Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Orthodontics LEUMAN M. WAUGH D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry HENRY U. BARBER. Jr. EDWARD G. MURPHY ARTHUR C. TOTTEN D.D.b. D.D.S. D.D.S. Assist. Prof, of Dentistry Assist. Prof, of Dentistry Assist. Prof, of Dentistry D.D.S. D.D.S. Instructor in Dentistry Instructor in Dentistry LEV IS E. JACKSON GEORGE S. CALLAWAY D.D.S. D.D.S. Instructor in Dentistry Assoc. Prof, of Dentistry

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trists, opticians. They range from royally to riffraff, present company being, of course, excepted; and no man, indeed, is so low but his dignity will find him someone lower. You adopt your standard of comparison, naturally, with the end in view and the conclusion foregone. Logic has no place in the matter, for you can ' t live without the plum of self-respect, and if it doesn ' t grow in your own back yard you must reach out and pluck your neighbor ' s. Later it may not be difficult to convince your neighbor, with plausible, if not quite accurate, reasoning, that the plum was yours by right. If he acquiesces, you stand confirmed; if he balks, he is an unpleasant fellow who clearly didn ' t deserve the plum in the first place, and your case is proved. Which brings us back to the dentist, and the scale upon which here and there a physician places himself airily as noblest. So much is explained, if not condoned. But the dentist, obliged to associate with the fellow at close range, finds his own dignity assailed by implication, if not more directly. He can accept the stigma thus applied, or reject it, or ignore it. He may choose, in other words, between three horns of a nice dilemma. It is clear that to accept it is not only illogical but unhappy, since to do so confirms and in time aggravates the stigma. To reject it, on the other hand, is a delicate matter. A denial recognizes and may at once give standing to the allegation which called it forth. In this instance, because of the peculiar nature of the case, the more vigorous the denial becomes the more likely it is to be retroactive. Here the very foundation of the dentist ' s lean-to is threatened, yet he must fend the attack with good humor or see his shack collapse. A superior smile, if he can manage to turn one on under these trying circumstances, may prove his best defense; but even so it must be accurately adjusted. If it comes out a sheepish grin or a sneer the point is lost. Perhaps the dentist had best ignore the thing altogether. The logic of the matter may well be his refuge; but it will not be enough merely to go about his business as usual, or worse, to recede into smug self-assu.ance. While neither affirming nor denying the allegation, let him look ra.her to the real standard by which all human callings are properly judged, and act accordingly. The real standard, to repeat, is competence. Whether it be in dentistry or medicine or bricklaying or any other socially useful service, competence is at once the only stable foundation for self-respact and, in aggregate, the only genuine criterion of nobility in human service. It is not the tool in a man ' s hand that counts, whether it be the surgeon ' s knife, the dentist ' s drill, the carpenter ' s hammer, or that amazingly skillful fellow ' s steamshovel; nor is it the thing he uses it on. It is the way he uses it, and the good he does by using it. Let us mind our own business, and mind it well. Sixteen

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Periodontia HOUGHTON HOLLIDAY HAROLD J. LEONARD WILLIAM B. DUNNING ISADOR HIRSCHFELD A.B., D.D.S. D.D.S., A.B. D.D.S. D.D.S. Professor of Dentistry Professor of Dentistry Professor of Dentistry Assoc. Prof, of Dentistry Pedodontia LEWIS R. STOWE D.D.S. Assoc. Prof, of Dentistry EWING C. McBEATH D.D.S., B.S., B.M., M.D: Professor of Dentistry SOLOMON N. ROSENSTEIN B.S., D.D.S. Assist. Prof, of Dentistry