putterings 078 < 079 > 080 index
an ingenuity not to be despised, a material of which we are never certain
We are puttering, and ever puttering in our efforts to check decay after it has begun, and to cure pyorrhea when it has already sapped the foundation of the teeth. We are using our ingenuity — an ingenuity not to be despised, either — in frantic efforts to undo the harm that has been done...
— C. N. Johnson, “The Need of an Institution for Dental Research,” in Dental Review 27:5 (Chicago; May 1913) : 413- 419 (415)
To be always puttering with a material of which we are never certain is a sad blow to our highest ideals, and the fact remains that today we are suffering from a missing link in the armamentarium with which we are equipped to save teeth.
— “A Missing Link” (an editorial on the shortcomings of porcelain, hopes for silicate cement, uncertainties...)
in same journal 27:9 (September 1913) : 941-942