- Email: [email protected]
The accumulation and dissemination of knowledge
n
EDITORIAL
(Colonel Roy A. Stout, D.D.S., was Senior Consultant in Maxillofaci+l Surgery: Professional Service Division of Chief Surgeon’s Office of European theatre during the war. He is now Chief of Dental Service and Chief of 31axillofacial Section, Valley Forge General Hospital. David Weisberger, D.M.D., M.D., is Associate Professor of Dental Medicine, Harvard ‘University ; Stomatologist and Assistant Oral Surgeon, Massachusetts General Hospital. The consulting editors are : Robert N. Tvy, D.D.S., M.D., Professor of Clinical Maxillo-Facial Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Dental School and Professor of Plastic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Varaztad Ii. Ka.zanjian, D.M.D., M.D., Professor of Plastic Surgery, Emeritus, Harvard University ; John 11’. Kemper, D.D.S., M.D., Professor of Oral Surgery and Head of Department of Oral Surgery, University Hospital, University of Michigan; Lero?] A. S&11, M.D., Walter Augustus Lecompte Professor of Otology and Professor of Laryngology, Harvard cniversity ; Director of the Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston. The Consulting editors who will furnish abstracts contained in the foreign literature of interest to the readers are : Pad A. TolZer, L.D.S., R.C.S., Consultant Dental Surgeon to the Plastic and Jaw Unit, St. Albans, England, who will take care of the literature of England. Prof. A. J. Arnott, D.D.S., D.D.Sc., F.A.C.D., F.I.C.D., Dean of the Dental ’ Department, University of Australia, Sydney, who will furnish interesting material from Australia. Reidnr I?. Sognnaes, L.D.S. (Oslo), M.S., Ph.D. (Roth), Assistant Professor of Dentistry, Harvard University, who has agreed to cover the Scandinavian literature. Claudia E”uncia Cornell, B.S., D.D.S., of Havana, Cuba, Consulting Oral Su.rgeon of the Instituto de Radium, Havana, and President of the Socidad de Cirugia Oral de Cuba, who will abstract articles from the Spanish literature. Erik P. Steinmann, Dr. med. and Dr. med. dent. (Ziirich), First Assist,ant omfthe Otolaryngological Department of the Medical School of Ztirich, and Hans MiihZemann, Dr. med. dent. of the Zahn%rztlichen Institut of the University of Ztirich who together will cover the literature of the Alexander G. Nutlay, M.D.,. D.D.S., of Swiss- and German-speakin.g nations. Halifax, Nova Scotia, a graduate of the Universities of Vienna and Rome, Demonstrator in Oral Surgery and Anesthesia at the Dental Faculty of the Dalhousie University, Halifax, who will take care of t,he Italian literatu.re. Kurt The Accumula,tion
T
B. Thoma, Editor-in-Chief.
and Dissemination
of Knowledge
HIS is the inaugural issue of the new journal, ORAL SURGERY, ORAL MEDICINE, AND ORAL PA'THOLOGY,whichisthe successor of the ORAL SURGERY SECTION of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHODOXTICSAKD ORAL SURGERY. A partnership of long standing has been dissolved. Very pleasant journalistic assojciations with our confrere the orthodontist have been discontinued in order
to serve bett,er the oral surgeon, the stomatologist: the oral pathologist, and, last but not. least, the general dentist interested in one or all of these fields. The new JOURKAL will present more original papers and provide a wider scope of material of special interest to our group. The mat,erial will include advances in clinical procedures as well as infor’mat,ion about new developments in the basic sciences. The latter are fundamental: since they furnish the foundation needed both for the thorough understandin g of disease processes and the application of correct treatment, be it medicinal or surgical in nature, Let us not forget that the true art of medicine and surgery is based on a thorough concept of the basic medical sciences, which include anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, pathology, and pharmacodynamics, and that the clinician depends on investigation and research for progress. Yet, truly, the clinic is the proving ground for discoveries made in the laboratories. Important discoveries probably rarely have been spontaneous. They are the result of concentrated thought, extensive experience, and careful experimentation. Since famous names of the very distant past stand out like solitary torches in the darkness of antiquity, we wonder whether those men have been geniuses who made unpremeditated discoveries, or whether they only have crystallized by practical application t,he knowledge accumulated by contemporaries or ot,her scientists who preceded them? The answer is buried in the We know only that the ancients forever prayed for some dust of history. Messiah to be born, who would initiate a golden age, advance their wisdom, and lift life to a higher level. Hippocrates, acknowledged as the father of medicine, and Aristotle, credited with founding the science of biology, map therefore have been scientific prodigies of ancient times. They stand out particularly if we contrast their brilliant accomplishments with the dirth of advancement in the unproductive and unenlightened centuries that followed. In more recent times, however , great men have again been produced. Such Galileo, the ast,ronomer who discovered the isochronism of the men were: pendulum ; Harvey, who discovered the circulation of blood ; Newton, who discovered the law of gravity; Pasteur, who propounded the germ theory; Lister, who developed antiseptic surgery; and I”iforton, who had the courage to use ether as an anesthet,ic and demonstrate its use publicly at the Massachusetts General Hospital, presenting the world with one of the greatest gifts, relief of the pain of surgery. While discoveries of ancient times were, as already stated. accredited to a wizard of t,he era as his individual accomplishment, a study of these more recent discoveries discloses tha.t the more modern discoverer applied and incorporated the ideas of his contemporaries to his own problems. By following the radar beam of a scient,ific trend to a practical end, inevitably a scientist would appear who would prove, as Columbus did, that an egg could be made to stand on its end. This man would make use of the accumulated results produeed by lesser minds, who labored on fundamentals, to make the great discovery of the century. Pasteur, who first studied the fermentation of alcoholic beverages, before investigating the cause of disease, had the benefit of discoveries made by predecessors. Bassi, in 1935, found that a disease of the silk worms was caused by a
EDITORIAL
5
parasite, which could be killed by certain substances. Being a man of keen vision, he deducted that other contagious diseases, such as smallpox, were also Semmelweis discovered, in 1845, produced by vegetable or animal parasites. that puerperal fever, the mortality rate of which was very high in the General Hospital in Vienna, was due to infection carried on the hands of students from the dissecting rooms to the wards. It was Pasteur, however, who made the very brilliant discovery, by means of a remarkable series of experiments, that minute organisms or living germs, which he divided into aerobes and anaerobes, caused the suppuration seen in most operative wounds in those days. He deduced that the process was but a. fermentation of the flesh, which could be prevented by destroying the germs that caused it. Lister had not only the discoveries of Pasteur to apply to the art of surgery, but he also had the advantage of experiments made by others. Appart, a French confectioner, discovered that sealing containers hermetically would, because of the exclusion of air, preserve meat, fruit, and vegetables. Schwann, in 1837, mad-e important experiments on putrefaction, and found that when boiling food in flasks putrefaction did not set in, and that, therefore, it was not the exclusion of air but something in the air, which heat was able to destroy, that was important. Schreder, in 1854, and Busch, in 1859, corroborated his findings. Bassi used corrosive sublimate to cure certain ulcerations. Semmelweis’s discovery, already mentioned, led to the thoro-ugh cleansing of the hands with chlorine or chlorinated lime, by which the death rate of the hospital was greatly reduced. It was, however, Lister’s application of these discoveries, particularly that of Pasteur, to surgical practice and the treatment of disease that started a new era in the practice of medicine. The result was not only the saving of innumerable lives, but made possible new advances in the elimination of disease. Morton was also preceded by others who experimented with the inhalation of gases. Laughing gas was used by entertainers. Wells applied it for the extraction of teeth. Ether had been known for centuries, and many chemists described its properties but failed to recognize its greatest usage, even in the face of experiences such as falling on the floor after inhaling it. It was left to Morton to demonstrate its use for extensive surgery. We note that these men of the recent past have applied new basic ideas to the development of an important discovery. Pasteur recognized this fact. His now famous lecture he began with these notable words, “All science is gained by mutual support. ’ ’ Lister also gave full credit to the scientists who built the foundations for his introduction of antiseptic surgery. In a letter to Pasteur he wrote, “I need hardly add, that it would afford me the highest gratification to show you how greatly surgery is indebted to you. ” Today, we definitely accept organized investigation as the most promising method for success in the revelation of new scientific facts. We no longer wait for a genius to appear, for a lucky discovery to come along, The great wonder of organized progress is made by an army of patient investigators, by groups working together with leadership from within, Discoveries in modern times are made by cooperation and b;y cumulative effort, and, therefore, it is necessary for
investigators to study the accumulated scientific knowledge which has increased in an amazing manner, as highly trained specialists added fact upon fact by the sweat of their brow. Knowledge in ancient days was passed on by word of mouth, from master to disciples, from disciples to the astonished world. Only ra.rely did it fall upon fertile soil, however, and the newly gained facts were frequently lost and forgotten. It was the advent of the printing press which facilitated the distribution of knowledge, and today man is to a great degree educated by published material. Detailed records of investigators may be preserved and made available to students. Books can be obtained which contain the accumulated experience of the past in every th.inkable subdivision of science, and periodicals are published constantly to keep the reader informed of the most recent accomplishments of his contemporaries. Such a journal we present herewith in its first issue to the profession. We promise our readers the very best original articles pertaining to the etiology, symptomatology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of oral diseases and malformations. We shall, from time to time, publish special clinic numbers, such as the one in this issue, so that the student and the practitioner may be familiarized with the procedures as they are carried out in different institutions. ‘We will include articles dealing with the basic sciences, as well as with techniques and operative procedures, and lay strem on end results. A special feature will be the “Quarterly Review of the Literature,” edited by Thomas J. Cook. This supplement will contain a cumulative review of some phase of our work, writt,en by an authority on the subject. It will contain book reviews to aid in the selection of new publications for bhe reader’s library, and it will contain abstracts of the Merature of the fields covered by the JOURNAL. Corresponding editors will take care of the foreign literature, that of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Central and South America,, Ihe Scandinavian countries, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, because today the world is small, and there should be complete cooperation, especially in the medical and dental professions, for the benefit of all.
K. H. T.
EDITORIAL
(Colonel Roy A. Stout, D.D.S., was Senior Consultant in Maxillofaci+l Surgery: Professional Service Division of Chief Surgeon’s Office of European theatre during the war. He is now Chief of Dental Service and Chief of 31axillofacial Section, Valley Forge General Hospital. David Weisberger, D.M.D., M.D., is Associate Professor of Dental Medicine, Harvard ‘University ; Stomatologist and Assistant Oral Surgeon, Massachusetts General Hospital. The consulting editors are : Robert N. Tvy, D.D.S., M.D., Professor of Clinical Maxillo-Facial Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Dental School and Professor of Plastic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Varaztad Ii. Ka.zanjian, D.M.D., M.D., Professor of Plastic Surgery, Emeritus, Harvard University ; John 11’. Kemper, D.D.S., M.D., Professor of Oral Surgery and Head of Department of Oral Surgery, University Hospital, University of Michigan; Lero?] A. S&11, M.D., Walter Augustus Lecompte Professor of Otology and Professor of Laryngology, Harvard cniversity ; Director of the Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston. The Consulting editors who will furnish abstracts contained in the foreign literature of interest to the readers are : Pad A. TolZer, L.D.S., R.C.S., Consultant Dental Surgeon to the Plastic and Jaw Unit, St. Albans, England, who will take care of the literature of England. Prof. A. J. Arnott, D.D.S., D.D.Sc., F.A.C.D., F.I.C.D., Dean of the Dental ’ Department, University of Australia, Sydney, who will furnish interesting material from Australia. Reidnr I?. Sognnaes, L.D.S. (Oslo), M.S., Ph.D. (Roth), Assistant Professor of Dentistry, Harvard University, who has agreed to cover the Scandinavian literature. Claudia E”uncia Cornell, B.S., D.D.S., of Havana, Cuba, Consulting Oral Su.rgeon of the Instituto de Radium, Havana, and President of the Socidad de Cirugia Oral de Cuba, who will abstract articles from the Spanish literature. Erik P. Steinmann, Dr. med. and Dr. med. dent. (Ziirich), First Assist,ant omfthe Otolaryngological Department of the Medical School of Ztirich, and Hans MiihZemann, Dr. med. dent. of the Zahn%rztlichen Institut of the University of Ztirich who together will cover the literature of the Alexander G. Nutlay, M.D.,. D.D.S., of Swiss- and German-speakin.g nations. Halifax, Nova Scotia, a graduate of the Universities of Vienna and Rome, Demonstrator in Oral Surgery and Anesthesia at the Dental Faculty of the Dalhousie University, Halifax, who will take care of t,he Italian literatu.re. Kurt The Accumula,tion
T
B. Thoma, Editor-in-Chief.
and Dissemination
of Knowledge
HIS is the inaugural issue of the new journal, ORAL SURGERY, ORAL MEDICINE, AND ORAL PA'THOLOGY,whichisthe successor of the ORAL SURGERY SECTION of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHODOXTICSAKD ORAL SURGERY. A partnership of long standing has been dissolved. Very pleasant journalistic assojciations with our confrere the orthodontist have been discontinued in order
to serve bett,er the oral surgeon, the stomatologist: the oral pathologist, and, last but not. least, the general dentist interested in one or all of these fields. The new JOURKAL will present more original papers and provide a wider scope of material of special interest to our group. The mat,erial will include advances in clinical procedures as well as infor’mat,ion about new developments in the basic sciences. The latter are fundamental: since they furnish the foundation needed both for the thorough understandin g of disease processes and the application of correct treatment, be it medicinal or surgical in nature, Let us not forget that the true art of medicine and surgery is based on a thorough concept of the basic medical sciences, which include anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, pathology, and pharmacodynamics, and that the clinician depends on investigation and research for progress. Yet, truly, the clinic is the proving ground for discoveries made in the laboratories. Important discoveries probably rarely have been spontaneous. They are the result of concentrated thought, extensive experience, and careful experimentation. Since famous names of the very distant past stand out like solitary torches in the darkness of antiquity, we wonder whether those men have been geniuses who made unpremeditated discoveries, or whether they only have crystallized by practical application t,he knowledge accumulated by contemporaries or ot,her scientists who preceded them? The answer is buried in the We know only that the ancients forever prayed for some dust of history. Messiah to be born, who would initiate a golden age, advance their wisdom, and lift life to a higher level. Hippocrates, acknowledged as the father of medicine, and Aristotle, credited with founding the science of biology, map therefore have been scientific prodigies of ancient times. They stand out particularly if we contrast their brilliant accomplishments with the dirth of advancement in the unproductive and unenlightened centuries that followed. In more recent times, however , great men have again been produced. Such Galileo, the ast,ronomer who discovered the isochronism of the men were: pendulum ; Harvey, who discovered the circulation of blood ; Newton, who discovered the law of gravity; Pasteur, who propounded the germ theory; Lister, who developed antiseptic surgery; and I”iforton, who had the courage to use ether as an anesthet,ic and demonstrate its use publicly at the Massachusetts General Hospital, presenting the world with one of the greatest gifts, relief of the pain of surgery. While discoveries of ancient times were, as already stated. accredited to a wizard of t,he era as his individual accomplishment, a study of these more recent discoveries discloses tha.t the more modern discoverer applied and incorporated the ideas of his contemporaries to his own problems. By following the radar beam of a scient,ific trend to a practical end, inevitably a scientist would appear who would prove, as Columbus did, that an egg could be made to stand on its end. This man would make use of the accumulated results produeed by lesser minds, who labored on fundamentals, to make the great discovery of the century. Pasteur, who first studied the fermentation of alcoholic beverages, before investigating the cause of disease, had the benefit of discoveries made by predecessors. Bassi, in 1935, found that a disease of the silk worms was caused by a
EDITORIAL
5
parasite, which could be killed by certain substances. Being a man of keen vision, he deducted that other contagious diseases, such as smallpox, were also Semmelweis discovered, in 1845, produced by vegetable or animal parasites. that puerperal fever, the mortality rate of which was very high in the General Hospital in Vienna, was due to infection carried on the hands of students from the dissecting rooms to the wards. It was Pasteur, however, who made the very brilliant discovery, by means of a remarkable series of experiments, that minute organisms or living germs, which he divided into aerobes and anaerobes, caused the suppuration seen in most operative wounds in those days. He deduced that the process was but a. fermentation of the flesh, which could be prevented by destroying the germs that caused it. Lister had not only the discoveries of Pasteur to apply to the art of surgery, but he also had the advantage of experiments made by others. Appart, a French confectioner, discovered that sealing containers hermetically would, because of the exclusion of air, preserve meat, fruit, and vegetables. Schwann, in 1837, mad-e important experiments on putrefaction, and found that when boiling food in flasks putrefaction did not set in, and that, therefore, it was not the exclusion of air but something in the air, which heat was able to destroy, that was important. Schreder, in 1854, and Busch, in 1859, corroborated his findings. Bassi used corrosive sublimate to cure certain ulcerations. Semmelweis’s discovery, already mentioned, led to the thoro-ugh cleansing of the hands with chlorine or chlorinated lime, by which the death rate of the hospital was greatly reduced. It was, however, Lister’s application of these discoveries, particularly that of Pasteur, to surgical practice and the treatment of disease that started a new era in the practice of medicine. The result was not only the saving of innumerable lives, but made possible new advances in the elimination of disease. Morton was also preceded by others who experimented with the inhalation of gases. Laughing gas was used by entertainers. Wells applied it for the extraction of teeth. Ether had been known for centuries, and many chemists described its properties but failed to recognize its greatest usage, even in the face of experiences such as falling on the floor after inhaling it. It was left to Morton to demonstrate its use for extensive surgery. We note that these men of the recent past have applied new basic ideas to the development of an important discovery. Pasteur recognized this fact. His now famous lecture he began with these notable words, “All science is gained by mutual support. ’ ’ Lister also gave full credit to the scientists who built the foundations for his introduction of antiseptic surgery. In a letter to Pasteur he wrote, “I need hardly add, that it would afford me the highest gratification to show you how greatly surgery is indebted to you. ” Today, we definitely accept organized investigation as the most promising method for success in the revelation of new scientific facts. We no longer wait for a genius to appear, for a lucky discovery to come along, The great wonder of organized progress is made by an army of patient investigators, by groups working together with leadership from within, Discoveries in modern times are made by cooperation and b;y cumulative effort, and, therefore, it is necessary for
investigators to study the accumulated scientific knowledge which has increased in an amazing manner, as highly trained specialists added fact upon fact by the sweat of their brow. Knowledge in ancient days was passed on by word of mouth, from master to disciples, from disciples to the astonished world. Only ra.rely did it fall upon fertile soil, however, and the newly gained facts were frequently lost and forgotten. It was the advent of the printing press which facilitated the distribution of knowledge, and today man is to a great degree educated by published material. Detailed records of investigators may be preserved and made available to students. Books can be obtained which contain the accumulated experience of the past in every th.inkable subdivision of science, and periodicals are published constantly to keep the reader informed of the most recent accomplishments of his contemporaries. Such a journal we present herewith in its first issue to the profession. We promise our readers the very best original articles pertaining to the etiology, symptomatology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of oral diseases and malformations. We shall, from time to time, publish special clinic numbers, such as the one in this issue, so that the student and the practitioner may be familiarized with the procedures as they are carried out in different institutions. ‘We will include articles dealing with the basic sciences, as well as with techniques and operative procedures, and lay strem on end results. A special feature will be the “Quarterly Review of the Literature,” edited by Thomas J. Cook. This supplement will contain a cumulative review of some phase of our work, writt,en by an authority on the subject. It will contain book reviews to aid in the selection of new publications for bhe reader’s library, and it will contain abstracts of the Merature of the fields covered by the JOURNAL. Corresponding editors will take care of the foreign literature, that of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Central and South America,, Ihe Scandinavian countries, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, because today the world is small, and there should be complete cooperation, especially in the medical and dental professions, for the benefit of all.
K. H. T.