Second Edition. Provenance: G. Burch, Dental surgeon (bookplate to verso title). Half clf binding with marbled boards. Raised bands to spine. Lovely clean copy with tight binding. Joseph Fox, the prominent English dentist in 1803 , invented a metallic filling material to be put into cavity in a tooth in liquid form which when it cooled would solidify to the exact shape of the cavity. he referred to it as ''Fusible Metal. However, it was Thomas bell who concieved the idea of mixing coin silver fillings with mercury to make an amalgam filling material that would be soft during insertion and harden very quickly.