Omaha daily bee., 1917-05-27

washington, May I4.-hecorulnB 10
recent dispatches. the kaiser is man
Of great personal bravery. Or else,
he is a subtler diplomat than his pres
ent reputation would seem to indi-
cate. When his majesty became af-
flicted with toothache few weeks
ago, he deliberately summoned an
American dentist to great headquart-
ers and bade him repair the mon
archial molars.
A vision of the kaiser in an Ameri-
can dental chair suggests various pos
sibilities. There are many Americans,
especially those with strong social
istic tendencies, who would be de-
lighted to have the kaiser in such a
position. On the other hand, one is
reminded of the story Of the martial
gentleman who ordered the enemy's
surgeon to attend him, with instruc-
tions that death would be the penalty
il the treatment hurt.
In Justice to the American dental
profession and to the kaiser, however,
II must be admitted that American
dentists have always been greatly ap-
preciated in Europe. For years the
,ourt dentist OF Germany has been
IN American, and the same has been
true of other countries. This is be-
cause in the beginning Europeans
were slow to practice and develop
dentistry, and allowed Americans to
get in ahead of them. Today, there
IS no better equipped and experienced
dental service in the world than that
OF Germany, yet it still remains the
custom for the wealthy and the titled
to patronize American dentists.
In the United States, during the
early days of dentistry, the situation
was different. Here the science ap-
pealcd to the individual rather than
to the people in general, who con-
tinued to regard dentistry as part
Of medicine and to go to the family
doctor whenever their teeth needed
attention. In 1889, however, a few
energetic dental pioneers established
the Baltimore College Of Dental Sur
gerry, which marked the beginning Of
dentistry as a separate and distinct
profession.
Other dental schools soon opened,
hundreds OF dentists we're trained,
and, iured by the greater opportuni-
ties for practice abroad, the emigra-
tion Of American dentists set in. Eu-
rope welcomed them enthusiastically,
and rushed to have its teeth repaired.
Because the building of career in
. foreign country in those days re-
quired great deal more originality
and aggression than it does now, the
men who went to Europe to practice
dentistry were OF particularly high
type. They were not only good dem
fists; they were men with particular
ly strong and attractive personalities
who made many friends in scientific
circles and were not without their in.
fuence on Europe.
One of the first dentists to achieve
any great recognition in Europe was
DR.. Francis Peabody Abbot, who for
years had large practice in Berlin,
where he did a great deal to encour-
age other American dentists. DUR
ing the civil war in this country, the
sympathy of Europe was almost Who'll
ly with the south. Thus it was ex-
tremcly difficult for the union to bor-
row any war money in Europe, but
through the influence OF DR.. Abbot
and other American dentists in Ger
many, loans were at last secured.
At the same time, in France, Dr..
Thomas w. Evans, another American
dentist was working vigorously for
the northern cause. DR.. Evans was
. very skillful dentist, in addition to
being an intelligent and fascinating
conversationalist, and his friends
were among the most noted people Of
Europe. 1t was DR.. Evans who first
introduced Louis Napoleon III to the
Princess Eugenie, afterward helping
Eugene to escape to England when
her husband was deposed. Hence, 1t
was to DR.. Evans, an American and
one of his best friends, that Napoleon
turned for advice when the French
government was on the point OF lend
ing money to the south. The doctor
went to America, made his own OBJ
servations and when he came back
gave confidential report. As a re-
suit France did not lend money to the
South.
This part OF Evans career is little
known, but his name still lives in
Evans institute of the University Of
Pennsylvania, to the establishment OF
which he gave his fortune. The name
Of Horace Wells, another American
dentist of about the same period, is
probably not as well known in the