledge of the action of medicines, as they 
operate upon the human system, not to speak of those other 
branches of science and accomplishments, outside the pro- 
fession strictly so-called, which are so necessary to give 
influence to science, to render man happy, to adorn his 
life, and make him a gentleman. I would have, in the 
first place, all the different classes of the medical profes- 
sion educated in the same schools, to the extent of acquiring 
this general knowledge of which I have just spoken ; and 
then I would have in each college not only a professor of 
diseases of the teeth, but I would have a special professor 
with regard to a certain number of other branches, at present 
of the diseases of the eye and ear, and of the nature and 
treatment of deformities of every kind. These branches have 
all acquired a degree of development which requires them, to 
be treated from separate chairs ; and when the student had 
got sufficiently accomplished in general principles, I would 
have him adopt that branch which he proposes to follow, and 
devote his special attention to it; and : would have these new 
chairs instituted from time to time as the wants of the com- 
munity seem to require. 
Medical science, which two hundred years ago was imper- DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRE8S. 
19 
feet, has at the present time acquired a degree of develop- 
ment which renders it impossible that any one should master 
it in all its details. No intelligent man devoting his time to 
it can read all the works connected with it that appear in the 
English, German and French languages, from one end of the 
year to the other. It is a physical impossibility. It is a 
physical labor that he could not endure. How then is he to 
become acquainted with the details of all the different 
branches, able to perform every kind of operation, able to 
prescribe for every kind of disease? In proportion as the 
science advances, it will become still more extended, and 
difficult. As each science is perfected, this is the rule. 
There will be further advances which at the present day it 
will be unwise, if not impracticable, to define. 
I have said that the profession, organized in the manner in 
which I propose, should be formed of parts not in conflict 
with each other, but should constitute one harmonious whole. 
The dentists are capable of exercising a great influence upon 
society. They are a numerous, enlightened, and I am happy 
to say, wealthy and influential body of men, and we, with all 
our prejudices, cannot afford to leave them separate and stand- 
ing off. [Laughter.] The physicians and surgeons are cap- 
able of exercising a great influence in favor of the dentists, 
and they would, if better informed and more enlightened, 
exercise a greater influence than they do, by directing their 
patients always to apply to them for advice with reference to 
every question which might arise as to the teeth. This 
would be an advantage to the dental profession, and they 
would get it to a much greater extent if they were a recog- 
nized part of the medical profession, as they deserve to be. 
So with all the other different specialties ; and whenever I 
see a man taking up one of these specialties, and for years 
together undertaking the labor connected with it, I say, 
“ Go ahead, do what you can in that branch of the profes- 
sion.” I do not regard him as in any degree conflicting with 
my own or any other branch of the profession ; I am happy DR. BRAINARd’s ADDRESS. 
to see it, and I carry my approval to the extent of recognizing 
the principle in branches of the profession ot which I might 
have, myself, some little doubt.—Such brandies m the appli- 
cation of electricity to diseases, about which our information 
is so imperfect and indefinite. I consider that the application 
of electricity, by an intelligent man, would probably be of 
great use, and therefore when a man undertakes that special, 
I think he enters upon a useful work, and one that it is neces- 
sary to make a specialty of before it can he relied upon by 
the profession generally. It is the same with regard to 
another class of practitioners—the movement-cure men. 
That term—“ Swedish movement cure”—is an unfortunate 
name. The method of treatment to which it is applied, did 
not originate in Sweden, but is founded upon the principles 
of physiology, justified by experience, incapable of being ap- 
plied by practitioners who have not the necessary knowledge, 
and promising, in the future, as it shall be developed, the re- 
lief of a large class of diseases which have been, heretofore, 
and which are, at the present time, to a great extent, beyond 
the reach of surgical treatment. 
These, gentlemen, are the essential outlines of the ideas 
which I wished to present to you. “ A word to the wise is 
sufficient,” and therefore I need notdwell upon them. It has 
given me great pleasure to know that this convention was a 
successful convention, and that it was attended by a large 
number of men from various and distant parts of the coun- 
try. Yon have already received a welcome from your own 
profession here : that welcome was only the expression of 
the feelings of the general community with regard to your- 
selves and every other body which comes here for purposes so 
useful and honorable as yours, and therefore, from the harmony 
of your session, I have only to hope that it may be useful 
interesting and improving, and if you ever need a place to 
meet in on another occasion, I would take the opportunity of 
asking yon, on behalf of the medical profession and our 
citizens, to come back to Chicago. [Loud cheers.] DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
21 
REMARKS OF N. S. DAVIS, M.D., 
President of the American Medical Association, 
AT- AN ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY HIM, AT IIIS RESIDENCE, 
TO THE 
MEMBERS OF THE 
AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION, 
IN RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING TOAST, 
OFFERED BY 
Dll. C. W. SPAULDING, 
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION, 
JULY 37, 1S6G. 
“To the President of the American Medical Association; 
Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry—departments of a common 
science, their disciples should constitute a common brother- 
hood.” 
Gentlemen and Ladies:—I am not only happy to be honored 
with your company this evening, but cheerfully respond to the 
sentiment just expressed by your honored President. That 
medicine, surgery, and dentistry are actually practical depart- 
ments of a common science, very few will be disposed to deny. 
I say common science, in deference to popular custom. It 
would be more proper, however, to use the plural form of ex- 
pression; for what is generally styled medical science is really 
an aggregation of many sciences, and their cultivation with 
direct reference to the prevention and alleviation of human 
suffering. The science of medicine, popularly so called, con- 
sists of facts and principles selected from every department of 
natural science, philosophy, psychology, political and social 22 
DR. DAVIS* ADDRESS. 
economy, ancl their application to the elucidation of the causes, 
nature, and treatment of such diseases, deformities, and inju- 
ries as are liable to afflict our race. Hence the student of 
medicine, in its general sense, is emphatically a student of 
nature. And not only so, but he studies the broad fields of 
nature for the highest and noblest of temporal objects, namely, 
to qualify himself for mitigating or relieving the imperfections, 
deformities, and diseases of his fellow men; whether they occur 
in the teeth, the organs of special sense, the extremities, or the 
more vital organs within the body. 
Medicine, surgery, and dentistry are all based upon anatomy, 
physiology, pathology, and materia medica. Without anatomy 
none of you, as dentists, can know either the structure of a sin- 
gle tooth or its connections with the jaw, gums, bloodvessels, 
nerves, &c. Without physiology, none of you could know the 
natural uses and influences of the several parts just named, or 
the relations of the teeth to the whole processes of digestion, 
assimilation, and nutrition. As pathology hears the same rela- 
tion to organized structures in an imperfect or diseased condi- 
tion, as physiology does to them in the natural, so without a 
knowledge of it, neither the physician, surgeon, or dentist 
could know anything of the origin, nature, and tendencies of 
the diseases and defects he professes to treat. The materia 
medica, in its full scope, includes everything that can be made 
useful in the mitigation or removal of any of the ills to which 
man is liable. The gold that fills a cavity in a tooth, the wash 
that soothes an irritated gum, and the instruments used for 
adjusting both, are as much a part of the armamenta or materia 
medica, as are the pills and powders administered by the physi- 
cian. These four branches of medical study are fundamental, 
and no man can do full justice, practically, to the most limited 
specialty without a thorough knowledge of them all. 
Every member of your Association will acknowledge that a 
dentist should certainly understand the composition, structure, 
and mode of development of the teeth, together with the causes 
that render their development defective, or induce in them dis- DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
23 
ease and decay. But in a single tooth you have three out of the 
five primary forms of living, structural organization, namely, 
the fibrous, vascular, and nervous, with the peculiar arrange- 
ment of inorganic matter to give it solidity. 
A knowledge of these structures, whether chemically, ana- 
tomically, or microscopically, involves a knowledge of the same 
structures in all other parts of the body. To understand the 
development of a tooth and its appendages, from materials 
selected from the blood, involves a knowledge of the blood 
itself, and all the laws that govern the intricate processes of 
assimilation, nutrition, and disintegration in living structures 
generally. The same remark applies with equal emphasis to 
the causes of imperfections and diseases of the dental organs, 
and the means for remedying them. Indeed, there is not a 
living atom of our physical organization so isolated that a 
knowledge of its structure, nutrition, disintegration, and vari- 
ous morbid conditions, can be obtained, without developing all 
the essential facts and principles of anatomy, physiology, and 
pathology. 
So far, therefore, as dentistry is a science, as distinguished 
from a mere mechanical art, it rests on the same foundation, 
and necessarily involves the same series of studies as all other 
departments of medicine and surgery. 
Of late, much has been said about specialties and specialists; 
and there is, at this day, especially in our country, a manifest 
tendency to favor the multiplication of both. We are told that 
instead of a few leading divisions of medicine and surgery, we 
should have almost as many specialties as there are important 
organs in the human body; and that every individual member 
of the profession should devote himself to the study and treat- 
ment of some one class of diseases, or the diseases of some one 
organ or apparatus of organs. By thus concentrating attention 
upon a limited number of diseases or injuries, it is claimed that 
greater skill will be acquired in their treatment; and more 
advancement in our knowledge of their nature and tendencies. 
Division of labor and concentration of attention, is said to have 24 
DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
been the parent of most of the discoveries and improvements of 
modern times. It is further claimed that the whole field of 
medical and surgical sciences, with their practical application, 
is so extensive that it is impossible for one man to so master the 
•whole, as to properly qualify himself for the practice of all its 
departments. 
This process of reasoning is plausible, and to a limited extent 
true. It is true that in all the mere mechanical arts, the 
greater the division of labor, and the more perfectly each man 
is restricted to a certain series of movements, the greatei4 will 
be the skill and accuracy acquired in their performance. 
The Dentist who restricts his work entirely to the processes 
of filling teeth, may possibly acquire greater skill in that par- 
ticular work, (provided he has enough of it to do,) than he 
would if he filled teeth, extracted teeth, fitted artificial teeth, 
&c. 
The Surgeon who restricts himself entirely to the more 
important and delicate operations on the eye, or the ear, or the 
bloodvessels, may acquire greater dexterity in those particular 
operations, than if he attended to the whole field of operative 
surgery. But the rule applies properly, only to such operative 
procedures as are essentially mechanical; and cannot be ex- 
tended to the treatment of diseases of particular organs, with- 
out causing more mischief than good. The reasons are obvious 
to every enlightened and reflecting mind. 
First, the various organs of the human body are not so many 
isolated parts, the functions and diseases of which have no in- 
fluence upon each other, but they are so intimately connected 
and mutually dependent, that not a single morbid impression 
can be made on one organ that will not exert a modifying 
influence on all the rest. 
The same heart sends the blood to every organ and structure 
in the body. The same nervous centres radiate the delicate 
threads that are to impart sensibility or command motion to 
the remotest parts of our organization. And the same vital 
properties pervade every living atom. Every link in the chain DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
25 
of actions constituting digestion, assimilation, nutrition, disin- 
tegration, and excretion is so connected that not one can be 
broken or marred without embarrassing the action of the whole. 
Hence, it is literally impossible to comprehend the nature, ten- 
dencies, and results of the diseases of one organ without study- 
ing their influence on all the others and vice versa. Hence there 
can be no such thing as specialism proper, in the study of path- 
ology or the nature of diseases. The whole field must he 
studied before any one of its parts can be fully understood. 
Second, the circumstances of civilized communities ever have, 
and probably ever will, prevent any extensive division of prac- 
tical medicine and surgery into specialties, except in a few large 
cities and densely populated towns. Much the larger part of the 
inhabitants of every country occupy the rural districts, where 
they are obliged to send from one to ten or fifteen miles for a 
practitioner of any kind. Now, suppose each member of the 
profession was devoting himself to such special diseases as he 
imagined to be most in consonance with his taste, and a farmer 
living five miles from his market place or business centre, should 
be attacked with acute pain in his side, and send for Dr. A. on 
the supposition that his attack was inflammation of the lungs. 
After ten or twelve hours delay, Dr. A. arrives, but finds on 
examination that the pain is certainly located below the dia- 
phragm, and of course no disease of the lungs. Inasmuch as 
the diseases of the lungs and throat constitute his specialty, 
the case does not belong to him and he retires. From six to 
ten hours more are spent in getting Dr. B., whose specialty 
embraces the diseases of the abdominal viscera or digestive 
organs. But, on examination of the case, Dr. B. finds the 
acute pain in the side of his patient to be neuralgic and depend- 
ent on the disease of the spinal cord or its membranes, at the 
origin of the nerves affected. This places the case out of the 
range of Dr. B.’s practice, and makes it necessary to send ten 
miles to a neighboring town for Dr. C., whose specialty embraces 
diseases of the cerebro-spinal nervous system. 
Again, suppose the farmer, instead of having been attacked 26 
DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
with a pain in his side, had fallen from a load of hay and 
broken his leg, and wounded an artery in his hand. 
A messenger is sent in great haste to the nearest town for 
Surgeon A., who comes, perhaps, with a new and improved 
fracture box, and dresses the broken leg with much skill and 
dexterity. This done, he asks for his fee, and takes his hat to 
depart. Hold, Doctor, exclaims the patient; you have dressed 
my leg, but are you going to leave me to bleed to death from 
this wound in my hand? Oh, my dear sir; blandly replies the 
Surgeon, that is not in my department. I attend only to frac- 
tures or injuries of the bones. For injuries and diseases of the 
bloodvessels, you must send for Surgeon B., in the adjoining 
town. Without multiplying illustrations, is it not obvious that 
specialties can be made practically beneficial only in populous 
towns; and even in them only to a limited degree? It may be 
said that the cases cited as illustrations are of the nature of 
emergencies, which every professional man must be prepared to 
treat, at least temporarily. But how is he to be prepared to 
treat such cases, even for the briefest practicable period, with- 
out having so studied the whole field of professional science and 
practice, as to be familiar with all its parts? If he has so 
studied it, what becomes of the argument or pretense that the 
field is so extensive that one man cannot keep himself master 
of the whole ? The truth is, that the greater part of medical 
and surgical practice consists of emergencies. It is not one 
time in ten, that the physician or surgeon, when he starts to 
visit a patient for the first time, knows what kind of disease or 
injury he will find on his arrival. And he can neither satisfy 
an enlightened conscience nor do justice to a confiding commu- 
nity, unless he is always prepared to meet such emergencies, 
and treat whatever ills may be presented to him in a skillful 
and proper manner. 
If a man, living in the country, is attacked with iritis or 
acute conjunctivo-cornitis, and suffers a permanent disorganiza- 
tion of the textures of the eye and loss of vision before he can 
possibly reach a reliable occulist, it is a very unsatisfactory DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
27 
apology for his family physician to allege that diseases of the 
eye constitute a specialty to which he has given little or no 
attention. Yet many such cases are constantly occurring 
throughout the country. 
But, gentlemen, there is still another aspect of this subject 
worthy of a moment’s thought. From the very nature of the 
laws that govern mental operations, exclusive practical atten- 
tion to any one department of a general subject, tends to con- 
tract and bias the mind, by giving undue relative importance 
to one series of facts, while neglecting another series of equal 
real value. An evil of much greater magnitude, however, con- 
sists in the strong tendency of specialism to encourage incom- 
pleteness of professional education. During a connection with 
medical teaching for sixteen years, I have rarely found a stu- 
dent who on his final examination, proved himself ignorant of 
some important department, without alleging that he did not 
intend to practice that particular department, and consequently 
had paid less attention to it. Indeed, incompleteness of educa- 
tion leading to the adoption of partial and restricted views, and 
the universal tendency to neglect whatever is not intended to 
be turned directly to practical pecuniary advantage, constitutes 
the foundation of much of the evils that exist in the profession 
of our country. 
You are, doubtless, ready to ask by this time, if I then 
oppose all specialties in medicine. By no means. There is a 
certain natural basis on which a limited number of specialties 
can be founded with great advantage; and which, indeed, de- 
velope themselves by the natural and inevitable course of cir- 
cumstances. For instance, the diseases, deformities, and defects 
of the dental organs, involving no immediate danger to life, and 
requiring for the treatment of many of them, special mechani- 
cal manipulations, naturally, and almost necessarily, constitute 
a special department of surgery. A department, indeed, that 
should be regarded as equal in importance and dignity, and con- 
sequently requiring equal education with every other branch of 
the profession. Those conditions of the eye requiring delicate 28 
DR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS. 
and dexterous operations are also most of them chronic, and al 
low the patient time to seek and obtain the services of men who 
have acquired more than ordinary skill in the performance of 
such operations. The same is true of those conditions requir- 
ing some of the most dangerous and difficult surgical operations 
upon other parts of the body; such as lithotomy, ovariotomy, 
tying large and deep-seated arteries for aneurism, &c. Hence it 
is eminently proper that in all large cities where the required 
opportunities are afforded, men should devote special attention 
to such departments. But this never can justify any class of 
medical men for contenting themselves with only a partial pro- 
fessional education. 
Mr. President, with the last clause of the sentiment you have 
offered, I most cordially agree. That all educated and honor- 
able physicians, surgeons, and dentists should constitute a 
“common brotherhoodis dictated alike by a community of 
interest, a similarity of education, and a common object, name- 
ly, the alleviation of human suffering and the prolongation of 
human life. 
I am glad to see the prosperity of your Association and its 
truly national character. Like the American Medical Associ- 
ation, it constitutes a strong social, as well as professional link 
to bind all parts of our country indissolubly together. And 
permit me to add, that if the members of the legal and ecclesi- 
astical professions, from the East, West, North, and South, 
would annually commingle with the same cordiality and liberal 
feeling, it would so perfectly bind the hearts of this great nation 
that secession would never again drench our loved land in 
man blood.