The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-29
Painless Dentistry,

If report be true, DR.. ii. Fl. Schumann,
, Chicago dentist must hereafter be ac-
counted one of the conspicuous bepe-
factors of the human race. For hVft is
who Is credited with having devised q
process to invest with truthfulness that
conventional fiction of dentistry: Teeth
extracted without pain" and also with
having, very -Chicago-like, decided
not to apply for. a patent on it or organ
ize a stock company.
DR.. Schumann's specific contains
neither chloroform, ether, nitro-oXygen
nor hypnOtism. 1t does not put its
patient into a trance. On the contrary,
the patient has the satisfaction while
the operation is being performed. of re-
tanning all his senses and not suffering
The dentist"-we quote from the Times
Herald-"takes live nerves from his
gums and holds them up for inspection" !"
And what is this wonderful process?
The diffusion Of cocaine by the power of
electricity and the benumbing Of
nerve centers by the strength of thirty
volts of electricity. In further eXplana-
tion of the discovery our Chicago con-
temporary says:
Electricity ordinarily applied, shocks the
human system. Like cocaine, it may kill
on the instant. The problem to be solved
was the control of a voltage which would
benumb the nerves, and. at the same time
not AFFECT the patient in the slightest de-
gree. DR.. Schumann solved that problem
month ago and made the solution public
yesterday as contribution to science.
With an Edison electric current and Nc
Intosh battery. he demonstrated that any
electrical surgery now practiced might be
performed without the slightest pain. the
subject being conscious all the time the op.
GRAFTON was being performed. In proof
of this DR.. Schumann placed representa-
tive Of the Times Herald in a chair To
his hand he attached two electrodes, one
in the palm of the hand and one on the
back; They represented the negative pole
Of u battery. Selecting particularly ten
der tooth of the patient he placed upon it
bit Of cotton. saturated with solution
OF which 70 per cent. was cocaine. Over
this was placed rubber cap, which in
sulated all the teeth adjacent to the one
10 be treated. For the positive pole of his
battery he had a fine platinum wire, with
a point the size Of large needle. This
he plunged into the cotton covering tie
aching tooth Then he began TO apply
the electricity. The Edison current at his
disposal represented 10 voltage. This was
IVhuceu 10 lOrlE-liNe NOlltSS by a sixteen
candle power lamp. Even then the cur,
rent was not permitted to reach the tooth
until it passed through a storage power
battery. controlled by two sets of power
keys. one of these sets applied to the
tooth with each touch of button half 4
volt Of power. The other set applied five
volts. The patient did not feel the appli-
cation Of the electricity. For fifteen min
utes he laid quietly In the chair wonder
ing what next would happen. At the end
of that time Dr. Schumann took his sur
gical instruments and drew from the
tooth a live nerve, holding 1t up for the In =
spection of his subject. There was no
pain in the operation.
We do not need to point out the i'm
portance of this discovery if the fore
going account Of 1t shall be borne out
by subsequent tests. There probably
Is no person among those before whose
eyes these lines will pass who has not
had frequent occasion to lament the
iniquity OF mankind which is RESPONSE
bic for the delusive promises, that
dentists SO readily make and break. of
painless operations. If we are skeptic-
al In this latest instance, it is a legiti-
mate Inheritance from generations Of
betrayed confidence in dentists verac-
ity.