BOOK REVIEWS
The Genesis of Dental Education in
the United States. By
Van B. Dalton. (Columbus, Spahr &
Glenn, c1946. 216p., illus.)
Visiting foreign lecturers are often
heard to remark to their
admiring audiences that the United
States' only contributions to
the culture of the world are the modern
bathrooms and the comic
strip. They would no doubt admit,
however, that they had been
guilty of one omission and that is the
Art and Science of Modern
Dentistry.
In The Genesis of Dental Education in
the United States, Dr.
Van B. Dalton, a practicing dentist of
Cincinnati, has traced the
amazingly rapid development of this boon
to suffering humanity.
When one remembers that dental care,
with its associated ills, is
the most prevalent disease affecting
mankind, and that the archae-
ologists have assured us that even
prehistoric man was not free
from these afflictions, it is with no
little wonder that we read that
it was not until the year 1827 that a
system of formal education
was created for instruction in the
practice of dentistry.
Dr. Dalton gives proper homage to
earlier individuals who
pioneered in dental science, such as the
French dentist, Pierre
Fauchard, who during the early
eighteenth century wrote a two-
volume work revealing amazing insight
into dental problems;
Robert Woofendale, the New York dentist
educated in England,
who is recognized as the first American
to place a gold filling
(1895); and those two great American
dentists, Dr. Horace
Wells, the discoverer of surgical
anaesthesia, and Dr. William
T. S. Morton, the Boston dentist who
first publicly demonstrated
the use of ether in surgery.
These gentlemen and others like them
were forced to serve
as apprentices in order to learn their
techniques, and this process
was haphazard and laborious until one
Dr. John Harris, a prac-
ticing physician in the little town of
Bainbridge, Ohio, decided
that the time had come to end all this.
103
104 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Dr. Harris became interested in what he
considered a most
promising specialty in the field of
medicine, and in 1827 he estab-
lished a school of dentistry in the
village of Bainbridge. Soon
after he had advertised his intention in
the Chillicothe Supporter
and Gazette of Chillicothe, Ohio, a small group of students were
receiving his zealous instruction and
the development of modern
dentistry had begun. For it was from
this little class of serious
men that came many of the most prominent
authors and dental
educators of the century.
The major part of Dr. Dalton's book is
devoted to the devel-
opments resulting from this small
beginning and a recital of the
many distinguished Ohio dentists who took
part in the creation
of the United States' preeminence in the
world of dental science.
Such men as Dr. Chapin Harris, one of
the original Bainbridge
group, who later became the leading
figure in the establishment
of the Baltimore, Maryland, College of
Dental Surgery; Dr.
Jonathan Taft of Cincinnati, who fought
so vigorously for high
standards in dental education; and Dr.
Homer C. Brown of Co-
lumbus, who led the fight for a dental
corps in the Army and
Navy, are three examples of the many
Ohioans who carried on
the good work begun by Dr. John Harris.
In 1940 the Ohio State Dental Society,
having purchased the
house and office of Dr. John Harris,
dedicated it as a memorial
and shrine--henceforth to be known as
the "Cradle of Dental
Education."
The Genesis of Dental Education in
the United States should
serve as a valuable source-book for
future historians as it contains
many pages devoted to hitherto
uncompiled data relative to the
organization of dental societies, dental
publications, and dental
colleges in Ohio and elsewhere. Dr.
Dalton pays special tribute
to Dr. E. C. Mills of Columbus, who
labored mightily to bring
about recognition of the Bainbridge
school.
The author's style of writing has a
faintly archaic air about
it, not unpleasing, as if the many hours
of delving into the dusty
archives had left an indelible impress.
Le Roy Johnson, D.D.S.
Columbus
BOOK REVIEWS 105
The Lost Americans. By Frank C. Hibben. (New York,
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1946. 196p.
Illus.)
This is a popular review of the search
for Early Man in
America and of the author's
interpretation of the accrued evi-
dences.
The scientific quest for racial
genealogies is of paramount
human interest to the layman as well as
to the anthropologist.
The telling of the story in popular
language has come to be both
ethical and desirable, and perhaps no
one is better qualified for
the task than the anthropologist
himself. With his background
of training and experience he needs
nothing more than 'a way
with words" and a sense of
responsibility to his science and to
prospective readers.
The ambulatory trail of Early Man as
traced in this volume
appears to be discernible on Ohio soil.
Hence this review.
The opening chapter of The Lost
Americans provides for
reader understanding by reviewing Old
World prehistory and the
archaeological techniques employed in
its discovery and interpre-
tation. The discussion then shifts to
the New World with the
query "How old is Man in
America"? Certain characteristics of
the historic American Indian and his
culture as the great diversity
of language, customs, and physical
types, the development of
maize, and others, are cited by the
author as indicative of greater
antiquity than usually is accorded the
American aborigines.
Succeeding chapters review the discovery
of definite evidences
of very early man in America, first at
the type site near the town
of Folsom in northern New Mexico and
subsequently over a wide
area corresponding to the eastern slope
of the Rockies and the
high plains and extending northward into
Canada. Beneath some
twenty feet of earth near Folsom was an
ancient camp site of
Folsom Man, as he is popularly known.
Scattered over the sur-
face of this ancient site was the debris
of human occupancy--
the remains of camp fires, split and
broken bones of animals used
for food, flint flakes and scrapers, and
highly specialized flint
spear points of a type not previously
known. Geologists estimated
106 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the age of the stratum as approximately
10,000 years, which cor-
responds closely to the recession of the
glacial ice in that region.
Subsequent exploration of the
Lindenmeier site in northern
Colorado, and of the Clovis site in
eastern New Mexico, dupli-
cated the discoveries at Folsom and
produced additional informa-
tion as to the culture of Folsom Man.
The evidence discloses
that he stalked and killed for food most
of the contemporaneous
animals, including the mammoth,
mastodon, ground sloth, bison,
musk ox, and others.
The author reviews the finding of a
second type of early
humans, known as the Yuma Man, for the
county of that name
in eastern Colorado. Similar sites were
discovered in the Eden
Valley of New Mexico and adjacent areas,
where they had been
exposed in "blow outs"
resulting from the disastrous dust storms
of recent years. The flint implements of
Yuma Man are dis-
tinctive, and since his main reliance
for animal food was the
historic species of bison, he obviously
is more recent than the
Folsom people, from whom he may have
descended.
Other early sites, apparently more
recent and less advanced
culturally than either of the above, but
possibly related to one or
the other, are located near Abilene,
Texas, in the Mohave Desert
of California, and at Cochise in
southern Arizona. The author
designates these as "Ancient
Country Cousins."
Dr. Hibben's most spectacular
contribution to American pre-
history resulted from exploration of Sandia
Cave, near Albu-
querque, New Mexico (Smithsonian
Miscellaneous Collections,
Vol. 99, No. 23). Here in 1936-40 he
found, in the upper levels
of the cave floor, evidences of
occupancy by modern Indians; in
the intermediate levels, the relics of
Folsom Man; and in the
lowest stratum, the debris of an even
earlier people. Intermin-
gled with fragmentary bones of extinct
animals used as food,
including the camel, giant bison,
mammoth, and mastodon, and
the remains of rude fire places, there
were flint-flake knives and
scrapers and a unique type of flint
spear point peculiar to this
particular culture. Based on the
author's estimate of around
25,000 B. C. as the age of the Sandia
remains, Sandia Man is
the earliest yet to be identified in
America.
BOOK REVIEWS 107
Hoping to find material proof of the
theory that the Amer-
icas were peopled by Mongoloids from
Asia by way of Bering
Strait, Dr. Hibben made two trips to
Alaska, one in 1933 and the
second in 1941. He records the finding
of a typical Folsom point
in a curio store at Ketchikan and, at
the site on Chinitna Bay
where it was said to have been found, a
second Folsom point,
in situ.
The author's description of the Glacial
Period and its unex-
plained abrupt ending, together with the
equally sudden extinction
of the Glacial fauna, is dramatic and
exciting. The Pleistocene
(Glacial) Period, he remarks, ended in
death, and he estimates
that some forty million animals, mostly
of large size, perished in
what must have been a terrestrial
cataclysm of unprecedented
violence. Readers will enjoy also the
discussion of various theo-
ries as to the source and origin of the
American aborigines:
among them northwestern Europe, via
Labrador; Asia, across
Bering Strait; the South Sea Islands,
into South America; and
the fabled continent of Atlantis and the
Land of Mu.
The lay reader is certain to find The
Lost Americans stimu-
lating and intriguing. He may, however,
feel that parts of the
text are unnecessarily verbose and
repetitious and he may not
relish the profuse use of bristling
adjectives and superlatives. "A
story of such innate human
interest," he may decide, "might well
be told with more dignity and
restraint." While it would be
difficult to disprove the statement that
"Man is essentially a dirty
animal," readers may not agree that
"in many ways the table
service of Folsom men was superior to
our own," or that "Tidi-
ness . . . is a phenomenon associated
only with complete civiliza-
tion." The accent is on the word complete.
Whether or not scientists will condone
the apparent discrep-
ancies between the author's technical
reports of explorations and
their popular presentation is a matter
of some concern. In his
"Acknowledgment" he recognizes
"the two other scientists who
have concerned themselves with the
problems of the earliest Amer-
icans," but accords scant mention
to several additional ones who
have participated in the common quest.
In an official report
("Evidences of Early Man in
Alaska," in the American Anti-
108
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
quarian, January 1943) he says: "In the knowledge of the
writer,
no true Folsom point has ever been found
within the boundaries
of Alaska." Yet in the present
volume he reports finding in a
curio store at Ketchikan a "Folsom
point, finely chipped and with
the typical channel groove up either
side." Visiting the site on
Chinitna Bay where this specimen was
reported to have been
found, he discovers "a Folsom point
in Alaska, and in place."
Enthusiastically he concludes that
"the first American was no
longer a mystery."
The author's ardent desire to find proof
of early man in
Alaska is commendable, but one wonders
why he fails to mention
the rather abundant occurrence eastward
from the High Plains
of what may be at least a clue to humans
of a respectable an-
tiquity--the fluted point. He refers to
the Folsom point, which,
in the accepted terminology is a
fluted point, as a distinguishing
feature of the Folsom complex. It also
is distinctive of the Clovis
and the Ohio fluted points, and while
neither of these is Folsom,
they presumably are attributable to
early man in America which
is the objective of Dr. Hibben's search.
The reviewer has followed the quest for
early man in America
with great interest and has visited
several of the classic sites,
either during or subsequent to
exploration. He has admired Dr.
Hibben's technical reports and, aside
from such discrepancies as
may exist in The Lost Americans, he
feels that the author has
made important contributions to American
prehistory.
The author voices the disappointment of
all concerned over
the fact that no skeletal remains of
earliest man in America so
far have been found or definitely identified.
However, recalling
the energy, industry, and insatiable
curiosity of young Frank
Hibben when, in 1927 he was a freshman
member of this re-
viewer's exploration staff, Dr. Frank C.
Hibben yet may have
the honor of discovering, somewhere in
Alaska or Siberia, the
old man who wasn't there.
Henry C. Shetrone, Director Emeritus
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society
BOOK REVIEWS 109
Singin' Yankees. By Philip D. Jordan. (Minneapolis, Uni-
versity of Minnesota Press, 1946. 305p.,
illus., index. Cloth,
$3.50.)
Readers of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly will be interested in this excellent and interesting
vol-
ume of Dr. Jordan's, not only because of
its content, but also
because of their acquaintance with him
through various contri-
butions from his pen. Chief of these was
his volume Ohio Comes
of Age, which appeared as Volume V of The History of the
State of Ohio, published by the Society in 1943. Dr. Jordan
previously had shown his interest in music as a factor
in history
in the book, entitled Songs of
Yesterday--An Anthology of
American Life, prepared by him and Mrs. Lillian Kessler and
published in 1941.
The material in Singin' Yankees is
a real contribution to
the social and intellectual history of
the United States. It is
devoted to the activities of the
Hutchinson family, natives of
New Hampshire, which was perhaps the
most famous band of
family singers in our history. Their
activities cover the period
from the early forties to the end of the
nineteenth century. They
were essentially reformers, and their
activities brought them in
touch with famous men and women of their
period, not only in
the United States but also in Europe.
They were interested in
the temperance, antislavery, women's
rights, and other humani-
tarian movements, and devoted much of
their talent to these
interests.
As is characteristic of Dr. Jordan's
work, the book is schol-
arly and very readable. It is based on
years of research in orig-
inal sources, found in many private
collections and in the leading
historical libraries of the country.
The book contains a carefully prepared
index of songs,
persons and places, including data on
the Hutchinson family, all
of which adds much to its value. The
illustrations are well
selected.
The story of the lives of the singers,
as well as of their
songs and their personal contacts, makes
an unusual and valuable
110 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
contribution to the unfolding of
American life during this im-
portant period of its development.
Harlow Lindley, Director of
Historical Research
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana
The Occurrence of Flint in Ohio. Geological Survey of
Ohio. Fourth Series, Bulletin 46. By Wilber Stout and R. A.
Schoenlaub. (Columbus, Geological Survey
of Ohio, 1945. 110p.,
10 plates, 1 fig.)
Flint, due to its extreme hardness and
glass-like fracture,
was prized by the prehistoric Indians of
Ohio for the production
of knives with sharp cutting edges and
projectile points with
great penetrating power. Fortunately for
them outcrops of suit-
able flint were accessible in various
portions of the State. The
fact that they made extensive use of
these deposits is testified to
by the innumerable flint implements
found in the region. When
the white man came into Ohio, he too
discovered a use for flint,
for it proved to be suitable for the
manufacture of buhrstones
used in grinding grains in water mills.
Later other attempts were
made to find some practical use for
flint, but none was successful.
Today it is used only for decorative
purposes around the home
and as cut and polished stones in
jewelry.
This bulletin by Stout and Schoenlaub is
a description of the
various Ohio flint bearing formations
and their geographical extent.
It is pointed out that flint occurs in
formations belonging to the
Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, and
Pennsylvanian systems.
The various flints are restricted almost
entirely to marine lime-
stone horizons. After a brief discussion
of the origin and com-
position of flint, the authors proceed
to describe each formation
and the type and quantity of flint it
bears. Geological sections
are given for key localities, and
photomicrographs by Schoenlaub
of most of the flints are included. The
facts brought to light by
these photographs, however, are not well
integrated with the text.
The three most important formations in
Ohio which fur-
nished flint to the Indians are the
Vanport, the Upper Mercer,
and the Zaleski. These were apparently
ranked on the frequency
BOOK REVIEWS 111
of prehistoric quarry sites and the
number and extent of workshop
locations, although little information
is presented on this point.
Other flints used to some extent by the
prehistoric Indians include
the Brush Creek, the Delaware, the
Brassfield, and the Bisher.
The well-known Flint Ridge quarries in
Licking County occur in
the Vanport deposit. There, in the
vicinity of Flint Ridge State
Memorial, the flint was almost entirely
quarried away because it
was of high quality for working into
implements. Flint from
Flint Ridge occurs in shades of light
gray, red, green, and blue.
Upper Mercer flint, mainly dark gray to
black in color, was readily
available in Hocking, Perry, and
Coshocton counties. Zaleski
flint, outcropping in Vinton and Jackson
counties, is black or
brownish black in color. In general the
Zaleski flint is a deeper
brown and has a more resinous luster
than the Upper Mercer
material.
Archaeological studies concerned with
the identification of
flint sources will rely heavily upon
this report for basic geological
information. Such studies will throw
more light upon problems
of cultural relationships, trade, and
chronology. It is implicit in
the report that it is possible to
identify flint from various forma-
tions and localities, although the
authors have not taken up this
problem. The authors present no
suggestions as to possible
economic uses for flint and draw no
conclusions.
The Occurrence of Flint in Ohio is recommended to all in-
dividuals interested in the
identification of flint sources used by
the prehistoric Indians.
Richard G. Morgan, Curator of
Archaeology
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society
American Radicalism, 1865-1900. Essays
and Documents.
(Connecticut College Monographs No.
3). By Chester McArthur
Destler. (New London, Conn., Connecticut
College, 1946. xii,
276p. Cloth $3.50,
paper $2.50.)
The United States has recently gone
through a peaceful revo-
lution. The electorate has started the
pendulum swinging back
toward conservatism. The American people
have once again con-
112
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ceived their way of life to be one of
freedom in which each
citizen will be free to shape his own
destiny with the fewest
possible restraints. To be sure we have
a few misgivings when
we see the world around us swing in the
opposite direction toward
something called Socialism or worse,
Communism. But we fall
back complacently upon the belief that
after all we have the best
economic and social system on earth and
others will sooner or
later see the light and come around to
our point of view.
But the people of our country have not
always been content
with the American system of free
enterprise. The so-called New
Deal and its expansion in the war years
from which we are turn-
ing has not been the only time in our
history when a program of
government interference has been
encouraged by a substantial
group of our citizens. We find a more
liberal climate of opinion
in the era of the American Revolution,
in the Age of Jackson,
during the Abolitionist period, and
about the turn of the last cen-
tury. The train of thought and the basic
assumptions change
and the outcomes have been
different--but what the business ele-
ments and the speculators have called
the "radicals" have had
their followings.
Mr. Destler in the volume under review
deals with the
American radical in the post Civil War
period. He has brought
together in this volume many articles
previously published in pro-
fessional journals, introduced two new
essays, and added several
documents. Together they now form a
monograph designed to
throw additional light on the influence
of radicalism upon Amer-
ican development.
It was the western farm radicalism of
the Grangers and the
Populists that held the center of the
liberal stage before 1900. In
this environment there developed a
school of American historians
who introduced the so-called Turner
hypothesis of the American
way of life. While Frederick Jackson
Turner, the leader of this
movement, held a broad conception of how
the frontier and sec-
tionalism influenced American
development, many of his students
and followers through their study of
local sources overempha-
sized the rural and frontier elements.
In time students came to
BOOK REVIEWS 113
realize that the frontier was not the
only center of radicalism; in
fact the eastern seaboard with its
commerce and industry and its
thriving urban centers had its own form
of radicalism. Once one
recognizes the eastern form of
radicalism, one finds that the radi-
calism of Grangerism and Populism is a
strange mixture of east
and west.
It is to point up the connection between
the urban radicalism
of the east and old middle west and the
agrarian radicalism of
the Mississippi Valley that Destler has
written his essays. In the
process he opens new doors for those
scholars who see the Amer-
ican scene decisively influenced by the
frontier. But he also casts
new light upon the story of the
development of the older areas
of the country. Thus the agrarian
historian and those of the
industrial east will find much of
interest, even if they do not
always agree with the author's emphasis.
Certain essays are of particular
interest to the students of
Ohio history. Ohio being part agrarian
and part industrial was
in the foreground of the synthesis of
the two varieties of radi-
calism. To the students of party
politics the essay on the "Origin
and Character of the Pendleton
Plan" is already well known.
Here the general thesis so ably
presented in the first essay, "West-
ern Radicalism, 1865-1901: Concepts and
Origins," is presented
in the form of a case study. The
Pendleton Plan is analyzed
again from the legal and sectional angle
in an essay that is here
published for the first time. For the
urban side of the Populist
period there are two papers which again
are of interest to Ohio
students. In "The Toledo Natural
Gas Pipe-Line Controversy"
and "Wealth Against
Commonwealth, 1894 and 1944," urban labor
and small business are shown in revolt
against trusts and big busi-
nesses. In the first the story of an
interesting bit of Toledo
history is developed; in the latter, a
study purporting to show
how Henry Demarest Lloyd worked out an
intellectual basis of
attack upon the lords of big business.
The case chosen for anal-
ysis was the Standard Oil Company which
for a long time had
its center in Cleveland. Incidentally
this latter study turns into
114
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
an attack upon Allan Nevins'
interpretation of Lloyd in his study
of the elder Rockefeller. It is only
fair to point out that Nevins
published a rejoinder in the American
Historical Review of April
1945.
David W. Lattimer, Department of
History
Ohio State University
BOOK REVIEWS
The Genesis of Dental Education in
the United States. By
Van B. Dalton. (Columbus, Spahr &
Glenn, c1946. 216p., illus.)
Visiting foreign lecturers are often
heard to remark to their
admiring audiences that the United
States' only contributions to
the culture of the world are the modern
bathrooms and the comic
strip. They would no doubt admit,
however, that they had been
guilty of one omission and that is the
Art and Science of Modern
Dentistry.
In The Genesis of Dental Education in
the United States, Dr.
Van B. Dalton, a practicing dentist of
Cincinnati, has traced the
amazingly rapid development of this boon
to suffering humanity.
When one remembers that dental care,
with its associated ills, is
the most prevalent disease affecting
mankind, and that the archae-
ologists have assured us that even
prehistoric man was not free
from these afflictions, it is with no
little wonder that we read that
it was not until the year 1827 that a
system of formal education
was created for instruction in the
practice of dentistry.
Dr. Dalton gives proper homage to
earlier individuals who
pioneered in dental science, such as the
French dentist, Pierre
Fauchard, who during the early
eighteenth century wrote a two-
volume work revealing amazing insight
into dental problems;
Robert Woofendale, the New York dentist
educated in England,
who is recognized as the first American
to place a gold filling
(1895); and those two great American
dentists, Dr. Horace
Wells, the discoverer of surgical
anaesthesia, and Dr. William
T. S. Morton, the Boston dentist who
first publicly demonstrated
the use of ether in surgery.
These gentlemen and others like them
were forced to serve
as apprentices in order to learn their
techniques, and this process
was haphazard and laborious until one
Dr. John Harris, a prac-
ticing physician in the little town of
Bainbridge, Ohio, decided
that the time had come to end all this.
103