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

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state, in which region he lived for many years. He has always been a lover of nature, a close observer and student of the same. He is aneducated man in the broadest sense of the word. I have often said that he can do more things, and do them well, than any man I ever knew. He is a geologist, a clim-atolo-gist, a naturalist, a bot- anistgrhe is also a musician, an artist, a linguist, a machinist, beside being a physician and surgeon as well as a dentist. The first writing in professional lines done by Professor Black, which attracted general attention to him as an exact scientist, was his papers before the lllinois State Dental Society, published in the Missouri Dental journal, on Gold Poilf' in 1869. These papers led to a complete understanding of the different qualities of this metal as a material for filling teeth. This work of his, like all that which subsequently foll-owed, was done with such care and exactness that when completed it was a finished subject. The work do-ne by him for the American System of Dentistryi' would have been sufficient to have satisfied most men, had no-ne other been attempted, but this is but a tithe of the whole. It would be quite out of the question in an article of this kind for me to give even a summary of his labors in the profession, to say nothing of. that done outside of it. His boo-k, The Formation o-f Poisons by Micro-organisms, was the first t-o appear on this subject, giving the chemical action and products of the organisms, and it still stands as one of the very best presenta- tions of this subject. His study of the peridental membrane, with the discovery of its glands, is pre-eminently above all other attempts in this line. Qthers have since gone over the same road and have done some good w-ork, but to him belongs the right of eminent do-main in this field, he having been the pioneer, blazing the way, which had not been successfully traveled by others. His papers on the f'Physical Properties of the Teethn excited a greater amount o-f discussion than any other one subject hehas pre- sented, because they revolutionized all of the theories on the subject. They were so out of harmony with the accepted. ideas that they caused some to hold their breath, while others, the foolish ones, assailed them, but the attacks were futile, as in this, like all his other work, every point of attack was sealed up by demonstrated facts. No one, so far as I know, except john Tomes of London, even at- tempted to go over the investigations for himself, to corroborate or disprove Professor Blackis findings, a.nd he, after carefully making similar investigations, verified them. It was not until the papers on the Management of Enamel Mar- gins were published that the professi-on came to a full realization of the importance of a proper trimming of the margins of ca.vities for fillings. Many skillful operators were unable to account for the 31

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impression, as my mind contained no thoughts to give expreSS1011 to, except to apologize for my presumption. Those .who know Pro- fessor Black can imagine my surprise when he ca.me in, being so absolutely different from my expectations. It is unnecessary to say that I was at once completely put at ease. Instead of overawing an-d repressing the best there was in me, he drew out the best by his cordial and unostentatious manner. At once he commenced to show me and talk to me of what he was doing, asking me what I thought of it. His experiments at that time, if I remember correctly, werevfor the purpose of determining the cause of erosion o-f-teeth, or, rather, he was endeavoring to produce erosion of teeth by artificial means. I-Ie was exposing parts of teeth to an acid fluid, which was caused to be constantly moved by clockwork. He did succeed in producing something closely resembling erosion, but co-mpletely de- molished the idea that it could be produced in the mouth in this way, excluding the possibilities of certain theories of that time. He then took me into an upper room over his office and exhibited to me many appliances and machines which he had made to be used in various investigations. This first call was lengthened into a visit, and when I had departed, after having been earnestly requested to come often, I said: 'fIVhat manner of man is this who will drop his daily labors to show a mere country boy all these things and talk to him as though he, t-oo, were a scientist? Much of the special knowledge that I possess, and this is equally true of many others, has been absorbed from Dr. Black. It seems incredible even to those who know Professor Black best that he has gained so much information and done so much origi- nal investigation as he has in these few years. Certainly no man in the profession has done a quarter as much. Hardly a book on den- tistry or a single number of any dental periodical but contains quo- tations from him, and if due credit were given him there would probably be many more. I think I know of alm-ost all the work he has done in these thirty years, and am therefore pretty well informed as to its volume as well as to its character. Many men set out with a theory which they have conceived, and all their investigations show umnistakable evidences of an effort on their part, not to get at the truth, but to prove their pet theory correct. Such work is not trulv scientific and can never give the living facts which should obtain from honest pursuit of knowledge. Dr. Black's work has alwavs been just the antithesis of this, he has so-ught for the truth, to the exclusion of all else. This accounts for the fiat which he OW subject when he has gone over it. Prof. G. V. Black is a native of Illinois. He was born and grew up among the fields and forests in the central western part of the gi Jes a 30

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failure of their fillings at certain parts of the margins. These papers of Professor Black cleared up the subject, and we all wonder now whv we did not realize before that, if enamel rods were cut off in such a wav as to leave them unsupported, they must I be lOQS611Cfl OI' dislodged by the force used in packing filling material against them, or later by the impacts of mastication, leaving a lodging-piaee for acid-forming fungi. All progressive dentists now remember, in the preparation of cavities, the line of cleavage of the enamel rods in the dilferent parts of a tooth, and trim the margins, so that only full- length rods are left standing, and these are beveled, in order that we may have a safe margin to build against. These papers and those following, The Anchorage of Proximate Pillings in Bicuspids and Nlolarsf' with the idea, which was also his conception, of Extension for Preventionf, taught far safer methods than had before obtained, and these methods are practiced by the best operators of to-day. It is doubtful if there have ever been formulated for operative dentistry methods or ideas which will equal these for the saving of teeth. His study of the force exerted by the jaws in mastication and the force necessary forthe mastication of the various foods was new and gave surprise to all. The instruments made to measure this force were invented and made by him, as, indeed, all of the instruments he has used in original experimental work have been the invention of his own brain. The most recent of these have been the manudy- namometer, for the measurement of the force used. by various opera ators in condensing gold by hand pressure, and the tuptodynamom- eter, for the measurement of mallet forcel ' His investigation of amalgams, has given us definite knowledge of them, which we had never before possessed. Many years ago, when I was visiting at Professor Black's home, we were speaking of the uncertainty of amalgams, when he remarked: There are some peculiar things about amalgams. T have seen amalgam fillings which T have placed in the occlusal surfaces of molars, after a time, bulge out as though they were affected by something as yeast affects bread. Some day we will find out what causes this. And as soon as he could get around to it, as is well known, he did find what caused it. In connection with this investigation, Professor Black built one of the most delicate and perfect instruments for testing the expansion and shrinking of amalgams. It is called the amalgam micrometer. All may not know that Dr. Black invented and built one of the first practical burring engines. A considerable number of them were used by dentists in the Wfest in the 7O,S. He also invented a machine for cutting burs, also one of the first wire cables for the dental engine. If I were called upon to express an opinion as to what I believe to be the greatest single work of Professor Black, T am of the opinion 32