Education, methods of training
The instructors of the college in the late 1800s were forced by financial constraints to develop and make their own dental teaching aids such as the five times natural sized gypsum models of human teeth, some showing various cavity preparations. The models demonstrate the classification system developed by Dr G.V. Black, an American research worker of the 1890s for the purposes of unifying treatment and teaching. Large models were essential for demonstrating angles, bevels and the overall shape of the cavity before the student was allowed to cut a natural one. The examples shown here were prepared by Harold Down, (later Professor) and show typical preparations according to Black.
Dental and comparative anatomy formed an important part of the course in which the student learnt about the development of the teeth, their attachment to the bone and the movements of the jaw. The skulls are a selection from the collection started by the Ontological Society in 1884 at which time the members would have struggled with integrating their philosophy with the recent work of Wallace and Darwin on evolution.