'• h - !!: h ' • ' . j«; ' • /Kt? ■ • :■• < '•;; i SWrj;': ZyZ- fel > A r' '.' '''y/vJ ' • 
■ :: z -z ' - -'■ A REVIEW OF THE PAST 
AS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK. 
BY 
J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S. 
SWARTHMORE, PA. 
A paper presented before the 
California State Dental Association, 
June 23, 1898. 
SAN FRANCISCO: 
Reprinted from the Pacific Medico-Dental Gazette, 
July, 1898. A REVIEW OF THE PAST AS ASSOCIATED WITH 
THE WORK OF PROF. GREENE V. BLACK. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S., SWARTHMORE, PA. 
IN the month of May, 1895, there appeared in the Dental 
Cosmos an article from Dr. G. V. Black, which, from 
its volume, its pretensions, its character and its editorial 
and other eminent endorsement, was certainly something 
remarkable. 
Its length was nearly seventy pages! Its pretension 
was that it was the record of the first scientific inquiry 
ever made in its direction. Its character for assumptions, 
for evidence of extraordinary labor in the tabulation of 
results, but more than all for the "conclusions" reached, 
was, to say the least, unique; but, if possible, all these 
considerations were insignificant in comparison with the 
draft upon adjectives for the effusive, congratulatory, adul- 
ative reception which was accorded it by editorial, profess- 
orial and eminentorial criticism and endorsement. 
Without any discussion, without any general comment, 
without the giving of any time for even a breath to "the 
profession," it was hailed from the housetop as the sum- 
mum bonum, the grandum grandorum for which "the 
profession " had been waiting as the capstone to its already 
amazing "progress." 
This and its associate articles were referred to as of 
' wonderful importance" almost before the printer's ink, 
was dry. In that little gem, the Miniature Cosmos for 
1896-from which, if from anything, we hope to obtain 
solidity, truthfulness and sense-we find this paper alluded 
to in no doubtful tones, but as " likely to serve as a mile- 
stone in the future progress of dentistry,"as "basal work," 
as going " to the root of the subject," and, as for its unique 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
conclusions, that while at direct variance with some of the 
most strongly intrenched empirical notions of dentistry, 
" it must be remembered that no statement is made which 
is not supported by apparently, at least, the most conclu- 
sive proofs," thus giving the prestige of a tendency toward 
acceptance upon what seemed as reasonable grounds for 
at least five of the most palpable absurd " conclusions" that 
have been offered dentistry during the last half century. 
These should be read and repeated, that with each such 
reading it may be recognized how fully each day's experi- 
ence tells of their fallacy; that with each repetition it may 
be felt how solidly the "work" of all the workers has es- 
tablished the truth of just the opposite of everyone of 
these "conclusions;" and these truths, which have so uni- 
versally forced themselves upon the acceptance of almost 
every observing dentist (at least ninety-nine in every hun- 
dred), and upon which for the last twenty or thirty years 
so successful tooth-saving practice has been established, are 
glibly styled " empirical notions." 
And from what has all this smoke ascended and thses 
ashes fallen ? From an idea entertained by Dr. Greene 
Black, that dentists thought that teeth not liable to decay 
contained an excess of inorganic material, and that teeth 
liable to decay contained an excess of organic material. 
Upon this assumption (for I shall show that it is neither 
more nor less) an amount of " work " was done that fairly 
rivals that of those curiously carved Chinese balls of ivory 
in which each lesser ball turns within each larger ; a work 
which is said to require a lifetime to accomplish, and which 
when done amounts to nothing. 
It was with admiration, as well as pity, for the " investi- 
gator " that I gave the time to read those twenty-four pages 
of analyses and summary which seem to have been so sat- 
isfying^} to the " investigator," and which so conclusively 
proved just what everybody in dentistry had accepted as 
correct, and what, so far as I know, had never been dis- 
puted. 
Almost a century ago (1814) Mr. W. H. Pepys Jr. made A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
5 
the analyses of the enamel, the bone or roots, and of the 
teeth of adult humans and of the teeth of children. This 
was done by request of Mr. Joseph Fox, and was published 
in his book of that date, and his results of analyses are 
practically those given us today by Dr. Black. 
To give Dr. Black full credit for results to which he cer- 
tainly is entitled-he has shown that the analyses of " per- 
fect teeth" and of "carious teeth" are almost identical; 
but what I desire to impress is that he regards this as 
proving erroneous the belief that the relativity of propor- 
tions of inorganic and organic constituents in tooth tissue 
was preventive or permissive of dental caries. 
That any such "belief" generally existed I deny. I think 
that my long and intimate association with dental matters 
and dental work warrants me in having an opinion regard- 
ing this, and I can say that in all my forty years of society 
and college intimacy I never heard any such doctrine advo- 
cated nor even mentioned until I read the third paragraph 
of Dr. Black's first article in the Cosmos of May, 1895. 
The whole foundation of the " foolish man who built his 
house upon the sand " may be found in that paragraph. 
From thenceforward he labors through such a mountain 
of words that I venture to say but very few will ever climb 
it; but having done so, patiently and perseveringly, I can 
also say that I found the ascent utterly non-compensating. 
It is seventy pages of such as might be given to proving 
that the earth revolves around the sun, or that it turns 
upon its own axis, or that just what has been believed and 
taught uninterruptedly as to the relativity of organic and 
inorganic components of tooth tissues is true, and has 
never been disputed. 
But now comes the marvel oi all this-the " conclusions" 
from this enormous amount of useless work. And such con- 
clusions from such work were fairly gloated over by " an 
editorial epitome." " Look at these figures " (!) " Now 
what do our advocates of ' plastics for poorly calcified 
teeth ' and ' gold only in teeth above the average in struct' 
me ' propose to do with these figures " (!) 6 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
Just as though " these figures " were entitled to the least 
attention, except as the most voluminous corroboration ot 
ordinary textual authority ever given ! 
And then this editor goes on to say : " And these con- 
clusions come from a man who has made more real scien- 
tific experiments to determine the truth than all the advo- 
cates of the ' compatibility' theories have ever performed." 
For a " real scientific " opinion I think this beats the 
record ! But he continues: " What is to be done with these 
demoralizing figures ? How are these confoundedly annoy- 
ing demonstrations to be buried ?" " Up to this writing 
there has been no response. Are we all paralyzed ?" 
WE! 
This editor, at least, seems not to have been " par- 
alyzed"; on the contrary, he seems to have been as thor- 
oughly galvanized as were ever dead frog legs before. 
The "figures " have demoralized no one that I know of. 
It is not desirable that these " demonstrations " should be 
buried. It is better, we think, that they should be kept 
above ground and left to putrefy, as they seem to be doing, 
except in the cool air of the " Northwest " (not so far north, 
and by no means very far west!) 
And this is about the caliber of the comments and re- 
views of this part of this extraordinary paper; the paper 
that " is evidence that the spirit of scientific inquiry is 
wideawake"! (Miniature Cosmos for 1896, page 9, " Point- 
ers for 1896.") 
What is the continuous pointer in all this ? 
" There is practically no difference in the percentage of 
lime salts between the cases in which the teeth are classed 
'of pure structure,' 'lacking in hardness,' and those which 
dentists usually call ' dense,' perfectly calcified teeth." 
Who ever said or thought there was ? What chair of 
dental physiology ever taught more than one analysis show- 
ing the percentage of lime salts in dentine? or more than one 
analysis of the lesser percentage again in cementum ? And 
what chair of pathology ever taught that any variation 
from these accepted relativities was the cause for that A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
7 
resistance to caries which we find in "hard teeth" (as hard 
as flint!) or for that liability to decay which some few of 
us think we have noticed in "soft teeth" (soft as chalk), or 
for the success with which we combat the progress of de- 
cay in teeth " above medium in structure" ? 
Above medium in structure ! Here " we " have the key- 
note of the bugle blast which has led us to victory! 
No such " work " as that of Dr. Greene Black has been 
done in the fight for this. It has been accepted and taught 
that the " goodness " or " badness " of teeth depended upon 
their makeup, and not upon what they were made of. 
Who would dare teach that if a loaf of bread were made 
of so much flour, so much milk or water, so much yeast 
and so much salt, that, with an oven and fire a grand result 
would be obtained ? These are the ingredients and the ac- 
cessories ; but behind all these is vitality-that which ma- 
nipulates and manages; and this governing attribute is 
not the same in any two of a dozen cooks. 
And so it has always been taught me, and so I have 
always taught, that it is with every tissue and organ in the 
body. The food given may be the same, the selection from 
it the same, the quantity and quality may be the same, and 
the tissues and organs which each economy will make up 
from these will be the same; but the makeup will not be 
the same, as each distinctive class of humanity will work 
under the domination of its peculiar temperamental at- 
tributes. 
Thus it is, " bilious " teeth have strength; are yellow in 
color; are set firmly in the jaws; are wonderfully exempt 
from decay; and in which even ordinary or poor work, with 
gold as filling material, will last for years, and where such 
fillings of gold as any of us will make would last a life- 
time. 
Thus it is that " sanguine " teeth are creamy in color; 
set also with firmness in the jaws; are also reasonably ex- 
empt from decay, but in connection with which only good 
work will produce creditable results, and this in every 
phase of operative dentistry. 8 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
Thus it is that in " nervous " teeth even the shape is 
markedly modified, having the necks small and Gothic- 
arched, in place of Roman; with edges thin and delicate, 
and cusps long and sharp, with pearly-bluish color-not so 
strongly set, and while usually with fine and reasonably 
strong enamel quite as usual with not well-calcified den- 
tine. 
Here then begins most decidedly the need for something 
more regarding "choice of filling materials" than (as Dr. 
Black puts it) " the individual operator's judgment as to 
which he can so manipulate as to make the most perfect 
filling, considering the circumstances, his own skill and the 
durability of the material." (Cosmos, May, 1895, page 
416.) 
And yet the italicized most perfect filling unwittingly 
tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; 
for, as we would put it, "the most perfect filling" is that 
one which most perfectly saves the tooth! 
Is that the standard Dr. Black intends ? Do you think 
so ? 
And, finally, thus it is that the lymphatic teeth are 
those which with their enormous size, their suspicious 
opacity, their loose setting in the jaw, and their ready and 
persistent yielding to what is known as the " ravages " of 
decay, give us that class which demand, as clinically dem- 
onstrated, a far different knowledge from that of the judg- 
ment of the operator as to his manipulative ability, and 
no less than an extended knowledge as to the attributes of 
the materials he proposes to utilize for their tooth-saving 
ability. 
This is what the advocates of " plastics for poorly calci- 
fied teeth " have to say. And I feel that they can safely 
leave the record of their feeble teachings and their meager, 
unscientific experimentation as a solid defiance to all those 
" conclusions " which are " at direct variance with those 
strongly intrenched empirical 'notions' " that are so much 
more strongly intrenched by the daily experience of almost 
every practitioner of dentistry. A Review of the Work 
OF 
Prof. Greene V. Black, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.D. 
BY 
J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S., 
SWARTHMORE, PA. 
PART SECOND. 
SAN FRANCISCO: 
Reprinted from the Pacific Medico-Dental Gazette, 
October, 1898. A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D D.S., Sc.D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S., SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[PART SECOND.] 
THE second paper of Dr. Black's series appeared in the 
June Dental Cosmos of 1895, and is devoted to the 
consideration of " The Force Exerted in the Closure of the 
Jaws." 
Although the records of the ingenious instruments used, 
called respectively the gnatho-dynamometer and the phago- 
dynamometer, possess a certain degree of interest, and 
recall to those of us who remember them the experiments 
made in a similar line by Dr. John D. White some forty 
years ago, and especially his 250 pounds for the crushing 
of the shot, and, although Dr. Black tells us that the gnatho- 
dynamometer has "become a practical instrument" at his 
chair, it has yet seemed to me that so little has its employ- 
ment been indulged in generally by members of " the profes- 
sion," and so usual is it that our patients are perfectly able 
to masticate such food as they indulge in, and so compara- 
tively easy is it to enable them to do so when, from any 
reason, a comfortable and sufficient mastication is inter- 
fered with, that any further discussion of that portion of 
his contributions is needless. 
I shall, therefore, pass to the consideration of his third 
paper published in the Cosmos for July, 1895, under the 
caption of "Filling Materials," in which, after a pretty en- 
gineering prelude in reference to a railway bridge over a 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
stream of some considerable magnitude, an entire page is 
preface for the conclusion that " gold and amalgam are the 
only two filling materials in general use that are supposed 
(the italics are mine) to be able to endure " the stress of 
long-continued mastication." 
I cannot but suggest that as these two materials have 
not only been accepted as occupying this place among fill- 
ing materials, but have been subjected to clinical usage in 
this regard for considerably more than half a century, and 
having thus been proven to be the only materials worthy 
to be recognized as possessing this attribute, it seems 
hardly worth while to have devoted so much space to the 
establishment of an entirely undisputed point. 
But from this point onward the planks of this "wonder- 
ful" engineering effort seems to me to increase in worth- 
lessness until it appears to be little less than folly to give 
them the least attention, but so extended has been favora- 
ble comment upon this " work," and so unanimous has been 
the evident acceptance of its " solidity" that I have felt 
that, for the possible good of " the profession," one voice, 
at least, should be heard in absolute condemnation of it all, 
from the beginning to the end. 
First. I deny that experimental work upon filling ma- 
terials bears any such relation to railway bridges or build- 
ings as to require, or even desire, that such construction 
should enter at all into any consideration. Indeed, it would 
be difficult to find any two results which are made under 
auspices less consonant, or which are to subserve purposes 
more completely unlike, or which are to endure under con- 
ditions more entirely at variance; I should therefore regard 
it as perfectly reasonable to expect that so-called "work" 
thus commenced could not but eventuate in a termination 
completely valueless. 
Second. In amalgam research the experiments of Prof. 
Hitchcock, done twenty-five years ago, serve as unquestion- 
able proofs that "the hearty support of manufacturers of 
dental goods" is at least a doubtful basis upon which to 
erect a superstructure, and yet this "investigator" offers A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
5 
thanks for this, and acknowledges the receipt of samples 
of " about eighty different alloys." 
A number of formulae were given, thus enabling the in- 
vestigation to be conducted on purely scientific lines I 
And this is the " science " which has been so gratefully 
accepted and so effusively applauded. 
But as these formulae were "trade secrets" they had to 
be " respected," and thus the gentleman starts out not only 
handicapped by this, but even more so by the conviction, 
which he expresses, that not only he but " the whole den- 
tal profession are under obligations to those of the trade 
who have so generously supported this effort." What com- 
ment can be made upon such belief as this? Had the 
" effort " of the " New-Departure Corps " been founded 
upon such generosity I cannot think that the "whole den- 
tal profession" would have been benefited in any large 
degree; while, as it is, I think I can safely assert that 
every item of truly reliable information possessed by den- 
tistry to-day regarding, not only amalgam, but every plastic 
filling-material which it uses, except porcelain, was given 
it from the work of the " New-Departure Corps." 
Feeling that I am thoroughly conversant with all the 
work which has been done, and with all the materials which 
have been offered in connection with plastic work, I make 
this statement without fear of contradiction, and as a de- 
served tribute to an earnest, long-continued and satisfac- 
tory line of work, together with the unstinted liberality 
with which results were given by the members of that or- 
ganization. 
That work, so far as amalgam is concerned, was done 
from the solid basis of carefully purchased samples of 
alloys as offered for sale, together with such accurate 
analyses of these as would be made by mint metallurgists. 
How very different from this is the published basis of 
the "investigations" which are under consideration. Sam- 
ples by the score are generously given by their makers, and 
formulae for these accompany the liberal donations. These 
are gratefully accepted. The recipient, together with the 6 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
whole dental profession, is acknowledged as under obliga- 
tion, and the " investigation " proceeds. 
For myself I recognize no obligation; on the contrary, 
I think any careful, properly qualified experimenter would 
naturally regard such aid as of very donbtful value and as 
likely to lead in the direction of incorrect conclusions. 
And now, at once, an attribute of amalgam is noted 
which seems to have so impressed the gentleman as to 
have completely filled, for the time, the investigatorial 
heavens. This attribute was called the "flow." It was 
shown that under stress a mass of amalgam would gradu- 
ally develop a molecular yielding or creeping out from un- 
der the load. 
So much " stress " has been laid upon the value of this 
discovery that it seems important that decided notice 
should be given it that its worth or its worthlessness should 
be a settled question. 
1st. Amalgam has been used " by the ton" for filling 
teeth, and for more than fifty years, and of so little moment 
has this attribute proven to be that it never has been 
noticed. 
2nd. It is requisite that direct, circumscribed and rather 
decidedly continuous pressure be borne upon the material 
in order that indications of this " flow " shall be apparent. 
3rd. It is safe to say that not one filling in twenty is so 
placed as that any such " stress " can be brought to bear 
upon it, even during the incidental efforts of mastication, 
much less for any continuous pressure. 
4th. Again, the large majority of such fillings as will 
permit even this occasional impact are retained within 
cavity walls of such strength as that this " spreading " of 
the amalgam would be insufficient to do any harm; while, 
if such "flow" occurred, it might possibly be beneficial by 
forcing a closer contact between fillings and walls; but no 
such result has ever been noticed. 
5th. While the experiments in connection with "flow"- 
albeit conducted under conditions which would never exist 
in the mouth-seem to demonstrate that such amalgams as A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
7 
were "accepted" from the results of New-Departure Corps 
work had the minimum of this peculiar attribute, it was by 
no means proven that the amalgam possessed a detrimental 
degree of it when made from that formula which gave the 
greatest " flow " (40.16) made from silver 48, tin 48, gold 
4-a formula which I think no one would ever use. 
6th. In this paper (Cosmos, July, 1895,) on pages 559 
to 567 (nine pages!) there seems to me to be such a mass 
of words enveloping such peculiar statements as would 
render necessary nine pages of review for appropriate no- 
tice, but I think a single page may contain sufficient com- 
ment to render the other eight pages superfluous. 
First. Experiments were begun with an alloy of silver, 
47.06, tin, 51.76, copper, 94, zinc, 24,-an alloy which I 
believe-as the result of hundreds of melts made by ex- 
perts-could not be duplicated in less than fifty trials, and 
then only by luck rather than by skill! 
Second. I hold that the objects for which the several 
metals are used in compounding amalgam alloys for filling 
teeth have been so definitely settled during more than 
twenty years of careful experimentation and patient clinical 
observation as that it may be regarded as determined that 
the two metals copper and zinc would never enter into the 
composition of any one alloy; therefore, I should consider 
any experimentation with such amalgam as valueless. 
Third. On pages 560-561 a looseness of methods from 
packing with " broad, serrated point " to " squeezing the 
mass in a vise "-methods which have been demonstrated 
at lecture-stands to classes, and to bystanders at clinics, for 
many years, as beneath criticism-is conjoined to an equally 
scientific looseness of comment regarding the decided pref- 
erence of hand-mixes over mortar-mixes (after fifty years of 
cleanly, acceptable using of mortars, to say nothing of other 
demonstrable advantages); also, regarding the " wringing 
out by rolling the mass in muslin " and " then discarding 
the ends of the mass " (not mentioning how much, or why !) 
in all of which, everything is so at variance with the ideas 
of all workers of amalgam except those who never can 8 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
make fillings which they feel are perfect, and whose amal- 
gam work is "so unsatisfactory," that such comments as 
I have heard or read have been only derisive, which opin- 
ions entirely coincide with my own. 
It is with much satisfaction that I know of several hun- 
dreds of amalgam workers, who do not manipulate at all as 
does Dr. Black, and who write me, as year after year passes, 
of the great satisfaction they have in the " comfortable 
saving of the frail, soft teeth of poor structure, with prop- 
erly compounded and properly introduced fillings of 
amalgam." 
Fourth. Pages 566 and 567 persist in work on the silver- 
tin alloys, but with no recognition of the fact that all this 
is ploughing old, wornout land, giving us only the inference 
that those who continue to use amalgams in connection 
with which we find the most " crevicing " will have the most! 
But in this connection the "black ditch" seems so to worry 
the investigator as that to him it appears as a " monster " ! 
Now, what is this "monster"? It is a result which 
accrues, with a certain degree of frequency, after fillings 
have been in service for periods of from two or three to 
eight or ten years. The remedy for this is to fissure-drill 
around the edge of the filling and " cold-solder " a little 
freshly made amalgam to the filling, an operation by means 
of which the defect of from two to ten years is repaired in 
from two to ten minutes! Truly, if the " monster " which 
Hercules was sent to destroy had been such an one, a six- 
year-old boy would have been " equal to the emergency." 
7th. It would seem, from these various considerations, 
that in the great " stress " which has been devoted to this 
" flow " a very large mountain has been made out of a very 
small molehill, and that, practically, it might be permitted 
to remain, as it always has been, an entirely unimportant 
factor in the question of amalgam work. 
" Flow gently, sweet Afton amalgam " flow " on! 
Till the fillings and teeth and the patients have gone, 
To that "traveler's bourne " whence they 'll never return, 
As hundreds of thousands in comfort have done ; 
Flow gently, amalgam ; " flow " on!-" flow " on!" REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG. D D S , SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[part third.] 
IN my Part Second of this review I referred at short length 
to the matter contained in pages 559 to 567 of Cosmos, July, 
1895 J but " scientific" (?) as this may be, it would seem that 
science is out-scienced as we peruse pages 567 to 571. 
It is noted that the quarter of one per cent, of zinc makes 
decided increase in ' ' flow, ' ' and it is argued from this that 
' ' the results of this experimental work ' ' are ' ' something of 
a monument to the integrity, skill and strict fidelity of the men 
who compounded the alloys. ' ' 
The ''makers of alloys for amalgam" said that ''they 
used pure metals," and ''here is unexpected evidence that 
they have done so. " 
If this is scientific logic, it seems to me conclusive evidence 
that this branch of logic would bear revising. 
What has " one-fourth of one per cent, of zinc " or " three 
per cent, of platinum " to do with the purity of the silver or 
the copper or the gold as components of amalgam alloy ? and 
did the ''say-so" (if they said so) of the makers of alloys 
cause the tin to be " pure ' ' ? 
In the parlance of the flay it seems to me that all this integ- 
rity-monument business is pure ''taffy," based upon a most 
unsubstantial foundation. 
That all the metals used in making amalgam alloys, or that 
have been used for fifty years have been ''pure"-as this 
term is accepted metallurgically-I think will not be disputed, 
as, when silver is required for amalgam alloy making, ''bar 
silver" is either rolled or granulated; if gold is required, 
" fine gold " in plate or ribbon is used, as a rule ; and if gold 
''scraps" are used the metals admixed are either silver or 
copper, and these are "pure." 
The copper used is either wire, sheet, granulated or bar, 
" pure " (as found commercially), and there is no incentive to 
have it otherwise. 
The tin is the most impure of all the metals used, but it 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
is such as is used as ' ' tin ' ' in all work except that strictly 
" chemical." 
I think all this is well known and recognized as usual; and 
while it does not detract from the " integrity, strict fidelity," 
etc., of the makers of alloys (each one of whom makes " the 
best" !) it does not seem requisite that this state of things 
should be any further assured by such " unexpected evidence" 
as that presented by Dr. Black. 
The " note of warning " given by the investigator " against 
jumping" is timely, and, judging from existent conditions, 
seems to have been universally heeded ! 
On page 569, after a very unsatisfactory attempt to account 
for ' ' bulging ' ' of amalgam from cavities in positions where 
no " stress " can possibly be brought, a little touch in support 
of the chemical combine is given with its ubiquitous little * 
(asterisk). 
If the union of metals in the forming of amalgams is chemi- 
cal the results are certainly worthy of special notice to ' ' scien- 
tists," for it is the only known instance in which the compo- 
nents of the ''chemical compound " in any and all proportions 
of any and all of each are made into results which are, each of 
its class, practically the same. 
Truly, it reminds one of the combinations of nitrogen and 
oxygen, which, united chemically in any proportions, produce 
so nearly the same results as, like amalgam, to subserve but 
one given purpose ! 
The next point discussed is the ' ' spheroiding of amalgam, 
so-called," and in no portion of the whole series of papers does 
the absolute incompetency of the gentleman for the work he 
has undertaken more palpably appear, while the conclusion to 
which he arrives (see page 571) is so absolutely impossible of 
utilization as to render it simply farcical to antagonize it. 
He says ' ' the phenomenon from which this term spheroiding 
has been mostly derived seems to be the disposition of amal- 
gam fillings to rise up in the center in rounded form, but 
partly from the difficulty experienced in making amalgam fill- 
ings with perfect margins." 
If the disposition of anything to ''rise up in the center in 
rounded form" is not spheroiding, I would ask, what is it? 3 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
And it is this tendency-and this alone-which has been 
noticed by plastic workers, and which, after being carefully 
watched-not for a few days or months, as we are told was the 
" work " of the " investigator," but for years-until after con- 
secutive notings of fillings of soft alloys, notably " Walker's " 
(70 tin, 30 silver), the gradual "tendency to rise up in 
rounded form ' ' of fillings was recognized not only in buccal 
cavities but in articulating cavities where the long-continued 
force of mastication was powerless to prevent it. 
It was to account for this that the tendency to spheroid was 
accredited to the slow molecular influence of the mercury, with 
its incontestable spheroidal attribute. 
And now Dr. Black has a ' ' notion ' ' that ' ' this term has 
been derived from a misinterpretation of the phenomena seen," 
because he, having made blocks of amalgam with square 
corners of a mass that would fairly stand alone, did not note 
spheroiding. 
Had there been a rounding of the corners in such an experi- 
ment I would have inclined to attribute it to gravitation rather 
than to tendency to spheroid; and as it was, I should merely 
think that the silver and tin were able to maintain integrity of 
contour, while the molecular tendency to spheroid was not af- 
fected by the experiment. 
I should regard all the work described on page 570 as prov- 
ing no more in this matter than would the greater weight of 
a gold filling introduced into cavities in ivory prove it to be 
the better filling for the saving of the tooth. 
But it is in the last paragraph of this July paper (page 571) 
that we find the conclusion to which I have alluded as 
" absolutely impossible of utilization." 
Dr. Black says ' ' a large proportion of the amalgam fillings 
made are placed in cavities so prepared that the surface on 
which the filling rests, the seat of the filling, is too small to 
support the stress which comes on the area of surface exposed 
to the stress of mastication ; or the seats are so rounded that 
the readily yielding material allows the mass to be slowly tilted 
from side to side, or slightly moved. In either case the per- 
fect margin is lost, and the filling becomes leaky." 
In reply to this I would say that in "a large proportion ' ' of 4 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
such cavities as are filled with amalgam, either primarily or as 
final resort, after one or more gold fillings have failed, the 
preparations of the cavities have to be made as best one can, 
rather than as one would, and that, in such cases as have to 
permit this stress upon their surfaces, the marvel is the great 
amount of service they give, and the length of time through 
which they endure. 
I venture this as the experience of decidedly the many as 
against that of decidedly the few. 
Again, Dr. Black says: "Most dentists seemed to have 
supposed that amalgam fillings were the easiest fillings to 
anchor safely, but as a fact they are the most difficult.'' Is 
that ' ' science ' ' ? Is that sense ? 
I think I have introduced a sufficient number of gold fillings 
which now, after thirty-and some forty-years of service, 
demonstrate how they were anchored, and I think it will be 
conceded that I have introduced vastly many more amalgam 
fillings than did ever Dr. Black, and I can but say that if 
amalgam fillings are the most diff cult to anchor, the results of 
the last thirty years are a ' ' monument ' ' to the skill of the 
amalgam workers, for is is simply amazing, under the circum- 
stances, how well many of the most dreadfully doubtful among 
these fillings hold to their anchorage ! 
And, finally he says : " Cavities prepared to receive amalgam 
fillings should have a broad, flat seat at right angles with the 
direction of stress, and parallel side walls. The form of a box 
is the typical form for a cavity for amalgam.'' 
Again I ask is that ' ' science ' ' ? Is that sense ? 
Is it not enough to ask how the form of a box can ever be 
given to such cavities as should usually be filled with amalgam ? 
Such cavities not infrequently impinge upon the mesial, 
buccal, distal and occlusal faces of a tooth, and I would ask, 
what kind of a " box " could such a cavity be shaped like ? 
But that is not all-not by any means-, "a box,'' such as 
Dr. Black must mean, when no more definite shape is given, 
would have four sides, straight and flat, parallel in pairs, with 
a flat, square bottom and with eight corners ; in short, it 
would be a rectangular parallelepiped, and I would ask if it 
would be possible, not to say desirable, that such should be 
made of any cavity of decay. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S.. Sc.D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S., SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[PART FOURTH.] 
IN the Dental Cosmos, August, 1895, we have a paper on the 
"Contraction and Expansion of Silver-Tin Amalgams," though 
why it should be called that is not quite apparent, as, against five 
(5) such amalgams tested, there were fifteen (15) testings of 
amalgams composed of from four to six metals in place of 
the three metal "Silver-Tin" amalgams. 
The paper states that the subject of amalgam contraction and 
expansion has been brought prominently before the dental pro. 
fession " from time to time that the general statement has been 
that "some amalgams contract in setting, while some other 
amalgams expand." 
Dr. Black then refers to me, personally, and to my work in 
this connection, with the comment that after reading me care- 
fully, it seemed to him that though I speak of making measure- 
ments and illustrated instruments for this purpose my con" 
elusions are derived mostly from theoretic considerations I 
Evidently he has no higher opinion of my work than I have of 
his ; but it should be remembered that my work (as a part of 
the work of the " New Departure Corps ") was done under the 
auspices of, and by consultation with, six other gentlemen, 
each of whom had a world wide reputation in his specialty. 
Surely if there is any value in combined effort, we seven 
should weigh favorably as against Dr. Black even in the element 
of " science." 
But next he states that " Drs. Hitchcock and Bogue have done 
important woik in the measurement of the contraction and ex- 
pansion of amalgams." 
Note the word important, for of all the work in this connec- 
tion, of which I am cognizant, this was the least important aqd 
was done by the poorest and most inadequate instrument of any 
ever used. 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
But even this was unknown to Dr. Black, for he comments on 
this instrument by the assertion that " the amalgam to be 
measured was pressed upon by a spring which, even though very 
delicately adjusted, would tend to produce the apparent contrac- 
tion measured." 
Here is another instance of the looseness of assertion and the 
"jumping to conclusions" which are so frequently illustrative of 
the " purely scientific " character of the work of Dr. Black, for, 
the spring in the " index micrometer" of Drs. Hitchcock and 
Bogue did not press upon the amalgam but was delicately ad- 
justed to so press upon the index needle as to move it when by 
" shrinkage " a space would otherwise have existed between the 
disk at its lower end and the amalgam against which this rested. 
This pressure was so practically nothing as not to be noticed 
in "expansion" experiments, and when such erroneous criticism 
is made, it seems to me, to be ignorantly finniky rather than 
" scientific." 
But while the "New Departure Corps" work was done in 
part, and very much better done, with an " index micrometer " 
made, with decided improvement over the Hitchcock and Bogue 
instrument, by that excellent mechanician, Mr. Henry Coy (the 
" H. C." formerly in the employ of S S. W.) it was nevertheless 
duplicated, by actual micrometric measurement, by means of 
apparatus which, while neither so complicated nor, possibly, 
nearly so expensive as that used by Dr. Black yet measured both 
"contraction" and "expansion" by the 1000th ot an inch and 
this in lengths of two inches in place of three eights of an inch, 
and by secured ingots, thus compelling all change of bulk to exist 
at only one end, and, finally, thus making the results at least ten 
times as apparent as were the experiments of Dr. Black. 
And conclusions from this work, according to Dr. Black, were 
"derived mostly from theoretic considerations!" 
This work, and all the other work referred to by Dr. Black 
was done from twenty to thirty years ago, and one grand con- 
clusion was reached-viz-that those amalgams which "con- 
tracted" the most had not seriously detrimental contraction, and 
those amalgams which "expanded" the most, (even pure silver 
amalgam) had not seriously detrimental "expansion." while, for 
those amalgams which had finally been "accepted," and for 
which formulae were given in my book on "Plastics," so little of 
either contraction or expansion existed as that further work on 3 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK 
those points was regarded as unnecessary, which conclusion, so 
far as I know, was adhered to until this work of Dr. Black's was 
inaugurated. 
And what is the result of all this further work - a review of 
his tabulated results will show that notwithstanding the most 
peculiar methods of manipulation and introduction of amalgam 
masses (to which I shall refer in place) the few reasonable 
formulae-practically such as have been largely used for 
twenty years-give, almost universally, "margins perfect," while 
when this is not so it is under such manipulation as, I think, no 
decently educated amalgam worker would indulge in. 
But this is not all that should be said of this "magnificent" 
"astounding" "scientific" experimentation, for, what purpose, 
other than the mere passing of time, could possibly be assigned 
for work done with such formulae as- 
Silver 41.92 Silver 42.83 
Tin 5633 Tin 51.62 
Platinum .44 or Copper 4 65 
Zinc .88 Aluminum .55 
Bismuth .44 Gold .01 !! 
Could any combinations of metals for the purpose of making 
dental amalgam alloys be more absurd? One cannot but be re- 
minded of the so-called "shot-gun" prescriptions of general 
medicine, examples which I am able to say are not necessarily 
followed in the practice of dentistry. 
As we pass on in the perusal of this August paper there are so 
many pages of seemingly innocent comments that it is really not 
worth while to comment on them, as for example, "I admire the 
skill displayed in the magnificent velvety fineness of the cut of 
many of our modern alloys"! Perhaps if the scientist had 
investigated as to how it was done, much of the "velvety mag- 
nificence'' might have vanished ; while again, in commenting on 
the relative increase of "expansion" with heavily silver alloys 
and their needed increase of mercury as a solvent for the silver, 
he says "the disposition to expand becomes notable in connection 
with this increase in the amount of mercury required." 
Of this I should say that the disposition to expand, becomes 
notable in connection with this increase in the amount of silver 
in the alloy-for-we recognize that pure silver amalgam is that 
which expands the most notably of all accepted dental amalgams. 
The remaining seven pages of this portion of Dr. Black's work 
I find full of peculiar ideas as to the importance of what I should A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
4 
regard as absolutely unimportant-viz-the effects of undesirable 
and un-used quantities of mercury; the special cuttings of the al- 
loys-just as though the special character of the alloy did not, in 
large degree, compels appropriate cutting-together with the con- 
stant reference to the lesser amount, relatively, of mercury in 
"hand makes" as contrasted with "mortar makes," without any 
apparent knowledge as to why this is so, or, any notice of the 
many decided advantages of the method of "mortar making" 
over "hand making^' as per contra to the very questionable dis- 
advantage of possibly increased shrinkage-which, if an objec- 
tion could most readily be overcome by formulae long since 
known and demonstrated in the enormous " inch and a half" 
tube fillings of class illustration ; and further by the frequent al- 
lusion to the " muslin wringing" (at this late date of amalgam 
work !) and finally by mention, with approbation, and, wonder- 
ful to relate, as though it were something new ! of the removal 
of softened material and the adding of more material " until the 
cavity is more than full, and then finish down," a manipulation 
which has been recognized as most desirable and has been 
taught for more than twenty five years ! 
All this together with the remarkable (to use the mildest pos- 
sible term) length of time consumed in the introducing of these 
"amalgam test fillings" seems to preclude any other criticism 
than an expression of pity and wonder that such matter could 
have been offered, accepted and extolled. 
Not only was from nearly to over an hour consumed in the 
packing of each of these " tests," but one was noted as " quickly 
and lightly" with 25 minutes given as the time! 
What can be said of such " work " as this?-Only, that it/re- 
pares us for such material as was not only contributed to. but 
published and endorsed Rs " evidence " that the Dental Cosmos 
was " alert to bear the tidings of its discoveries to the dental pro- 
fession ; " and it bore them to it semi-periodically! until the 
glorious revelations culminated in that tidal wave of scientific 
scintillation which I shall note as making memorable in dental 
literature the month of December, 1896. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S, SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[part fifth.] 
In the Cosmos, Sept. 1895, we have a continuation of the 
contributions by Dr. Greene V. Black which commences in a 
manner so " short, sharp and decisive " as to fairly make one 
laugh- 
"copper amalgam.'' 
' ' Copper amalgam seems to have failed in the clinical trial 
that has been made of it in filling teeth.'' 
On reading this I wondered what those who had used ' 'copper 
amalgam '' for from thirty to almost fifty years, and had seen 
hundreds, aye, thousands of fillings, some of which had been 
doing service ever since Dr. Black was a little boy, made from 
the good old-fashioned " Sullivan's Amalgam '' would think of 
this portion of this ' ' astounding ' ' work !- 
My conclusion was that they would agree to the propriety of 
this adjective, even though they might possibly disagree with 
the others of the remarbable list which have been so lavishly 
utilized. 
If Dr. Black had stated that the ' ' chemically pure ' ' 
"scientifically compounded'' "made by a new process'' 
' ' hydraulically compressed ' ' " electrolytically precipitated ' ' 
copper amalgams, which though pronounced "best'' by 
numbers of practitioners who had never used any kind of 
"copper amalgams'' before, had yet disappointed their expec- 
tations ! his assertion might have shown some knowledge of 
his subject, but to write as he did of a material which, com- 
paratively recently, was extolled in a Presidential address be- 
fore the British Dental Association as a " reliance,'' and which 
has made ' ' clinically ' ' a record second only to ' ' coin amal- 
gam '' in the saving of teeth, is so glaring an illustration of Dr. 
Black's peculiar methods of ' ' experimentation ' ' that attention 
may profitably, perhaps, be directed to them. 
In the first place, as usual, he " had for examination a num- 
ber of specimens of the material as furnished by the trade," 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
(italics mine) instead of properly making for himself a sample 
of such material as had made for itself a record of half a 
century. 
He then proceeds to manipulate, a la Black, and not in the 
least a la anybody else, to determine how many pounds pressure 
would be required to crush a test filling, utterly ignoring, as a 
matter of not the least moment, the fact that in fifty years of 
proper trial no one had ever known of one filling having been 
crushed in the using 
And such mixes and manoeuvers with these ' ' specimens ' ' 
never, had before been heard of. 
Masses were " prepared," well kneaded and laid aside-then 
at intervals of two days again prepared, and so worked on, 
showing a marked decrease in resistance to crushing pressure- 
and these results brought him to another of his remarkable 
" conclusions." 
This was, that " this deterioration is sufficient to deter me 
from making use of any residue of copper amalgams in the 
future." 
It counts for nothing with him that ' ' copper amalgam ' ' 
with those who are accustomed to using it, has given results 
which make it a reliance to them in time of need; with him it 
" seems to have failed in the clinical trial of it in filling teeth." 
It counts for nothing that the habit of utilizing the ' ' scraps ' ' 
of ' ' copper amalgam ' ' has been universal with those who use 
it, and has been so for generations ! and without any apparent 
reasons for its discontinuance having been observed; as the 
results of his "thorough," "wonderful," "magnificent," 
"exhaustive" "scientific" crushing! will deter him, from 
making use of any residue of copper amalgams in the future! 
One might naturally ask why, with such almost universal 
' ' washing out ' ' and with the failure which has seemed to at- 
tend its trial in filling teeth, he should ever waste time or 
energy upon copper amalgam when we have so many filling 
materials that have seemed, clinically, to subserve an accept- 
able purpose; and the more does this question become pertinent 
when he has definitely " concluded" that " there is no basis for 
the selection and adaptation of filling-materials to soft teeth, 
hard teeth, frail teeth (in structure), or poorly-calcified teeth." A REVIEW OE THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
But there appear to be discrepancies in the scientific consider- 
ation of copper amalgam; for it is stated that he thinks "it is 
generally acknowledged that copper amalgam fillings retain 
good margins, when they are once made good, better or more 
perfectly than any other filling material.'' 
This is surely a peculiar " think,'' for although I think that 
the ' ' piece to piece ' ' gold fillings largely introduced at pres- 
ent, are not to be credited with any remarkable maintenance of 
good margins, I also think that when a soft foil gold filling is 
' ' once made good ' ' its ' retention of excellent margins is un- 
excelled.. 
" Copper amalgam does not flow, '' see Cosmos, Sept. 1895, 
page 739. What a comforting assertion this must be to those 
who regard " flow '' as an attribute of paramount importance ; 
but how completely worthless must this statement be to those 
who regard ' ' flow ' ' as an attribute unworthy of the least 
consideration ; and this especially in view of the dreadful 
" washing out!' ' 
For more than twenty years the notable control of copper 
over the shrinkage of amalgam mass has been known and 
taught as one of the results of " New Departure Corps.'' work, 
and now this attribute is re-discovered in the use of the " We- 
delstadet steel test-tubes !" Truly a " remarkable '' perform- 
ance, and "eminently'' illustrative of the "wonderful'' 
progress of ' ' science. ' ' 
It is beginning (but only beginning I} to be explained how 
it was that this " work '' was so enthusiastically received and 
so rapturously applauded by those eminents who, even yet, 
' ' seem ' ' to know so very little about even that most useful of 
all "plastics," amalgam. 
No wonder so many of the "leaders" in dentistry (stom- 
atology ?) regarded this " first scientific effort " in its direction 
as " magnificent as a " remarkable " (in this they are right) 
line of experiment ; as a " valuable contribution to dental 
literature "; as a " milestone in the future progress of 
dentistry ' '; even as ' ' paralysing ' '; for it was all new to them, 
and so strangely new that it astonished them, as a sort of 
dental " liquid air !" 
No wonder they thought it " exhaustive." 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
And what is the summing up of all this " copper amalgam " 
work? Page 740-" From the foregoing it is easy to under- 
stand why copper amalgam fillings, when well placed in 
properly-prepared cavities, retain their perfect margins and the 
color of the tooth structure." 
What a compliment this is to those dentists who by their 
use of copper amalgam for so many, many years, have gained 
for it its enviable clinical record ; but, on the other hand what 
a scathing arraignment of those in whose hands " copper 
amalgam seems to have failed in the clinical trial that has been 
made of it in filling teeth." 
Clearly this must have been due to one of three things : 
either to the ' ' specimens furnished for examination by the 
trade " ; or, that the fillings were not " well placed"; or, that 
they were not introduced into " properly-prepared cavities'9 
How is this for the phenomenal "progress" of latter day 
dentistry ? But the last paragraph of this copper amalgam 
" science " is the paralyzer ! 
When copper amalgam " has once hardened in adaptation 
to the walls of the cavity, the adaptation is permanent. It 
does not suffer change of form under stress ; and if the cavity 
has been properly prepared the tooth material is strong enough 
to support the filling against the stress of mastication." 
This last statement is peculiar in view of the fact (page 738) 
that when his specimen material was worked dry as possible, 
as it always should be, it " bore a stress of from two hundred 
to two hundred and fifty-five pounds." 
One would think that, under such circumstances, it might 
be able to support itself, without any aid from the tooth 
material ! 
But now comes an unqualified assertion which I regard as 
fortunate, for the work of saving teeth, that it comes from so 
questionable an " authority " as Dr. Black. He says "These 
physical conditions give copper amalgam fillings permanence, 
and fully explain that which has been seen in clinical observa- 
tion. The power of the material in the arrest of caries is in 
these physical properties, not in any chemical or disinfectant 
property of the copper or its salts." 
This is merely Dr. Black's "say so," and surely is ample 
ground for discussion. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.D. 
BY J FOSTER FLAGG, D D S, SWARTHMORE, PA 
[PART SIXTH.] 
It seems to me proper to commence this paper with a repeti- 
tion of the concluding lines of " Part Fifth," for I desire in 
this way to impress them for consideration as, in my.opinion, 
they embody a definite individual attack upon the only theory 
for the saving of teeth by appropriate filling materials that has 
ever been given to dentistry- 
Dr. Black states that when copper amalgam " has once 
hardened in adaptation to the walls of the cavity, the adap- 
tation is permanent. It does not suffer changes of form under 
stress ; and if the cavity has been properly prepared, the tooth- 
material is strong enough to support the filling against the 
stress of mastication. These physical conditions give copper 
amalgam fillings permanence, and fully explain that which has 
been seen in clinical observation. The power of the material 
in the arrest of caries is in these physical properties, not in 
any chemical or disinfectant property of the copper or its salts. 
These physical properties recommend this material so highly 
that it seems to me to call for a further study of the modes of 
production for the purpose of obtaining the material of maxi- 
mum strength, and for the discovery of means of obviating the 
wasting from the surface of the fillings. In the first of my 
study of the material, as has been mentioned, it struck me that 
the wasting might be due to the looseness of the cohesion of 
its particles, or that it was purely a physical wearing away that 
could be obviated by a better mode of preparation. Further 
study, however, has caused me to doubt this. It seems more 
probable that the cause of the difficulty is a question for the 
chemist." 
Shade of Sullivan ! that these should be the ' ' conclusions ' ' 
of the ' ' only scientific investigation ' ' of copper amalgam after 
yours has been doing acceptable service for an entire genera- 
tion. 
"A question for the chemist !v This may be the Black - 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
sonian method of shifting the responsibility, but "the 
chemist '' does not seem to materialize. 
But there is vastly more than such trifles as chemistry might 
settle, in these lines of Dr. Black. The whole Palmer theory 
of ' ' Consonance of Potential ' ' is scattered to the winds ! 
It would certainly not be in place to discuss this question 
here, but I wish to emphasize what seems to me a mere asser- 
tion as contra to the satisfactory, and almost universal, saving 
of teeth, which has resulted from the acceptance of that theory 
and from teaching its practice as the basis of all the " New 
Departure ' ' work. 
For more than twenty years the two theories of "failure 
from imperfect adaptation of filling material'' and "failure 
from disonance of potential between filling material and tooth- 
bone '' have been before " the profession,'' and what has been 
the result ? 
Gold, worked in the "highest style of the art'' is, even 
yet, lauded by some (not many !) as, in all cases, the " best ''- 
the plastics, worked by the incompetents, the inferior operators, 
the cheap dentists, the slovenly men, have come to be the 
practical champions, for the "consonance of potential'' 
theory, and, with all their objectionable attributes, with all 
their "leakage,'' their "loss from attrition,''their discolor- 
ation,'' and their "unsatisfactory'' results! I would ask is 
gold in the majority numerically? are not plastics, with " all 
their imperfections '' steadily gaining in relativity as to using? 
and are teeth less well preserved than formerly ? and yet, in 
the face of all this we are told, categorically, that closeness of 
apposition and permanence of adaptation are the conditions 
which "give copper amalgam fillings permanence and fully 
explain that which has been seen in clinical observation 
"which brings us naturally and very satisfactorily (?) to Dr. 
Black's first assertion " copper amalgam seems to have failed 
in the clinical trial that has been made of it in filling teeth.'' 
Perhaps it may be correct to style scientific investigation ' ' ad- 
mirable," "magnificent," "astounding," "profound," and 
" milestoneian," but it seems to me that " paralyzing !" suits 
it best ! 
For Dr. Black's " Examination of Gold," {Dental Cosmos, 3 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
September, 1895, Page 740.) I have nothing to say as, after 
carefully reading the more than sixteen pages, I found nothing 
of interest to me or to the work I have been doing for the past 
twenty-five years. 
During all this time I have had no teeth to care for except 
such as entail very expensive, very painful, very fatiguing, 
and not altogether very satisfactory results, when the efforts 
are made with gold, even when worked by the best operators 
-as I have known them as the " best "-it has therefore been 
but reasonable that I should not have used gold in my practice 
as a filling material, so I leave these sixteen pages without 
comment and without regret ! 
In the Cosmos for January, 1896, we have a paper which 
purports to give " The Effect of Oxidation on Cut Alloys for 
Dental Amalgams," and again I am referred to as saying that 
' ' no amalgam is fit for use until it has been cut at least two 
months." (Plastics and Plastic Filling, Page 65.) 
I wish it distinctly understood that I should be ashamed to 
quote Dr. Black as incorrectly as he quotes me, but I should 
be more ashamed of myself if I were in the habit of writing 
as loosely as does Dr. Black even when he attempts to quote. 
I have given, I think, sufficient instances of loose writing, 
incorrect statements, erroneous apprehensions, etc., in my 
reviews of these papers of Dr. Black, but I recognize that 
these short-comings are individual attributes and temperamen- 
tal peculiarities, but I cannot do other than condem a quotation 
given in any other words than those of the quoted author- 
and I never write amalgam when I mean alloy, nor alloy 
when I mean amalgam. 
My views regarding cut alloys were formed from frequent 
and long continued testings, as to practical results, and twenty 
years of added experience has only served to confirm them, my 
reasons for prefering them ' ' aged ' ' rather than ' ' fresh cut ' ' 
being that the ''working quality " during the making into 
amalgam and during the introduction of the filling was de- 
cidedly improved, while the more deliberate setting ; the suf- 
ficient edge-strength ; the equal maintenance or loss of color 
(as desired) and the non-importance of the variation in shrink- 
age experiments were regarded as confirmatory evidence of the 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
value of "ageing."- 
Dr. Black continues in his usual assertive way by saying 
that ' ' This ageing is nothing more nor less than a slight oxi- 
dation of the cut alloy brought about slowly at ordinary 
temperatures by more or less contact with the air, and I shall 
drop the term ageing and use the better term oxidation." 
Note-It may be well to say here that after eleven months and the giving of 
eight pages of such experiments as would seem appropriate pastime for one of 
ample means without amusement, Dr. Black states definitely that " oxida- 
tion has nothing to do with it."- Cosmos, December, 1896, Page 969. 
It is unquestionably proper for Dr. Black to say that what he has said is not 
so when he finds that out, but it would seem " better " not to say a thing until 
the thing was found to be so, especially when it is stated definitely that these 
contributions are the results of " scientific investigations" and "the pro- 
fession " so needs science. 
Dr. Black then says that ' ' any means that will rapidly 
induce such a degree of oxidation as will occur normally at 
common temperatures within two to four months, produces 
like results." 
He then says " It may be done by subjecting the cut alloy 
to boiling water for a few moments, or, for a greater effect, 
from ten to fifteen minutes and then drying at room tempera- 
ture," and all this is given without any acknowledgment that 
this "heat ageing " is from "plastics" also, where fifteen 
years agoxX was given and credited to Dr. J. F. Siddall, who 
suggested it. 
Not only is this method of " ageing " (which I will yet 
submit as the " better " term) given in " Plastics " but heat 
and time are the only agencies which have been used for ' ' age- 
ing " from that time to this ; indeed, if careful note is made, 
it will be found that everything of any value, methods, 
formulae, attributes, etc., pertaining to amalgam in Dr. Black's 
papers has been given, long since, by " New Departure " ex- 
periments and teachings, while the remainder will be criticised, 
seriatim, as it has been contributed and published. 
It is depressing to meet constantly such statements as "it 
would appear that good non-shrinking alloys containing other 
metals, as gold, zinc, etc., may be made, though some changes 
in formulae will be required," or again, " From all that I have 5 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BRACK. 
thus far seen it appears that we must give up soft, smooth 
working alloys if we are to have amalgams that do not shrink ' ' 
for, on the one hand, it would seem that "science" should 
suggest some desirable changes in formulae, while on the other 
it appears that the "shrinkage'' is the monster which ever 
appals the " scientist,'' or again, " Mercury is not the element 
that causes the shrinkage of amalgams " !! surely one might 
suppose that the Sphinx was doing business, so oracular are 
these enunciations. 
Who ever thought it was the mercury ? 
Or again " the usual methods of washing with ether (?) or 
alcohol proved to be of no value though apparently much oxid 
was removed." 
It is only about tzventy-five years since this was taught in the 
Philadelphia Dental College, and it is more than twenty years 
since Mr. Fletcher, of England, demonstrated even more, that 
it was detrimental-so it does really seem quite time that Dr. 
Black should tell us of it. 
And now for the grand finale of this January paper. " It 
is evident, from the results of these tests, that changes must 
be made in the commercial handling of this material." 
It is//zA, then, which has caused this terrible upheaval in the 
ways of doing the " alloy business I" 
It is no wonder that this branch of the supply houses has 
been shaken to its center ! 
And zvhat is this tremendous change that has occurred-and 
all from this work of Dr. Black's ? 
And echo answers " What !" REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D D S, SWARTHMORE, PA- 
[PART SEVENTH.] 
We have now reached that contribution to the December 
Cosmos of 1896, to which I have referred as "a tidal 
wave of scientific scintillation" and it now remains to show 
why I so regarded it. But first I desire to note the paper read 
before the New York Odontological Society, January 21st, 
1896, by Dr. Black as being his next effort, together with the 
discussion which followed and to say that the entirety might, 
I think, be re-discussed with much profit to that important 
factor of the future-the coming generation of dentists !- 
Some years ago a gentleman in discussing amalgam said that 
certain points had been definitely settled by experiments done 
under Govermental auspices at Washington by request of Dr. 
Patrick. In reply to questions regarding these, I have Dr. 
Patrick's letter stating that " no such experiments were ever 
done!" In like manner Dr. Black states that ''Dr. Brown, 
of Duluth, only a few years ago, estimated the average endur- 
ance of fillings" (gold) ''at three years." I have Dr. Brown, 
of Duluth's letter saying that such a statement is quite con- 
trary to what he believes to have been his own experience. I 
only refer to this as another of the inaccuracies which so 
frequently mar the absolutely scientific perfection of the line of 
''work" which I am reviewing, and which, it might seem, 
ought to have been known to those who have used their 
eminently extolling adjectives before they so exuberantly in- 
dulged. 
The December, 1896, article on " The Physical Properties of 
the Silver, Tin Amalgams," 26 pages in length, after the 
usual verbose introduction, states that " The end and aim of 
this work was to find the means of keeping cut alloys in good 
condition for use, for it was certain that by the mode of hand- 
ling in vogue there could be no certainty that an alloy sent out 
in good condition by the manufacturer would reach his 
customer in suitable condition for filling teeth." 
If there is any science in the art of stuffing " men of straw" 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
for the purpose of standing them up to be knocked at, it seems 
to me that Dr. Black is a " Master " in such work, for to read 
him, it would appear as though he was trying to get at the 
reason for the sack-cloth and ashes which has so covered the 
making and dispensing of alloys, and has so depressed the 
' ' customers ' ' in their unfortunate and dreadfully unsatis- 
factory using of them as made into amalgam, that practically, 
alloys have ceased to be purchased, and amalgam has naturally 
become an obsolete filling material ! 
It is all because his " experiments " have shown that not- 
withstanding the perfection of original manufacture of alloys, 
the mode of handling in their distribution gives no other cer- 
tainty than that by the time they reach the customers they 
will be unsuitable for making material with which to fill teeth. 
It surely does seem a pity indeed that this was not found out 
before so many hundreds of tons were used in the futile efforts 
to save teeth, but it is " better late than never" even though 
' ' the profession ' ' has lost that which for so many years was so 
foolishly regarded as a valuable (?) filling material, "when 
used with proper care and discrimination.'' 
So much for that ' ' man of straw. ' ' 
But how can comment be made on the " work "-which was 
detailed at length in six pages-except that it was probably 
one of the most singularly ingenious, and the most patiently 
painstaking line of experiments to find out something without 
finding out anything that is on record in the annals of den- 
tistry. 
Among the hundreds I have asked about these experiments 
I have not yet found one who had read them closely enough to 
give me an opinion of them ; but, that they were utterly im- 
practical, and that they accomplished nothing of value, is the 
record which I find as the result of their careful perusal. 
And yet it was these which finally induced Dr. Black to 
state definitely that his "better" term of "oxidation" for 
that of " ageing," that eleven months before he said he would 
" drop," was not a better term for he now states that " Oxi- 
dation has nothing to do with it." Page 969. 
And now, having finished all this, he says, " Indeed when I 
came to analyze my findings I had not yet learned much about 3 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
the matter, ' ' with which I think we can all agree, but as all 
the evidence seemed to point to temperature as a factor capable 
of producing this change in cut alloys, which has always been 
known simply as "ageing," Dr. Black began to make 
"preparations for the study of thermal influences on cut 
alloys in a methodical way." 
Naturally the first adjunct taken into the service was an 
"ice plant," which together with a "south window" and 
some ' ' incubating ovens ' ' certainly was a sufficiency of ap- 
paratus ; while as the result of the work done it was found 
that "shrinkage"-notable shrinkage-i-ioooth, was the 
usual result of " ageing"-but all this was with three metal 
amalgams-Silver 65 ;-Tin 35. 
Among the many ' ' best ' ' alloys in the market there may 
be one which is made from that formula, but among the dozens 
which I have analyzed, or had analyzed, I have never met it. 
And it would seem that either a ' ' chemist " or a " scientist ' ' 
could have suggested ' ' some change in formula ' ' which would 
have overcome the difficulty-but instead of this comes the 
ever recurring groan, "It is little wonder that amalgam has 
been an uncertain filling material "- 
Just as though it has been ! instead of having proven itself, 
as Dr. J. Washington Clowes has so truthfully said, to have 
" come in the order of the Divine beneficence to supply an im- 
perative need." 
But now I find another something, which is that ' ' In his 
work on plastics and plastic fillings, Dr. Flagg states that 
alloys may be aged by shaking in a bottle. ' ' 
As I do not remember ever to have shaken any alloys in a 
bottle for any purpose whatever I was surprised to find myself 
the basis for the experiments which followed, but as they 
seemed to prove that even violent and long continued shaking 
of alloys in a bottle would not produce the effect which has for 
so many years been obtained by heat and by time I do not like 
to be charged by Dr. Black with saying that it would, for I 
never said so. 
If Dr. Black had read me with ' ' one ten thousandth ' ' the 
care I have taken the trouble to read him, perhaps the " Kel- 
logg Bros.' machine shop" and the " Wright's noiseless doffer 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BRACK. 
comb on second breaker''' would never have been brought into 
requisition, but as they have been I am perfectly willing to ac- 
cept Dr. Black's statement that this tremendous shaking does 
not ' ' age ' ' alloy, as I never had any reason to suppose it 
would. 
It seems as though Dr. Black has at last found out just 
what we have always known, viz. that heat and time will " age " 
alloy-but this at best is only corroborative science for, as I have 
said, so far as I know, no other means are ever employed. 
But now the "scintillations" begin to crop out, for the 
matter found on page 973 has but few parallels in dental liter- 
ature-I certainly think that every dentist should read it care- 
fully if only to be positive as to what kind of material is re- 
garded, editorially, as "likely to serve as a milestone in the 
future progress of dentistry." 
For my part I will say that with the two exceptions of the 
' ' Harvardian method of making Gutta Percha stopping ' as 
given by H. C. Meriam, D. M. D. ; on page 48 of the Cosmos 
for January, 1887, and the teachings regarding "asepsis and 
antisepsis in practice'' by W. D. Miller; M. D. ; D. D, S. ; 
pp. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Cosmos for January, 1893, from the 
"Cleansing of the Hands" to the "Drinking Glasses" 
thoroughly rinsed in hydrant water ! I do not know of any 
contributions that rival it. 
He says : ' ' Perhaps it would be well before going on to the 
next step taken in this work to state briefly the plans of ma- 
nipulation adopted in making test fillings. The material for 
each filling is weighed as closely as one twentieth of a grain, and 
with the formula, silver 65, tin 35, the proportions are fifty per 
cent, of alloy to fifty per cent, of mercury. This is partially 
amalgamated by stirring (not grinding) in a mortar until all of 
the cuttings are engaged with the mercury. This is to prevent 
the loss of material that will occur if this part of the mixing 
is done in the hand. All of the work is done over a sheet of 
clean white paper so that loss may be prevented. Now the 
mix is turned into the hand and kneaded to softness. In every 
case, no matter what the alloy, this mass must be soft enough 
to readily take good impressions of the skin markings of the 
fingers without being sloppy to knead. A mass that is sloppy A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
5 
soft cannot be properly kneaded. When a strange formula is 
taken up, the proportion of mercury that will do this is to be 
found by experiment before fillings are made, or if from any 
cause, such a mix is not obtained, the mass is thrown aside and 
a new one made. 
The kneaded mass is now weighed to see if any, or how 
much, loss has occurred in the mixing, and the record made. 
It is particularly noted as to whether there is any, or how 
much, stiffening of the mass during the time of the weighing, 
as indicating the quickness or slowness of the setting. These 
records being made in brief, the mass is again turned into the 
hand and kneaded, in case a little stiffening has occurred, 
into condition for wringing out the excess of mercury. It is 
then wrapped in strong muslin, so that a good hard-hold can 
be had to either end, and twisted with about all the strength 
of my hands. The mass usually made for these test fillings 
weighs one hundred and forty grains when blocks for trial of 
flow and crushing stress are to be made, or cue hundred and 
twenty to one hundred and thirty grains when only the tube 
filling is to be made ; and it requires about three times the 
power to produce the same dryness in a mass of this size as 
the usual mass made for filling teeth. Now the mass, as 
wrung out, is again weighed to determine the amount of mer- 
cury lost. After this record is made, the packing of the filling 
is proceeded with, using a very broad serrated point for the 
main portion of the work, but going around the margins with 
a smaller instrument, being careful to use only such force as 
will compress, and not cut into, the material. If in packing 
the surface of the material becomes soft or muddy, it is dried 
out by heavy pressure with a large rubber point that when 
strongly pressed upon, just fills the diameter of the cavity. 
The cavity is filled more than full, and dressed down level, 
and then a steel disk one-hundredth of an inch thick is pressed 
into the surface in the center of the filling, as a contact point 
for the micrometer in taking measurements. Amalgam is again 
packed on the surface of the filling, and it is again dressed 
down level and finished as perfectly as possible, so that its 
margin may be in the best practicable condition for micro- 
scopic examination. The filling is not touched afterward." 6 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
I close this portion of my ' ' Review ' ' with this quotation 
that it may be read and digested by those amalgam workers 
whose results have not shown it to be " an uncertain filling 
material," whose work has not been so " universally unsatis- 
factory " AND WHO, BY A RADICALLY DIFFERENT METHOD OF 
MANIPULATION FROM THAT EMPLOYED BY DR. BLACK HAVE 
COME TO REGARD THIS PLASTIC AS THEIR BEST RELIANCE FOR 
THE SAVING OF THOSE TEETH WHICH DEMAND THEIR MOST 
STRENUOUS AND EVEN MOST HOPELESS EFFORTS. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREEN V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc..D. 
BY J FOSTER FLAGG, D D S., SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[Part Eighth] 
As I have said, I closed the seventh portion of my "Re- 
view '' with the " plans of manipulation adopted in mak- 
ing test fillings,'' as given by Dr. Black, that it might be again 
read by amalgam workers. 
It must be admitted that of all amalgam work ' ' test fillings ' ' 
should be made as amalgam should be worked for the purpose 
for which it is used, and I would ask 
First. What is the need or advantage of weighing the 
materials for making an amalgam mass of from 120 to 140 
grains (from 5 to 6 dwts !) "as closely as one-twentieth of 
a grain ? ' ' 
As the proportions given are equal parts of alloy and mer- 
cury it would give us 60 or 70 grains of each, and would it be 
possible for any ' ' test ' ' to distinguish between an amalgam 
made from 60 grains of alloy and 60 grains of mercury and 
one made from 59 grains of alloy and 61 grains of mercury, 
or from 61 grains of alloy and 59 grains of mercury ? I have 
made such, and though I did not test for either "crush'' or 
' ' flow ' ' I did test for every attribute pertaining to practical 
work and can say that the two makes were much nearer alike 
than are, usually, amalgams that make good, satisfactory, 
everyday fillings. 
This, with me, would put the " one-twentieth of a grain '' 
weighing, in the category of absurdity rather than in that of 
" science.'' 
It is then stated that this mingled alloy and mercury is to 
be "partially amalgamated by stirring (not grinding) in a 
mortar." 
If the next thirteen lines do not speak for themselves I feel 
utterly incompetent to speak for them, for, I think it will be 
conceded by all experienced amalgam workers, that if the 
utilization of this ' ' plastic ' ' had been left to such dh^c^ig 
hundreds of thousands of teeth now saved would^Wve been 
lost, as few would have adopted any such peculiar/ methods. 
Second. " The kneaded mass is now weighedA'^nptJe'.fife 2 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
weighings and for what purposes) " to see if any, or how much 
loss has occurred in the mixing, ' ' and it is particularly noted 
about the stiffening of the mass during the time of weighing 
as indicating the quickness or slowness of setting ! Verily we 
must say " vive la humbug." All these records having been 
made we are ready " for wringing out the excess of mercury." 
For 60 years at least the chamois skin has been used as the 
medium through which to express the excess of mercury, and 
for more than ten years it has been known that by this means 
nothing but mercury is taken away, and, that the amalgam is 
composed of the metals originally introduced plus the mercury 
remaining. 
It has long been known that the mercury expressed, which 
has been facetiously styled a " fluid amalgam,'' is about as 
much that as would a tiny lump of sugar make an hogshead of 
water eau sucre ! and yet ' ' science ' ' has relegated the chamois 
skin and the watering plyers to the shade and the amalgam 
mass of Dr. Black " is then wrapped in strong muslin, so that 
a good hand-hold can be had to either end, and twisted with 
about all the strength ' ' of his hands. 
This may be one of the indications of the * ' vast progress ' ' 
made by ' ' the profession ' ' during the recent past. 
Third. ''Now the mass, as wrung out, is again weighed 
to determine the amount of mercury lost." 
It really seems as though time was a factor of not the slight- 
est importance in ''scientific" testing work. It would seem 
as though the introduction of the amalgam would be in order 
after it was ready for use by the wringing out of the excess of 
mercury-and it would equally seem reasonable that the 
amount of mercury lostlff could be determined by weighing 
it, and that this could be determined any time that day, or 
that week, or that month, without stopping to weigh the mass 
for that purpose-so we have to suppose that the method 
given is the " scientific " way of doing it. 
Fourth. ''After this record is made the packing of the 
filling is proceeded with, using a very broad serrated point for 
the main portion of the work, but going around the margins 
with a smaller instrument, being careful to use only such force 
as will compress, and not cut into, the material." And this 3 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
is Dr. Black's method of introducing an amalgam filling. 
Forty years ago I remember to have used, as did many 
others of those days, serrated instruments for packing amal- 
gam, but I also remember that we gradually changed to smooth 
ends, and, that for the past twenty-five years, I have known 
of no one who was using smooth ended pluggers that has ever 
changed back to serrated points. It is possible that this 
method of operating may account for the time expended in 
making a filling-(from 25 minutes to over an hour !) but I 
should regard any method which entailed such unnecessary 
expenditure of time as unworthy any consideration and not 
likely to have any extended adoption. 
By actual experiment the weighing, mortar rubbing, knead- 
ing, introducing, wafering (twice or thrice) and finishing of 
an amalgam test filling, weighing 160 grains of material, 
should consume about 25 minutes. If of 60 silver-35 tin-5 
copper alloy, and the " make " is equal parts alloy and mer- 
cury, the expressed mercury would be about 25 grains and the 
refuse amalgam about 5 grains. 
Fifth. " If in packing the surface of the material be- 
comes soft or muddy, it is dried out by heavy pressure with a 
large rubber point that when strongly pressed upon, just fills 
the diameter of the cavity." 
This method is not only ingenious, but, in actual practice 
would seem to be especially well adapted for fillings to be in- 
troduced upon the distal faces of lower second molars with the 
third molar in place ! And finally, ''the cavity is filled more 
than full, and dressed down level," and then the one-hun- 
dredth of an inch thick steel disk is pressed into the surface, 
and then ''amalgam is again packed on the surface of the 
filling, and it is again dressed down level '' and " the filling is 
not touched afterward," and no mention is made of weighing 
the amalgam thus discarded nor of the material (" fluid amal- 
gam !") lost in drying out the " mud " by the heavy rubber 
pressure. Surely the excessive accuracy of the commence- 
ment of this work is in remarkable contrast to the seeming 
carelessness and utter disregard of material at its conclusion- 
but this is astoundingly endorsed as ' ' science. ' ' 
But now having used all this space and given all this minutiae 4 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OE PROF. BLACK. 
Dr. Black tells us that when he came to study alloys having 
a larger proportion of silver-though one might suppose that 
65 silver would practically cover the ground of to-day-that 
such might even require to be "ground in the mortar" to obtain 
tire best strength-as though any were not plenty strong 
enough-and the best working property. 
As I have taught this for more than twenty years, and as 
Dr. Black has so misrepresented me before, it seems to me that 
it would have been appropriate in this connection for him to 
have said-as Dr. Flagg has said in " Plastics," p. 90, and has 
TAUGHT for so many years ! 
And now after another page or two Dr. Black definitely ac- 
cepts the two old conclusions or ' ' strongly intrenched empirical 
notions" that heat and time will " age " alloy, and that he 
will use the term " annealing " when artificial ageing is meant. 
This term has, at least, the merit of great originality, as the 
process of softening metals, which have become hardened from 
any cause, by heat, is so seldom called " annealing !" 
But what is this ' ' scientific scintillation ' ' which we find on 
p. 976? 
It is an ' ' explanation ' ' which is suggested briefly as a sci- 
entific reasoning as pertaining to this peculiar study of the 
* ' ageing ' ' of alloy. 
" In the cutting of an alloy the violence used hardens it, pro- 
ducing an allotropic condition of the metal, in which its chem- 
ical relations to mercury are profoundly changed. High tem- 
peratures, or even ordinary temperatures acting for a consider- 
able time, have the effect of annealing the cut alloy and re- 
storing its normal condition." 
It seems to me that these few lines will bear considerable 
study, for as an example of high style, scientific science they 
appear to be almost unapproachable. 
What do they mean ? 
How do they explain ? 
They remind me of old uncle Zeke's " explanation " of the 
mysteries of creation :- 
" De katerak ob de heabenly bodees, and de flow ob de 
loona seezuns, kondistutes de ontirc wampus ob de univuss " 
And now I would ask, seriously, is there not just as much 5 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
sense in the one as in the other ? 
' ' Allotropic " is a good word to begin with ; it is so defi- 
nitely descriptive of the result recognized ; but it is feeble in 
comparison with "profoundly," for that word so accurately 
measures the extent of the change which has taken place ; but 
the culmination of elucidation is found in the information 
given as to what it is that is so changed. It is the metal's 
chemical relations to mercury ! 
Just as though anybody knows anything about the chemical 
relations existing between the metal and mercury. 
And it is such material as this for which " Pointers" are 
given a whole year in advance ! as ' ' evidence that the spirit of 
scientific inquiry is wide awake,'' and that the Muezzin is way 
up, on the very pinnacle of the minaret, " alert to bear the tid- 
ings of its discoveries to the dental profession." 
What a record ! 
We have then, with all its meaningless ambiguity, an " ex- 
planation " of the youthfulness of freshly cut amalgam alloy. 
It is "an allotropic condition of the metal, in which its 
chemical relations to mercury are profoundly changed " ! 
It is a fortunate thing indeed for dentistry that this allotro- 
pia, and these undesirable "chemical relations to mercury," 
can be so "profoundly " removed, either by " time ageing " 
or by afew minutes of gentle heating, as suggested by Dr. J. 
F. Siddall, and accredited to him sixteen years ago. See " Plas- 
tics " Appendix, Section i. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREEN V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc..D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S. SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[Part Ninth] 
After having given us the "explanation '' relating to fresh 
cut alloy to which I referred in my last paper, and which 
Dr. Black called a " thinkable '' one ! we reach a peculiar part 
of even this startling portion of these contributions to the 
" wide awake spirit of scientific inquiry.'' 
This is nearly ten pages of what to me was the most tire- 
some to read of all the records of this work ; and it seemed as 
though this was due to the evidently earnest effort to get at 
something which was so " willow-the-wisp-y '' as to be simply 
fatigueingly elusive, and that therefore the " work " amounted, 
practically, to nothing. 
It appears to be an attempt to systematize either Dr. Siddall's 
idea of "heat ageing'' by boiling water, or, by "dry heat 
ageing '' (solar or oven) and thus accomplish a definite result. 
Dr. Siddall's method is utilized " by placing the cut alloy in 
a small flask blown on the end of a glass tube a foot or more 
long, and immersing the flask in boiling water." 
When it is known that Dr. Siddall's method is equally well 
utilized by every possible way of subjecting " fresh " filings 
to boiling water heat, from merely putting them into the water 
and afterward pouring the water off and letting them dry, to 
placing them into " any convenient receptacle " (Plastics, Ap- 
pendix, Sec. i,) as a tin cup, or kettle, as a few ounces, or 
hundreds, of alloy are to be "heat aged" and then partially 
immersing it, the particular need for the blown glass tube or 
any other special piece of apparatus would appear question- 
able. 
As I have said, it seems to me that for the most part (and 
very largely the most) the work detailed in these ten pages 
amounts, practically to nothing, and it is therefore difficult to 
explain why it is that Dr. Black expends so much time, thought 
and energy upon impossible alloys, unless it be from an invin- 2 
REVIEW OE THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
cible desire to obtain an unmodified silver-tin amalgam for fill- 
ing teeth. 
This, of itself, would appear to be so utterly impracticable 
as to place work for obtaining it in the list of " useless." 
However, for a first discovery (?) it was stated that an alloy 
can be over-annealed ; while the danger from this is said to be 
its " gravitating back to a condition of expansion." 
Compare this result with that warning given by " New De- 
parture " work nearly twenty yearsago-(Plastics, Appendix, 
Sec. i.) ' ' An excessive degree of heat will render fresh fil- 
ings of 'excellent' quality, almost completely devoid of 'setting' 
power. ' ' 
Which is the more important warning ? 
But thus it is, in all Dr. Black's work the basal consider- 
ations are so different from those which have always been 
paramount with me, and, I think, withall who are extensively 
conversant with amalgam, that it entails discussion by contrast 
rather than by comparison. 
Tests for " crush " are first with Dr. Black, while as I have 
never seen one properly prepared and introduced amalgam fill- 
ing " crushed " under mastication, it would be a test I should 
never think of making. 
I have given my views on "flow" and it, as a test, I 
should regard as of not the least importance. 
Expansion and shrinkage I have referred to as attributes 
constantly looming up like giants before Dr. Black, while the 
modified alloys of the past twenty to twenty-five years have 
actually relegated those considerations absolutely to the shade. 
What then is the use of continuing page after page of ex- 
periment apon unmodified silver-tin alloys ? 
Why not take amalgams so made as that they make fillings 
which will not leak, as has been demonstrated for twenty years, 
in fillings ten times as large as the largest human tooth ? 
Why not take amalgams that are known to shrink, when 
the shrinkage is almost infinitesimal, and never has been 
proven detrimental, and by many is regarded as advantageous 
by favoring the sulphiding of the filling and of the contiguous 
dentine ? 3 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
But it is regarded as nothing by Dr. Black that such dis- 
colored and discoloring fillings have saved their " forlornities '' 
of teeth for thirty, forty or more years-for-the microbes can 
march in, not by " Indian file " but in serried ranks ! to their 
work of devastation. 
Why don't they devastate? 
It is because amalgam made from accepted alloys of known 
formulae which expands, does not expand sufficiently to be at 
all detrimental ; and amalgam made from accepted alloys of 
known formulae, which shrinks, does not shrink sufficiently to 
be at all objectionable, that Expansion and Shrinkage are no 
longer regarded as attributes requiring " testing." 
Is it not reasonable that pages of material devoted to such 
" work " should be, for me, beneath criticism ? 
But now, at last, we come, on p. 987 to an " Exhibit of 
Modified Silver-Tin Alloys " which is indeed subject matter for 
thought ; and as I passed in review, mentally, the solid, basal, 
metallurgic work of the "New Departure Corps" and the 
careful, progressive steps taken in the fifty formulae modified 
from Towusend's 4.0 silver, 60 tin, of 1875, to that of 70 silver, 26 
tin, 3 gold, 1 zinc of 1888, and thought of the varied adaption 
of its three classes of amalgams, " sub marines " for desperate 
cases, from copper and coin amalgams to those of lesser tooth- 
saving ability ; "contour" or "usual" for all ordinary 
amalgam work in reasonably good teeth ; and " Facing " for 
all that line of alloys making what is known as "White" 
amalgams, I could not but feel thankful that the " Corps " to 
which I owe so much, and for which I have such respect, does 
not have to carry any such load as that " Exhibit " of p. 987 
(Cosmos, December, 1896.) 
When the results of such combinations as it would be im- 
possible for any but a mere tyro in the amalgam work of to- 
day to make are viewed by anyone who has had from twenty 
to thirty years experience in such work, they only serve to 
show the aimless wandering-to find a path-of one travelling 
over an entirely unknown region ; but to those not at all con- 
versant with such work, what do they tell ? 
The dental profession was to have " tidings " borne to it. 4 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
What do these ' ' tidings ' ' tell ? 
But, again, what is the little, here and there, that they do 
tell to those who, from years of previous preparation, can 
read them ? 
Modifying 
Metal. 
[ Silver. 
z 
How 
Prepared 
Per Cent. 
OE 
MERCURY. 
Shrinkage. 
Expansion. 
65 
35 
Fiesh-Cut. 
52.33 
O 
. I 
65 
35 
Annealed. 
33-00 
IO 
• O 
Platinum 5 
61.75 
4 4 
33-25 
4 4 
F'resh-Cut. 
51-87 
O 
9 
4 4 i I 
Annealed. 
37-33 
7 ' 
0 
Copper 5 
4 4 4 4 
61.75 
33.25 
Fresh-Cut. 
53-65 
0 
23 
4 4 
4 4 
Annealed. 
35-6o 
5 
0 
Zinc 5 
61.75 
33.25 
Fresh-Cut. 
56.65 
0 
68 
4 4 4 4 
4 4 
4 4 
Annealed. 
40.65 
0 
9 
Aluminum 5. 
61.75 
33.25 
Fresh-Cut. 
65.00 
0 
445 
" 1 
64.05 
34.05 
Fresh-Cut. 
46.98 
0 
166 
1 
0 
4 4 
Annealed. 
38.26 
0 
48 
I have made these few extracts from the entire table as they 
seem to show the most clearly the value-or rather the want 
of value - and the advance-or rather the retrograde - resulting 
from the work of which this is the " Exhibit." 
It will be seen that if tin had replaced the platinum the re- 
sults would have been practically alike with, possibly, a little 
to the advantage of the tin in the attribute of expansion. 
See "Plastics" p. 60 "so far as is proven the value of 
platinum seems to be just equal with that of tin." 
As that conclusion was published in 1881 there does not 
seem much advance. 
It will be seen that copper when added to 61.75 silver, 33.25 
tin, gave the marked expansion of 23, but that when the alloy 
was aged it shrank 5. 5 
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
It was this condition of things which, twenty years ago, led 
up to the accepted formula for " Sub Marine " of 60 silver, 35 
tin, 5 copper, which it will be seen would lessen the expansion 
while it would rather lessen than add to the shrinkage, but 
this shinkage was just what was theoretically not objected 
to by the "New Departure Corps'' workers and the tooth- 
saving quality of this discoloring amalgam has been most 
satisfactorly established by its almost quarter of a century of 
trial. 
The " exhibit '' of zinc is certainly peculiar ! What process 
of reasoning could induce one to add zinc 5 to silver 61.75, 
modified by tin 33.25 " the Lord only knows ! '' 
The expansion was, as might have been expected, 68, and 
one might suppose that the next experiment in regular order 
would have been a lighted segar 1, a keg of gunpowder 99. 
40 silver, with 55 tin, permits zinc 5, and a most useful 
amalgam is made from such an alloy. 
But it is the aluminum ' * Exhibit ' ' which is truly the show- 
ing of how entirely unfitted for this work was the ' ' scientist ' ' 
who, according to authority, contributed papers which went "to 
the root of the subject under study.'' 
I cannot but believe that if the "investigator" "had at- 
tended a "post-graduate'' course at one of the "South- 
Eastern ' ' dental colleges he would never have written as he 
has in the last four pages of the paper I am "Reviewing," 
and I also think that if the eminent gentlemen who so posi- 
tively and so unequivocally endorsed had only known a great 
deal more of this kind of work, their "exhibit'' of them- 
selves would never have been so decidedly in evidence. REVIEW OF THE WORK OF 
PROF. GREENE V. BLACK, M.D., D.D.S., Sc.. D. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S. SWARTHMORE, PA. 
[Part Tenth] 
As I again read the last four pages of this " going to the 
root" of things it seems to me more pitiable than con- 
demnable that anyone of reputable ranking as a member of 
the dental profession should have, at this late date, made such 
a record ; but that this matter should have been offered ' ' the 
profession " under such' editorial auspice as was given it is 
simply a "stupendous" illustration of what was regarded as 
"mental pabulum suited to the digestion of the leaders of 
dental thought " (see Miniature Dental Cosmos, January, 
1896, p. 8 ; IT 3rd.) 
In pursuance of his work Dr. Black next states " Dor some 
years it has been the habit of many manufacturers of alloys 
to add other metals, with the view, I think, (italics mine !) of 
improvement in the chemical qualities of the amalgam ; 
though some seem to have had in view the improvement of 
the physical qualities as well." 
As the improvement of the physical qualities of amalgam 
is the only reason I have ever known for adding other metals 
to Silver-Tin Alloys, I think the "chemical improvement" 
idea is purely theoretic. 
To the end, therefore, of giving some knowledge scientifi- 
cally in this regard Dr. Black experiments with Gold ; Plati- 
num ; Copper; Zinc !; Bismuth; Cadmium !!; Lead and 
Aluminum !!!; upon which work I would comment as fol- 
lows :- 
Gold-While it would be very satisfactory if the statements 
under this head were of any value I yet feel warranted in say- 
ing that the most carefully compiled statistics do not positively 
substantiate any of them, while the vastly more important 
knowledge as to the advantage of such addition is even less 
assured. 
Therefore, as the seven lines of absolute statement can only 
be accepted as practically nothing, I think it safer to adhere to 2 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
the opinion that gold is as yet an " undetermined element." 
(Plastics, Edition, 1898, p. 51.) 
Platinum-In despite of Dr. Black's usual antagonism to 
such views concerning alloys and amalgams as have been 
enunciated by the " New Departure Corps" workers, we find 
every conclusion as to platinum in unison with the teachings 
of the past twenty years, viz., that this metal is valueless as a 
component of dental amalgam alloy ; while to this is added a 
list of some half dozen attributes which are decidedly detri- 
mental ! 
It seems therefore, in order (?) that "dentistry" should 
continue to believe that the so-called "Platinum and Gold" 
amalgam alloys are something fine, and that it should con- 
tinue making them so for their manufacturers ! 
Copper-If Dr. Black's "tidings" that copper markedly in- 
creases the expansion shrinkage range ; diminishes the 
" flow ! " and makes a " crushing stress " the greatest of the 
series, surely dentistry ought to give special praise and thanks 
for these manifold blessings ! 
Meanwhile it may remain content with the knowledge 
which has been given it as to the true value of this very im- 
portant adjunct to all " sub-marine," tooth-saving amalgams. 
Zinc-In his experiments with zinc the investigators 
knowledge has evidently touched the '1 zero point ' ' for there 
is no indication that he has any appreciation of the value or 
the practical application of this metal in amalgam work. 
The continued and marvelous (?) expansion of his peculi- 
arly crude admixture of zinc seems to have had an equally 
peculiar effect upon his views regarding a danger as associated 
with its use for he concludes, in a sort of resume, on p. 991, 
IF 2:- 
"There seems to be no reason why we should not have 
white-alloys, but it is clear that we must be very cautious in 
the use of zinc for this purpose." 
To show that this is an eminently Blacksonian opinion lean 
only say that of all the efforts made in the direction of the 
' ' White Alloys ' ' none have ' ' tested ' ' so well as those con- 
trolled by zinc, and that, so far, no "caution" in its use has 3 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BEACK. 
been found specially needful. 
Bismuth-As an amalgam adjunct bismuth amounts to noth- 
ing, and as Dr. Black discovered only that which has been so 
well known and taught, for more than twenty-five years, that 
its status was so definitely settled as that it was considered un- 
worthy of discussion in "Plastics" even in its "First Edi- 
tion the "tidings" as to bismuth may well pass without further 
comment. 
Cadmium- " This is emphatically the active element," so 
says Dr. Black, and whatever this may mean to dentistry it 
will be found strictly correct by all those dentists who, reading 
that " The amalgam is very white and the fillings are beauti- 
ful " may be tempted to try it in filling teeth, for, of all the 
elements ever used in making dental amalgam alloy this is the 
one which will make efforts at repairing damages most " em- 
phatically active." 
Lead-Dr. Black states that his " principal reason " for de- 
siring to know the effect of lead upon amalgam was " the fact 
that our metals are so frequently contaminated with it." 
That the very trifling amount of lead which is found in " our 
metals ' ' has no appreciable effect upon even the finest of our 
alloys, may be known from the fact that in the closest analy- 
ses of hundreds of makes of alloys I have seldom found lead 
assayed as anything more than " a trace " (which amounts to 
nothing) and even the most ordinary " stone jug " mercury is 
sufficiently freed from this contamination by squeezing it 
through chamois skin. 
Aluminum-I have said that it was Dr. Black's aluminum 
"Exhibit" that was the showing of his entire unfitness for 
the "work" he undertook, and the innocence with which he 
relates his aluminum experiences is my warrant for the asser- 
tion. 
These were just such as have been the lecture-stand demon- 
strations at the Philadelphia Dental College during the last 
eight years of my connection with that school. 
Surely when one is about to engage in the ''first scientific" 
work in any direction he ought, at least, to be familiar with 
the crude, unscientific attempts which have been made in such 4 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
connection, and had that been the case with Dr. Black he 
never would have written " My first attempt to make a filling 
of the alloy containing five per cent, of aluminum was a fail- 
ure." 
For he, in common with other students, would have known 
all about the " too hot to handle," " the falling into a dark 
powder," " the swelling up," and " blisteiing " of even small 
additions of this metal to any of the ordinary makes of den- 
tal amalgam alloy. 
He would also have known that aluminum was,'up to the 
date of his-experiments, not only of no benefit but, just in 
proportion to the quantity of its admixture, of decided detri- 
ment to dental amalgam, but he seems to have known nothing 
of all this. 
And next, at last, after all this one hundred and ninety pages 
of Cosmos, (think of it !) Dr. Black ventures on giving a 
formula for an amalgam alloy which he says (Cosmos-Dec.- 
1896-p. 991) " has now been watched long enough to assure 
its success." 
This formula is 
Silver 68.5 
Tin 25.5 
Gold 5. 
Zinc 1. 
December, 1896. 
N. D. Trial Formula 
Silver 68. 
Tin 27. 
Gold 4. 
Zinc 1. 
December, 1884. 
It was with mingled feelings of amazement, amusement and 
regret that I read this p. 991. 
Amazement as to why Dr. Black had accepted that which I 
(following the work of the "New Departure Corps'') had 
abandoned as unsatisfactory. 
Amusement at his confident assertion that it had in 1896! 
" been watched long enough to assure its success;'' with a 
natural wonder as to how long he had watched it ! 
Regret, that he, so evidently, knew nothing of all this, and 
so uwittingly proclaimed it, as my work was all given, consec- 
utively, in lectures. 
Twelve years before (in 1884) the experimental formula of 
Silver 68, Tin 27, Gold 4, Zinc 1, was devised to meet a 5 
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PROF. BLACK. 
" want " for a " contour " which would not require " water- 
ing to use in not accessible positions. 
This was tried for two years, and as the result of clinical ex- 
perience the change was made to silver 69, tin 26, gold 4, 
zinc 1, in 1886. • 
With two years more of trial the change to Silver 70, Tin 
26, Gold 3, Zinc 1, was made in 1888, and after five years of 
trial this formula was "accepted" as "J " that letter being 
its alphabetic position in "contour''' formulae-and, as such, 
was taught to the class of '93 at the P. D. C, four years before 
Dr. Black published his formula. 
That " J " is an excellent alloy for its special use I certainly 
do think ; that it is a better formula than the one given by 
Dr. Black, I afn sure ; but that either are the ne plus ultra I 
equally doubt. 
In conclusion Dr. Black states "The subject is by no 
means exhausted. Besides finding suitable formulae for white 
alloys, there is need of much more work in the experimental 
way before we know all we need to know of dental alloys. 
But the studies now presented seem to me sufficient for the 
beginning of a radical improvement in the production of 
dental alloys by manufacturers." 
And, after this, it is all finished with the final grand " tid- 
ings " that " operators must depend upon the regular lines of 
trade for their supplies of alloys, and if alloys manufactured 
on the lines I have indicated are wanted by the profession I 
think our manufacturers may be depended upon to produce 
them. It is their part of the business to supply the material 
required by the dentist, and in the past they have not been 
slow in complying with the demand, and we have no reason to 
expect that they will fail us in the future." 
Is not this a powerful ending for that which was heralded 
and supported by such a flourish of editorial and eminen- 
torial trumpets ? 
But this is not the end-as I shall show in my resume of 
THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. THE OUTCOME 
OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
BY J. FOSTER FLAGG, D.D.S. SWARTHMORE, PA. 
Four mouths (April, 1897) after the publication of the De- 
cember, 1896 article from Dr. Black an early evidence of 
an Outcome appeared as a " Letter from Dr. Kells " in which 
the writer took the ground that as the work already done by 
Dr. Black was of "vital interest" to dentistry, and, as an 
enormous amount of time had given while what remained 
to be done would require vastly more, neither Dr. Black nor 
anyone could be asked to do this, unassisted, for the good of 
the profession at large, and he therefore proposed that the 
Cosmos, though its Editor, should select from its subscription 
list two hundred and fifty names of the men most interested 
in the welfare and progress of dentistry who were to be asked 
to join him (Dr. Kells) in a subscription of one hundred dol- 
lars each, thus netting the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, 
to be placed at the disposal of Dr. Black for such study as 
should " place upon the market an amalgam that will be ab- 
solutely reliable, in the hands of careful operators, when the 
directions for its use is followed." 
This letter produced two results, first, an editorial, in the 
same issue of the Cosmos, upon the " Endowment of Dental 
Research,'' a sort of committo-non-committal paper, in 
which " those who have appreciated the work of Dr. Black " 
and, an editorial of the Dental Digest are referred to, and the 
opinion given that comparatively recently such a proposition 
as that of Dr. Kells, " would have been regarded as the vapor- 
ing of a wild enthusiast." 
As a test in this matter the Dental Cosmos requested 
letters from all who would signify their approval of this sug- 
gestion of Dr. Kells with statement as to what amount of 
cash each would be willing to subscribe. 
This was to decide whether in the professional progress of 
dentistry it had reached a point that indicated a willingness 
for such an unselfish undertaking. _____ 
And second-It induced the withholding from 
my " Review " papers until I had seen the resultMf what' I 
felt might be a good thing for Dr. Black, p/cWiarily, and in 
the way of which I would not place any possibly O 
As month after month passed it seemeq 
" twenty-five thousand " was, even at this 1 advanced. (pt THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
2 
the profession-or possibly in consequence of it !-merely 
"the vaporing of a wild enthusiast'' as there never has 
seemed to be more that a few hundred dollars (four or five) in 
sight, while the balance, of twenty-four thousand five hun- 
dred, was ! 
Thus, after its nine months gestation, this child was prac- 
tically " still born '' and a sad wail came from the Dental Prac- 
titioner and Advertiser, Jantlary, 1898. Poor Miller ! Poor 
Black !-" It is the usual way of the world'' - Is it?-As I 
view it, the world seems to recognize anything meritorious 
with great rejoicings and, usually, with large compensation. 
Of the " Reviews'' of Dr. Black's work as given by the 
" International" of December, 1897, I have spoken in my 
"What is It" paper, read at the "seventh District'' 
Society of New York, April, 1898-a paper from which I 
have received much return but which, although I asked, has 
never been answered, because it is well known that each ques- 
tion had its wire, and that I had the buttons ! 
A few months prior to the reading of this paper the first 
characteristic outcome of such work as Dr. Black's was given to 
dentistry as the " Fellowship Alloy.'' This was stated to be 
"The Only Perfect Alloy'' and was "guaranteed'' as su- 
perior from " several month's experience ''! 
How the professional knowledge of dentistry was advanced 
by this addition to the already long list of " best" alloys it is 
difficult to discern, and especially so when its composition as 
published by me in the American Dental Weekly for February, 
17th, 1898, was intended to be denied but was really admitted, 
as Dr. Crouse said-Dental Digest, March, 1898, p. 206. 
" The analysis of "Fellowship'' alloy which you publish is 
about as nearly correct as you generally get things'' which 
admission, as the analysis was strictly correct, I could not 
regard as other than a compliment. 
The Analysis of 
' ' Fellowship ' ' 
as made by 
Booth, Garrett & Blair, 
406 Locust St., Phila., Pa. 
Silver 67.73 
Tin 26.33 
Copper 4.71 
Zinc 1.23 3 
THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
My " test " analysis was practically the same and gave all 
the responses from setting test ; color test ; shrinkage test 
and edge-strength test that an alloy of such proportions of 
such metals would do. 
Such "tests" showed conclusively that "Fellowship" 
would have been a better alloy without its zinc ; that it did 
not maintain its color as amalgam as well as other " white " 
amalgams did, that it was no better as a non-leaker than amal- 
gams which had been in use for more than twenty years and 
that, all together, its "testings" showed retrograde rather than 
improvement-but, even supposing that it had been a very 
great advance, in what was dental knowledge benefitted by its 
manufacture? What " tidings " did dentistry receive differ- 
ent from those it had learned from the many advertisements 
of the makers of all the best alloys ever since the 70's ? 
Next we hear of a " Post Graduate Course " at the " North 
Western University Dental School," together with teaching 
in connection with alloy and amalgam work, as though this 
was a novel adjunct to dental education ! 
I have yet to learn that these teachings in the making of 
alloys or in the using of amalgams have been any more ac- 
ceptable than were those given by me for fifteen years at the 
Philadelphia Dental College during my occupancy of the chair 
of which "Plastics" formed a part; while for tne "Post 
Graduate" course I have reason to think that those who 
know most of it are disposed to say least. 
In June, 1898, I felt it my duty, as I have said, to make 
one voice, at least, heard in absolute condemnation of all this, 
so called, work of Dr. Black's, from the beginning to the end. 
I therefore sent the first of my " Review" to our Cali- 
fornia State Dental Association as my annual contribution to 
its papers, and from that time to this have continued showing 
-as I believe-the fallacy of attributing any value to Dr. 
Black's contributions in this regard, and, as well, what folly 
it would have been to have invested money by tens ofi thou- 
sands of dollars in the continuance of any such experimenta- 
tion. 
But now, during the last few months a series of object les- 
sons for dentistry has added its quota to the thoughts of those 4 
THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
who think, mid has given much " mental pabulum suited to 
the digestion of leaders of dental thought." 
These are the continued production of marvelous amalgam 
alloys from " Rego " to " 20TH Century" all made from in- 
structions by Dr. Black by some of those who have been giv- 
ing the profession such eminently satisfactory products for al- 
most a quarter of a century ! 
And what are the " tidings " from these ? 
The leaps from " The Only Perfect " to far better and de- 
cidedly the best, are so frequent and so long that, together with 
the histological and associate investigations they may well 
stamp this as the "kangaroo" period in the progress of 
dentistry. * 
But what are the " tidings "? 
Any discussion of the various alloys offered to dentistry as 
the results of Dr. Black's work other than as they stand as 
proof of scientific progress of ' ' the profession ' ' would be 
foreign to the purpose of this paper, but it surely is pertinent 
to ask of what advantage it is to dentistry to know that any 
manufacturer had learned that Dr. Black was a "Past Master" 
in the making of amalgam alloys and that therefore if "Rego" 
was used the saving of teeth was a positive sequence. What 
is " Rego " ? A reference to the analysis of " Fellowship" 
(Booth, Garrett & Blair) is interesting when compared with 
the analysis of this remarkable alloy. 
" Test '' Analysis of 
" Rego " alloy. 
Silver 65 
Tin 28 or so 
Copper 5 
Zinc 1 x 
Booth, Garrett & Blair. 
Silver 66.54 
Tin 28.14 
Copper 4.21 
Zinc 1.06 
This begins to be something in the nature of " tidings " 
but until now dentistry has known only that this " specialty " 
has become very popular in a very short time ; that it is 
"compounded of metals of unimpeachable purity'' and is 
made " after the methods of Prof. Greene I'. Black" (italics 
mine.) 
The more intelligent and scientific members of "the pro- 
fession,'' especially the "conscientious dentists" will recog- 
* Denial Cosmos, April, 1897, p. 343. 5 
THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
nize the advice, so long familiar in varied directions, " be not 
persuaded to buy some so-called " Black's alloy " represented 
to be ' the same thing' or ' just as good,' but dentistry itself 
had no time to even partially recover from the delight of all 
this scientific information when " Triumph " alloy appears in 
the arena as another of the results from the " milestone in the 
future progress of dentistry." 
This alloy was given in the Dental Review of February, 
1899, as a direct following of Dr. Black's work In March it 
was "an alloy made from an entirely new formula.'' In 
April nothing was said of it ; In May it was yet " an alloy 
made from an entirely new formula. " In Ju ne the " Triumph 
Alloy"' is one of two materials which " have been thoroughly 
tested and have been found entirely satisfactory." 
Surely this " tidings" should make dentistry shout for joy ! 
But " the profession " would be pleased to know what this 
"entirely new formula" is, and how it was so " thoroughly 
tested " in so very short a time as to be found entirely satis- 
factory. 
As to the formula I can give the analysis, but as to the 
" testing " for excellence I have not the slighest idea. 
" Test r analysis of 
'* Triumph ' ' alloy 
Silver 65 x 
Tin 28 or 30 
Copper 5 
Zinc 2 
Booth, Garrett & Blair. 
Silver 66.74 
Tin 27.44 
Copper 4.27 
Zinc 1.42 
Is not this both a funny and a sad " record " for progres- 
sive, scientific dental progress? 
But still they come ! and the heels of Father Time are fairly 
trodden upon by the announcement of a " Twentieth Cen- 
tury Alloy." 
The announcement that " This is a Perfect Alloy in every 
Respect would naturally excite interest and investigation" 
were it not that this is, and always has been,, the stereotyped 
assertion of every maker of " perfections " in amalgam alloys, 
but this one, coming to us with the statement from Theodore 
Menges, D.D.S., Secretary of the Northwestern University 
Dental School that its maker " will find the dental world will 6 
THE OUTCOME OF DR. BLACK'S WORK. 
greet your alloy with much satisfaction and a very royal wel- 
come for it certainly fills the bill in every particular and can- 
not otherwise than prove highly satisfactory " seems entitled 
to distinguished consideration. 
" Test " analysis 
of 20th Century Alloy 
Silver 65 x 
Tin 28 or so 
Copper 5 
Zinc 2 
Booth, Garrett & Blair. 
Silver 66.81 
Tin 27.32 
Copper 4.39 
Zinc 1.51 
It seems to me that there is no comment to make upon such 
an " Outcome," except that is it a most discreditable and dis- 
graceful fact that it is possible to so insult the American Den- 
tistry of 1899. And yet, as I view it, it is just what might 
have been expected.