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

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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

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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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that I would decide in favor of his book on Dental Anatomy. This book is now generally used in all first-class dental schools. It has passed through several editions. This, like all of his other work, has been d-one so well that no one can possibly give a better book on the subject, and it must continue to stand at the head. As a teacher Professor Black is a leader. He has the faculty of getting close to the students. They all love him because he is so genia.l and approachable. In his lectures he uses no fine words for effect and does no-t load down: his ideas with verbiage. His first school work was done in the Missouri Dental College at St. Louis-at that time the leading center of dentistry in the Wfest --in company with such noble characters as Homer Judd, Isaiah Forbes, William H, Eames and others, all grand old landmarks. Wfhen the Chicago Dental Infirmary was organized he became one of its teachers. Later he taught in the Chicago College of Dental Sur- gery and remained with that schoo-l until 1889, During his stay with the last-named school he instituted operative and prosthetic technics. This great improvement in teaching has now become almo-st uni- versal. ' He taught in the dental department of the University of Iowa for a time, then returned to Chicago to accept a po-siti-on in North- western University Dental School, which, with his aid, was organ- ized in ISQI. He has been with the institution ever since as its most prominent teacher, and is now at its head as Dean of the Faculty. I think no one will disp-ute the statement that he is the greatest living dental' teacher. Students who have been under his teaching realize that they are .the most fortunate of men, since they get at the foun- tain head that which others must take second-hand, for his ideas are necessarily taught in all other first-class schools. Not long since, during a conversation with alittle company of seniors o-f our scho-ol, the question 'was asked: VVhy didyou leave such and such a school to come to Northwestern to compile-te yo-ur education? Each one of the whole company said: Because Professor Black is heref, They said, explaining, that in these other schools the professors were con- tinually quoting Professor Black and telling us the many things he had done, so we concluded that we would go to the school where he taught and get the information at first hand. Although Pro-fessor Black has never sought preferment, still he has been repeatedly ho-no-red by having de-grees conferred upon him in recognition of his great service to science. He has also been honored with the presidency of various societies, both literary as well as professional, among them the Illinois State Dental Society. He is at this time president of the National Dental Associatio-n, the high- est office in the gift of the profession. - i . 33