Philadelphia Dental College - Class Book Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 15 text:

In 1889 Prof. Dorr's chair was changed to that of Practical Dentistry, Anaesthesia and Anaesthetics. F rom then until the death of Prof. Garretson in October, 1895 fa period of fourteen yearsj no changes occurred, but after his death Dr. I-I. C. Boenning was elected to the chair of Anat- omy and Surgery, and Dr. M. H. Cryer, for many years the assistant of Prof. Garretson, was chosen Adjunct Professor of Oral Surgery. In January, 1896, Prof. S. H. Guilford was elected Dean of the Faculty. ' In the Spring of the same year Profs. Flagg and Dorr re- signed, owing to ill-health. Dr. L. Greenbaum was thereupon chosen to succeed Prof. Dorr and the chair changed to include Materia Medica, Anaesthesia and Oclontotechny. Dr. I-I. I-I. Burchard was also chosen to fill the place of Prof. Flagg and made Special Lecturer on Dental Pathology and Therapeutics. In October, 1896, Prof. Cryer resigned to accept a position in the Dental Department of the University of Pennsylvania. Few changes have occurred in the Deanship of the institu- tion. Prof. McQuillen held the position from the establishment of the school in 1863 until his death in 1879. I-Ie was succeeded by Prof. Smith who held the oliice for two years. Prof. Garret- son assumed the office in 1881 and retained it until his death in 1895, after which Prof. Guilford, the present incumbent, was elected to the position. The college has also witnessed but few changes in the Presi- dency of the Board of Trustees. The first incumbent was Rev. Richard Newton, D.D. At his death he was succeeded by the Hon. james Pollock, LL.D., ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, who retained the office during the remainder of his life, after which Gen. James A. Beaver, LL.D., ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, was elected to the Presidency, which position he still so wor- thily fills. ' At the time of the incorporation of the Philadelphia Dental College there were but three other dental schools in this country: one in Cincinnati, one in Baltimore, and one in Philadelphia, with a combined attendance of less than one hundred pupils. 15

Page 14 text:

Dr. Thos. Warclell, Professor of Mechanical Dentistry and Metallurgy. Dr. Henry Morton, A.M., Professor of Chemistry. Dr. McQuillen was elected Dean and held that office con- tinuously until his death. In 1865, Professors Kingsbury and Morton resigned and were succeeded by Dr. Geo. W. Ellis and Albert R. Leeds, A. M. ln 1866 Prof. Ellis resigned and Prof. Kingsbury resumed his former chair. In 1867 Prof. Wardle re- signed and Dr. D. D. Smith was elected to succeed him. The same year two new chairs were created, one of Prin- ciples and Practice of Surgery and the other of Anatomy. Dr. James E. Garretson was chosen incumbent of the former and Dr. Harrison Allen of the latter. In the following year, 1868, Professors Garretson and Leeds resigned and Dr. S. B. Howell was elected to succeed Prof. Leeds. In 1869 Prof. Kingsbury resigned his chair and was made Emeritus Professor and Dr. T. C. Stellwagen was chosen as his successor. In 1870 Prof. Flagg resigned and his chair was divided among the others. Thus far, some change had taken place in the personnel of the faculty each year but one. During the succeeding eight years no change occurred, but in 1878 Prof, Garretson resumed his chair of Anatomy and Surgery, and Dr. I-Ienry I. Dorr was made Adjunct Professor of Practical Dentistry. . In 1879 the chair of Dental Pathology and Therapeutics was established and Prof. Flagg was chosen to fill it. Owing to the lamented death of Prof. McQuillen during this year, some changes in the chairs were made necessary. Prof. Stellwagen succeeded Prof. McQuillen in the chair of Physiology, and his former chair of Operative Dentistry was united to that of Me- chanical Dentistry. At the same time a new chair of Clinical Dentistry was established and Prof. H, I. Dorr chosen to Fill it. In 1881 Prof. Smith resigned and Dr. S. I-I. Guilford was elected incumbent of the chair of Operative and Prosthetic Den- tistry. T4

Page 16 text:

To-day there are in the United States about fifty institutions in which dentistry is regularly taught, with a total yearly attend- ance of between four and five thousand students. In the thirty-five years of its existence, the Philadelphia Dental College hasigraduated no less than 1,821 students. Along with other schools it has advanced from a two years' course of four months each to a three years' course of six months, with supplemental spring and fall courses covering four months more. From an annual curriculum that required but thirty-four lectures from each professor, it has developed into one in which more than one hundred didactic lectures are given annually by the incumbent of each chair. In addition to this the clinical facilities have been greatly enlarged year by year, giving to the student opportunities for the attainment of a degree of manual dexterity undreamed of years ago. One of the most prominent advances of recent years has been the establishment of technic courses in the Freshmen and Junior years, cultivating not only the hand, but the eye and brain, as well as adding immensely to the sym- metrical development of the pupil. The Philadelphia Dental College was the first institution to include in its curriculum a course in Gral Surgery, and the first also to establish a hospital for the treatment of diseases of the oral cavity. The late Prof. Garretson was the first to make a special study of such diseases and to constitute their considera- tion apart ofthe dental curriculum. With him the trained hand of the dentist, in conjunction with the medically educated mind, made possible operations never before attempted. The Philadelphia Dental College in its many years of ex- istence has lost but three of its professors through death, but of those who have thus been removed, two were conspicuous lights, with reputations that were world-wide. Both were men of in- domitable energy, wise judgment, greatness of heart and noble- ness of character. Each was a master in the art of teaching, and each at the time of his death was not only the Dean of the school but the most distinguished member of the faculty. Dr. Mc- Quillen was the founder of the school. He labored unceasingly for its proper establishment and then through all the remaining I6