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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the formation and structure of dental enamel' by J [James] Leon Williams

Reference number: AP/72/4

Date: 1895

Description

Williams writes: 'The special points in the formation and structure of enamel which I have attempted to elucidate in this paper may be summarised as follows:— 1st. The existence of a very thin membrane, or a structure of membrane-like appearance, lying between the ameloblasts and the forming enamel, and also between these cells and those of the stratum intermedium. I have also, in many specimens, seen a similar membrane covering the odontoblasts. 2nd. The formation of enamel by deposit and not by cell calcification. This deposit probably consists of two distinct cell products—a granular plasm and spherules of calcoglobulin.'

Annotations in ink throughout. Includes 53 pages of photographs of teeth.

Subject: Odontology

Received 4 December 1895. Read 12 December 1895. Communicated by [Edward Albert] Schafer.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 59 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the formation and structure of dental enamel'.

A version of this paper was published by Williams in The Lancet: Williams, James Leon. 'ON THE FORMATION AND STRUCTURE OF DENTAL ENAMEL.' The Lancet, volume 147, number 3792 [originally published as volume 1, issue 3792], pp. 1203-1207.

Reference number
AP/72/4
Earliest possible date
1895
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
91 pages
Format
Typescript
Photograph
Printed

Creator name

James Leon Williams

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Citation

James Leon Williams, Unpublished paper, 'On the formation and structure of dental enamel' by J [James] Leon Williams, 1895, AP/72/4, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_72_4/unpublished-paper-on-the-formation-and-structure-of-dental-enamel-by-j-james-leon-williams, accessed on 22 May 2025

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    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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