DidYouKnow? Dentists inCulturalHistory: TheSweetVersion In the late 19th century, dentist, lawyer, author and civic leader Dr. William James Morrison invented machine-spun sugar candy with confectioner John C. Wharton. The machine was patented in 1897. The spun-sugar confection, called fairy floss, was introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. The men sold 68,655 boxes of fairy floss at 25¢ per box. Dr. Morrison was someone with diverse interests. Along with being president of the Tennessee State Dental Association, Dr. Morrison was a popular author of children’s books. He invented a process for extracting oils from cotton seeds and converting them into a lard substitute. He also devised a chemical process to purify public drinking water for Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived. In 1921, Dr. Joseph Lascaux, a dentist from New Orleans, Louisiana, invented a similar machine to make what he called cotton candy. Dr. Lascaux’s product name overtook fairy floss, and the confection became popular at fairs, circuses, carnivals and festivals around the world. Evidence of the practise of chewing gum has been traced back to the Neolithic period. Chewing gum made from birch bark 5,000 years ago was found in Kierikki, Finland. It has tooth imprints! The Mayans and Aztecs used chicle, which is sapodilla tree gum, as a base for making a substance similar to chewing gum. The ancient Greeks chewed mastic gum, which has antiseptic properties and is made from the resin of the mastic tree. Dr. William F. Semple, a dentist from Mount Vernon, Ohio, filed an early patent for chewing gum in 1869. Dr. Semple’s product was made by dissolving vegetable gums in naphtha and alcohol until they attained a jellylike consistency, then adding powdered chalk, licorice root, orris root and myrrh. After the naphtha and alcohol evaporated, the material dried and hardened. Dr. Semple’s gum was intended to clean teeth and strengthen the jaw. He believed that the chalk would have a scouring effect and help remove food particles and dental plaque from teeth. But it was not sweet. Indeed, charcoal was also suggested as a “suitable” ingredient. Modern chewing gum became popular around the 1860s when chicle was brought to New York by a former president of Mexico, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Santa Dr.WilliamJ.Morrison—FairyFloss/CottonCandy Dr.WilliamF. Semple—ChewingGum Anna sold the chicle to Thomas Adams for use as a rubber substitute, but Adams cut the chicle into strips and marketed it as Adams New York Chewing Gum in 1871. Black Jack was introduced in 1884, Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum in 1893 and Chiclets in 1899. All three were popular chewing gum brands that dominated the market initially and still exist today. Packing chiclets at the plant of theAmericanChicletsGumCompany, 1923. Photo: US Library of Congress. 43 Issue 5 | 2024 |
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