Northwestern University Dental School - Purple and Gold Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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went after the pus in proper shape and, o-f course, in getting a suffi- cient opening for good drainage, it was necessary to bring blood. I might go 'on relating the history of the profession, step by step, through the thousands of generations down to the present time, but your time is too valuable fo-r me to- demand more of it than is abso- lutely necessary to impress upon your mind the importance of our noble calling. W' f Age-sago wise men saw stars hovering over a dreary swamp alo-ng the shore of Lake Michigan and with all their wisdom could not interpret their meaning. Centuries p-assed and a fort was built. They said, That is the meaningf' but it was not so-. A city was built Now they were sure, but no, not yet. Churches, temples and institu- tions of learning we-re erected, but still the prophecy of the stars was not fulfilled. At last, ready to give up in despair, they were ready to turn their gaze away from the treacherous stars, when, on the night of October 4, 1899, such a blaze of light o'erspread the heavens that there was no longer any doubt but that the prophecy had been ful- filled, but as yet they were undetermined as to- what it was, until they learned that the class of 1902 had met for the first time, when the last shadow of doubt was dispelled and we were fairly launched upon the topmo-st wave rolling towards success. r After Noah came out of the ark his family became very much scattered over the earth, as is shown by the variousiplaces from which the members o-f our class co-me. Not only from Illinois, but from every state in the unio-n do they come, from Australia, the land of the kangaroo and wombat, from England, from Germany, from Nor- way, from Canada, and from South Halsted street. A word or two will be sufficient to show our exalted position. Wlieiii we were freshmen we were told that we were the best class that had ever entered the N. U. D. S., and as juniors we are told that we are the brightest, most intelligent and by far the best class that ever breathed the foul and stagnant air of the junior lecture hall, and as we have perfect confidence in the men who tell us this. we know witho-ut the shadow of a doubt that it must be true. We know, t-oo, that such a height o-f perfection will never be attained again, be- cause Dr. Harper threatens to change the system of ventilation. The method of passing up in our class deserves a passing remark at least, for instead o-f passing up, as is commonly done, we pass him around, 113

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The foregoing constitutes the legendary period of dental hist-ory, but we now co-me to the true written history of our noble profession, the first account being of jacob, in Genesis xlix, 12, Hand his teeth white with milk. Iac-ob practiced upon children, especially the chil- dren of Israel, Israel being the only man in the country who could af- fordttchfe services o-f a private dentist to loo-k after his children's teeth, and for this reason most o-f his experience waswith the milk teeth, as he says in his account. And how appropriate, too, that the first practitioner of whom we have any account should make a specialty of the first teeth, leaving the more difficult operations upon the perma- nent teeth fo-r those of us who come later in the profession and have more experience. job, in xix, 2o, speaks o-f the skin of his teeth-, and from this we know that he made a specialty o-f skin diseases of the teeth. The members of this class do not hold to the theory of skin on the teeth, but that theory has many adherents, it is reported, among the seniors, quite a number o-f them claiming' to have used the skin of their teeth on which to get through their examinations, especially since tinted paper became the prevailing fashion. The nearest that any of our class have come to seeing skin on the teeth was when Ernest Freese returned from Indiana after his Christmas vacation. He reported having seen, at a distance, two cases of moss o-n the teeth. I I - Amos, in iv, 6, says: And I also- have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. Amos was a scaler and itis evide-ntfrom his words, Hand I also, that he was not the only scaler of that time. He had opposition, and in o-rder to rea.p as rich a harvest- as was possible, he spent certain days in other cities than his native one, much as many of our dentists do to-day. Of course, being among the first scalers, his work would be much more difficult than that of a scaler now, because none of the people had had their teeth scaled 'since the time of Adam, and there were good, rich deposits there to be re- moved. ' Some people of to-day have not had their teeth scaled since then, but ,they are the exception and do not usually bo-ther the den- tist very much, I mean the practicing dentist-they go to a student. VVltl1fZCCl12lI'I.5ll1 the time for the man with one single specialty was over. I-Ie, in addition to cleaning-teeth, treated abscesses and the like, as we learn from Ze-ch. ix, 7: HI- will take away his blood out of his m-outh, and his abominations fro-m between his teeth. I-Ie II2 I l ' I

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and when the novelty has worn off, Childs takes him under his arm and walks up and down the aisle a few times, so- that the patient may c-ool down gradually, thus preventing any serious disturbance of function. I know of no other class showing such consideration for passed-up men. Our class has a love for long lectures which is al- most a mania and when the lecturer appears their joy knows no boundsg we sh-o-ut for jo-y, we sing for joy, a.nd it is often difficult to suppress the joy sufficiently to start the lecture, and before the hour is up many be-come uneasy because they cannot have the time length- ened to two hours. I The history of a nation is the biography of its leading men, so the history of a class is the bi-o-graphy o-f its leading members. The only difference between this class and a nation being that in a nation a few are leaders, while in this class all a.re leaders. To give the biog- raphy of all would require several volumes, but the Purple and Gold, I understand, is to- be in o-ne volume, which at once precludes my giv- ing the biography of the entire class. I shall, therefore, take at ran- d-om a few of the illustrious lights and shall endeavor to give them such a setting as may make them appear fair and impartial examples of the entire class. Allen! Is Mr. Allen here? Maxwell Sedgwick Allen o-f Syd- ney, Australia, was reared among the bushmen a.nd kangaroos of a far-off corner of the wo-rld. He loves his native land and longs for his old companio-ns to such an extent tha.t he has ado-pted their name that the separation might no-t seem so grea.t, but, as is the custom in this country of cutting everything short to save time, the name has beenabbreviated until it is simply 4'Kang. Mr. Allen is rapidly climbing the ladder of fame and it is feared that if he keeps on at his present rate Fame will have to put in another round at the top of her ladder to keep him from falling off. Fame has a good stand-in with the class of 1902 and has made known her willingness to- co-mp-ly with any o-f its demands. Henry Edward Barber, the gentleman from Texas, is a. gem of the first water. Mr. Barber excels in almost everything he under- takes, and his winning way and pleasant smile captivate all who come within the sphere o-f their influence. He- has but one fault, and that is overwork, which is apt to endanger health, but it is earnestly hoped that he may outgrow this habit of his youth and innocence. I shall - 114