Providence Technical High School - Review Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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62 THE TECH REVIEW 1928 heard. In fact that’s all that was heard. Listen my children and you shall hear of the trials of the Senior Year. There are nominations, elections, rings, pictures and what not. After all, it’s a great life and “in the course of ichthioid events” we have learned to spout, “Well—these supernatural solicitings cannot be ill, can- not be good, but they’re not so bad.” There’s been another change also; we have grown from little fish into Big Fish. The books we have not read are the “Dic- tionary, “Encyclopedia Brittania,”“Book of Etiquette,” “Boston Cook Book,” and “The Social Register.” Some of us after graduation, are going on to the Greater Aquariums (colleges) and others are going into the Great Sea of Life where the waters are cold and relentless. Then, hail and fare ye well, ye kindly, patient toilers of the deep (Teachers) !

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1928 THE TECH REVIEW 61 Backward Ho! By Willie and Max Ten thousand years ago one of Cleo- patra's suitors who was considered “no- body's fool said, “It takes all kinds of fish to fill an aquarium. In June, 1924, a matter of four years ago, keepers of the Small Aquariums de- cided to send the most developed of us fish into deeper water after more food (for thought). In September of the same year, we had to desist from our gambol- ings in the green (elementary) aquariums and betake ourselves to the Greater Aquarium termed “Tech. Here we were destined to remain four years. The first day was a dark horse (nightmare of course). We were evidently all con- sidered sardines, for we were packed into boxes (class rooms) air tight, having for oil soft words from fisher men and fisher women called home room teachers. We did many things wrong and, sad to re- late, some of us provoked the anger of our first Home Room Teacher on our first day of school. We floundered about the corridors, our fins interlocked and were prodded by Swordfish (Sopho- mores). A disappointing initiation no doubt but you must remember we were only little fish! Nevertheless, we were not depressed by the strangeness of the state of affairs and immediately formed the opinion—“Well, this ain’t so bad.” Ah! but that was uttered in our foolish ignorance. In the days that followed, we did so many strange and silly things and saw so many strange and—(oh, dear) faces that our minds were in a turmoil (they still are). Some fisher men mis- took us for shrimp and tried to make us wiggle. We swam wearily through a maze of books, the titles of which have long since been dimmed by Time's ever - moving finger. In our second year we became better acquainted with the “Principal Fisher- man (Mr. Manchester) who has been a friendly, noble guide and who has kept us out of shallow water. There was con- siderable excitement precipitated in the Lunch Room which resulted from the knowledge that we were cannibals partak- ing of Brother Salmon with much relish. (But then he always was the “pink sheep of the family!) The contents of books and more books were packed inside us, that is studied, picked to pieces, discussed, finished, and promptly forgotten. It’s wonderful how we took out the inside of books—just looked hard at them and the words came right up through our eyes into our minds. Yes, we had minds; in fact several of us had become sharks and knew a whale of a lot. Ho hum! Two years to go. The third scholastic year was the be- ginning of the end (those afore-men- tioned last two years, of course). In that year we dived into the society life of this school of fish in the form of our first class social. The Debutantes were there; and the inevitable Lobsters dressed beyond recognition, were “sitting tight” like barnacles on the side of a rock. This condition prevailed until the Turtles who chaperoned, acted as catalytic agents and mixed us, with the aid of some good dance music rendered by “Peter Pick- erel’s Orchestra as a stirring rod. A good time was had by all even the clams, especially when the refreshments were served, for the dancers melted away like fried ice, and talk and laughter were

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1928 THE TECH REVIEW 63 The Relation of Chemistry to Health and Disease By Helen Vanderburgh. ’28 (Awarded Girl’s Price in In early times, chemistry and medicine were more noticeably bound together than at the present day, although with careful study one may see to what great extent chemistry and health and disease are now related. In Alexandria, years before the birth of Christ, students at the medical schools there spent much time on the study of the human anatomy. The bodies of liv- ing men—usually criminals condemned to death—were opened, and in this way much was found out about the organs, functions, and structure of the body. Hippocrates, a Greek physician living several centuries before the birth of Christ, was of great service to the cause of chemistry and medicine. Over two hundred different remedies (mainly herbs) are mentioned in his writings, al- though he was a strong advocate of diet, air, and exercise. In the far east, chemistry was turned over to the priests, who spent many hours of the day in the temples, mixing and preparing medicine from herbs. It was at about this time that the priests were forbidden to shed blood, so operations were performed by barbers, and the fa- miliar barber’s pole still bears testimony to that practice. Gradually there was a visible separa- tion between chemistry and medicine, and Anthony Medal Contest) they were soon relegated to two distinct fields, hut even the widening influence of the times could not prevent the two from being constantly linked together. So they went, down through the ages up to mod- ern times and the advancement of Pasteur’s important discoveries. Pasteur was a Frenchman, and at this time France was suffering heavy losses, due to the spoiling of wine during storage and transportation. The wine became muddy in appearance and sour in taste, totally unfit for use. After some experi- menting, Pasteur found that if the wine were heated to a certain temperature and then cooled, it would neither spoil nor turn muddy, and the flavor would still be retained. This process became known as “pasteurization,” after its famous dis- coverer, but the term is now used more in connection with milk than with wine. In the pasteurization of milk there are two methods which can be used—the “flash” method and the “holding” method. In the flash method the milk is raised to a high temperature, held there for about thirty seconds, then cooled rapidly. Al- though this is the commercial way, it does not compare with the holding method, in which the milk is held at a high temperature for a much longer period. Chemistry has also had its share in the