Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-03
n T|STRY IN
THE OLDEN DAYS
sast Customs Recalled by DR..
Henry Garrett. Jr., Who is
Retiring.

II Dr. Henry Garrett. Jr.. wcll-known dem
Fist AZ Delaware avenue and West street.
who shortly Will retire. has been practis-
lnr dentistry since 1870 He comes oi n
family who have been dentists for several
generations hack and has some interesting
facts abcut the development ct that
science during the wears OF his practice
nr Garrctts many friends regret the
nervous breakdown he suffered, that
made HIM give up his work, and while he
was granting this interview 10 an livery
Evening representative. Scveral OLD pa
tieais called I'M. desiring the doctor
services. DIR. Carrots father had an
interesting collection of old instruments;
some of them he had kept and some gwen
20 other dentist friends One was known
rs 4 key, and was for extracting tccih
This was a simple process the key was
htted over the doomed tooth and then
turned until the tooth had been wrcnched
from its old home and connections l)r
Carret saws his father claims one ci the
best dentists he ever knew was an old
blacksmith who pulled many had tooth
with = fca-pcnny nail lie would drvc
this up along the tooth until he reached
The roat and then press down ana punch
The tooth ont Dr Garrett Was asked IN
Mortified WaN about hlood-poisonng He
replied - clean nail Is Just rs clean rs
forceps" We have a modern prejudice N
favor of the forcePN. or >tlll better, no nail
and nc forccp>
When pr Garrett was trained for
dentistry he ~ q ,ourSt in mechanical
dentistry FIRST AMI all work dentist bad
10 have done h did himself Now
mechanical dentistry i an entirely Glt-
.,sl 80
al their mechanical work ~ specialists in
that line Gold and platinum were the
two most important metals III mcchamcal
construction then hut ruhbcr is most used
now. Rubber then was regarded rs good
enough for only Il temporary tlllng DR.
Garrett iokinglv offered an old patient,
who had platinum base for lower set ot
teeth, more than he had charged HIM 10
put il in but the patient refused 10 part
with It, Platinum then was SO pound;
now IT is sI30 pound.
DR.. Garrett remembers we'll the days
when there was comparatively little
putting in Of bridge work and false teeth.
and when patients would have quite
few teeth extracted, and then go about
toothlcsS for the rest OF their days, young
persons among them. Regulations now
are quite severe regarding license. etc.
but then unframed men would go about
the country districts even up to
several years ago tins was true-once
wear. and pull all the rad teeth in the
countryside Beauty was in danger Al
their hands as they would rather pull
than cure.
Nitronsoxidc, or laughing gas, was
the favorite anesthetic years ago. but this
has gone out almost entirely II takes too
long for modern dentists. Injections are
most common now. DR.. Garrett has some
praise for laughing gas" As the most
harmless. and least likely 70 have after
affects Of the aneSthetics. DIR. Garrett
was modern with the rest Of his profcS-
son, hut he can see the merits of som of
the older methods Of Treatment.
MAMMOTH SYCAMORE.
In the yard Of DIR. CARROTS house
stands q giant sycamore, that Is l9.feet.
seven inches around its Dsse. and rears us
branches about 75 feet high II Is a tre-
mendous tree, the largest OF It's kind in the
State Of Delaware. II has had al interest
iug liie-I.afayette and Washington havd
dined beneath lis branches. An old friend
81 the Garrett family. who died al thd
age II 80 in 1895 claimed that the tree
had been Is large rs il was then lS9Y
when he was a boy DR.. Garrett has had
the tree Tor the past 30 years, ard he HIS
had proof that it has grown in thicknass
during that time, al least 14-lS inches
lie knows. because H. has driven CLOTHES
hooks. about six inches long, IN Al the
same place one following the other and
all three of them have been covered over
- the wears went by Or Garrett's
father bought the tree, and got the house
and lot with IT, he SAYS
II has been a severe wrench t0 DR.
Garrett 10 give up ms beloved profession,
and grief TO his many many tfiends in
Wilmington. Too close application 10
work brought about has nervous break
down. The doctor had not taken holiday
for the past - wears He will 90 10 Cali
fornia TO stay with q cousin, for about
four months and then come home through
the Canadian RockIea.