The Wilfred Fish memorial lecture. The Hunterian tradition in dentistry

The influence of William and John Hunter upon the development of Medicine and Dentistry in Britain has endured for more than two centuries. John Hunter's first book set out the morphological details of the teeth and their associated structures. From this basis he sought to attain an understanding of physiological and pathological processes by studies of the entire animal kingdom and by experimentation. His foundations of scientific dentistry were built upon by John Tomes and Wilfred Fish in subsequent centuries, both invoking the use of microscopy to enhance Hunter's naked eye descriptions and to interpret the results of experiments. Both, too, are inseparably linked with the history of the Royal College of Surgeons of England by the parts they played in establishing and preserving the place of their profession in that great repository of Hunter's teachings.