University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 22 text:

THE MIRROR met with signal honor abroad, nearly every court dentist in Europe being a graduate of this institution. Such in brief is the history of our dear old College, our beloved Alma Mater, where we are now seeking a training which will not only bring distinction to, and benefit us personally, but which shall instill nobler ideas into our minds, and so broaden our characters, that we may become better citizens, and better able to fill our allotted place in life, whatever it may be. And may we ever prove an honor to the calling in which we are about to engage, and to our best friend, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. 3 16

Page 21 text:

THE MIRROR profession; is that, although it is one of the most prominent professions of today, its evolution is embraced within the space of one human life. The practical inauguration of the new college presented a difficulty well known in America, when professors often outnumbered students. At length five legitimate students w ere found to covet the honor of the new title, D.D.S., and the first course of instruction was given in the winter of 1840-41. The didactic lectures were dehvered in a small room publicly situated, but the teachings of practical anatomy demanded privacy and other prudential considerations also suggested the use for that purpose of a secluded stable loft, the prejucUce of the community against dissections having shown itself some years before. The College was organized with the design of teaching dentistry as a regular branch of medicine, and in order to denote the phenomenal progress of the old Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, start at the time of its birth; when there were about 1200 practitioners of den- tistry in America, more than one-half of whom were ignorant, incap- able men, whose knowledge w as composed of a few secrets which they had purchased at fabulous prices from other charlatans, and who considered three or four weeks ample time in which to attain all the knowledge necessary to the successful pursuit of the calling, and contrast the requirements of that time with those of the present day. This is the sixty-eighth year of the career of the college with its prospects for usefulness brighter than ever. It has added to its faculty and clinical corps strong and active men, and is better equipped to carry out the purpose of its inception than at any period of its exsitence. Over twenty-five hundred graduates have gone from this College into practice, and these are scattered all over the civiHzed world. They are located in nearly every city of Europe. They lead the profes- sion in all the great centers of civiUzation and have won eminence in England, France, Russia, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. They have carried the honors of the institution into Asia, Australia, and the land of the pyramids, while in every State of our Repubhc, and in all parts of Canada they have demonstrated their own worth and the excellent training afforded them by their Alma Mater. The} ' have 15

Page 23 text:

We, the people of the present generation, Uve in an age of progress. Look where you will in every walk of life and you will see the truth of this statement. Particularly is this progress manifested along scientific lines, so much so, that this century is termed the age of scientific research. We do not need to carry our memories back very far to note the evidence of this wonderful progress: ten or fifteen years are sufficient. How vast a number of phenomena which were then in the realm of the mysterious, or unthought of, are now clearly understood by not alone men of scientific inclinations, but by the laymen as well, and put to practical use in everyday life. How has this wonderful prog- ress been brought about? It is the result of untiring work of master minds, along a special line, until success has been attained. The idea that one man could successfully accompHsh two or more things, has long been abandoned, and the result is the speciahst. This is true of all the professions, and especially so of medicine. There is the eye speciahst, the ear specialist the throat specialist, and many others, but not the least of these is the oral specialist, the dentist. Dentistry is by no means a modern profession, although it never had the rank it occupies today. It was practiced by the ancient Egyptians with fairly good success. Down through the centuries, and numerous peoples it has come with ever increasing prominence until today, right here in our own, our native land, it has reached the stage of comparative perfection. Why here in the United States? Because its first and greatest professional impetus was given it in this very city by the estabhshment of the old 17