metal.

"I contend moreover that for contouring the filling or restoring the
natural shape of the teeth, where there are three walls remaining to the
cavity, tin is fully equal to gold, and in some respects even superior;
as tin can be secured, where there is very little to hold or retain the
filling, better than gold, owing to the ease and greater certainty of
its adaptation to the retaining points or edges of the cavity.

"It will be said, however, that tin fillings will wear away. The
surfaces that are exposed to mastication undoubtedly will wear in time;
but the filling does not become leaky if it has been properly packed and
condensed, nor will the margins of the cavity be attacked by further
decay on that account.

"Altogether, I believe that we can make more perfect fillings with tin
than we can with gold, taking all classes of cavities; but it must not
be understood that it is proposed that tin should ever take the place of
gold where the circumstances and conditions indicate that the latter
should be used. Of course, the virtue is not in the gold or the tin, but
in the mechanical perfection of the operation, and tin having more
plasticity than gold, that perfection can be secured with more ease and
certainty.

"If we compare tin with amalgam, we must certainly decide in favor of
the former and give it preference; as if it is packed and condensed as
perfectly as may be, we know just what such fillings will do every time.
We know that there will be no changes or leakage of the fillings at the
margins; whereas, with amalgam, the rule is shrinkage of the mass, and
consequently the admission of moisture around the filling, the result
being further decay. It is not contended that this is always the result
with amalgam, but it is the general rule; yet we must use amalgam, as
there are not a few cases where it is the best that we can do; but it is
to be hoped, and I think it may be said, that as manipulative skill
advances, amalgam will be less and less used. For so-called temporary
work, very often I prefer tin to gutta-percha, as it makes a much more
reliable edge and lasts longer, even when placed and packed without
great care."--_N. Y. Odon. Society Proceedings_, page 51, 1894.

One of the main reasons which induced the writer to begin the use of tin
foil (_Stannum Foliatum_) for filling teeth, in 1867, was the fact that
amalgam filling failures were being presented daily. Believing that tin
could do no worse,