Ohio History Journal

THE BEGINNING OF FORMAL DENTAL EDUCATION

AT BAINBRIDGE, OHIO

 

BY EDWARD C. MILLS, D.D.S., F.A.C.D.

 

The history of any human endeavor deals with the process of

its growth; and though its development may be irregular, it is a

continuous process proceeding from antecedent conditions. In this

process of evolution, it may take on new form and become unlike

its former self, but continuity retains enough of the old to serve

as the basis for tracing subsequent progress. Dentistry in its initial

state, has been traced to medicine and surgery because it is con-

clusive that any care given to dental ailments, would be con-

sidered as some phase of medical practice.

Many names are deserving of mention as contributing to the

development of dentistry, other than those dentists from the

Atlantic States who were to follow in the wake of the tide of

emigration to the West. The increasing number of dentists was

greatly accelerated as a result of the panic of 1837 brought on

by President Andrew Jackson's policy relative to the United States

Bank. Many persons unable to earn a livelihood from their former

vocations and lured by the apparent success of those practicing

dentistry, were tempted to follow that calling. There being no

legal restraint, numerous incompetent, unqualified persons entered

the practice, ambitious for great financial returns.

Population is migratory and is attracted by natural advantages

and productiveness of the territory. Ohio ranks as one of the

most remarkable instances in the increase in population. Prior to

1850, no state had made such progress in this respect as Ohio, and

during the two decades previous to this date, its population had

increased 110%.

With this influx came the physician--whose services were of

the greatest necessity in those strenuous years of pioneer life.

(243)

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Every ailment that flesh is heir to came within his province, and

dental troubles were administered to with the turnkey or crude

forceps.

Among the physicians came John Harris, a native of Pompey,

New York. He was educated in medicine and commenced prac-

tice in 1819. A year later he removed to Mississippi where he

practiced as a physician and surgeon, but owing to impaired

health, he came to Ohio, and located at Madison, a few miles

from Cincinnati. While here his two brothers, James and Chapin

A. Harris studied medicine under his preceptorship.

As the population became more centralized into communities,

Ohio became an inviting field for the increasing number of den-

tists from the East. The settlements being small, it was neces-

sary to adopt an itinerant practice in order to procure a livelihood.

An examination of the Cincinnati papers during the period 1817-

1824 enables one to form an estimate of the qualifications of

some of those itinerant pioneers, among whom were Dr. E. Parmly,

who was later to become the first president of the first dental

society in the world--the Society of Dental Surgeons of the City

and State of New York, December 3, 1834; Dr. Plantou, from

Paris, France, who is credited as being the first to introduce

porcelain teeth into this country--supplanting the teeth carved

from ivory; Drs. Green, Ratrie, and Monroe, whose announce-

ments bespeak a preliminary training of a high order for that

period.

No doubt contact with the foregoing itinerant dentists awak-

ened in the mind of Harris an interest in dentistry, from which

was to follow a new era in dental education, as evidenced by the

subsequent events which took place at Bainbridge, Ohio, where he

located about 1825 and established a School of Medical Instruc-

tion, according to the following announcement which appeared in

the Chillicothe Supporter & Gazette, November 1, 1827:

 

MEDICAL INSTRUCTION

Dr. J. Harris, of the village of Bainbridge, Ross County, is making

a variety of preparations and arrangements for the instruction of a private

class of medical students preparatory to their entering a Medical College

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO                     245

 

for the consummation of their profession. Among which are Anatomical

preparations and Chemical Apparatus, sufficiently extensive for the exhibi-

tion of many important experiments. He will deliver Lectures, during the

winter season, at least once a week on each of the following branches, viz.:

Demonstrative Anatomy, Operative Surgery and Chemistry; and during the

summer season he will devote as much of his time in lecturing on Osteology,

Physiology, Materia Medica, Theory and Practice of Medicine and Ob-

stetrics, as his professional avocations may permit; and every possible

facility will be afforded to those who may see cause to patronize his efforts.

No student will be received who has not at least a first rate English educa-

tion. Terms of tuition will be reasonable, depending on circumstances.

October 25, 1827.

This no doubt was prompted by the Act in 1824 of the Dis-

trict Medical Societies, which required that all applicants for exam-

ination should have received instruction under a preceptor.

The same newspaper carried the following announcement

from February 21, 1828, until the issue of December 3, 1828.

 

 

DENTAL SURGERY

DR. JOHN HARRIS

Respectfully informs the citizens of Bainbridge and contiguous towns

that he has just received a large supply of SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Among which are a full set, for the practice of Dental Surgery. From his

knowledge of the Medical Profession Surgery and Dental Surgery in par-

ticular, he flatters himself that he shall be able to render general satisfac-

tion to all, who may have occasion to employ him. He will set Artificial

Teeth with much permanency and so natural in appearance, as to escape

detection; and without that pain so consequent upon the operation as per-

formed by most Dentists--cure all cases of Scurvy of the Teeth--preserve

those that are decaying by plugging--extract all kinds of Teeth and Stumps

with ease; and perform every other operation of a Dental character.

BAINBRIDGE, Feb. 7, 1828.

This announcement indicates that students under his precep-

torship, intent on the study of medicine had become interested in

the practice of dentistry, and a "large supply of Surgical Instru-

ments, among which are a full set for the practice of Dental Sur-

gery" leads us to believe this was an additional outfit for his stu-

dents. The subsequent portion of the announcement was possibly

intended to attract patients for a dental clinic in which to give

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technical instruction to his pupils. He was equipped for his own

personal practice because according to an announcement pub-

lished in the Columbus Ohio State Journal and Columbus Gazette,

issue of October 14, 1830, he stated that he "has been a practi-

tioner for more than ten years and has devoted more than half his

time to the theory and practice of Dentistry."¹

Years later, one of his students, James Taylor, commenting

on Harris' ability, said:

From a long and intimate acquaintance of the medical profession we

must say--we know of none better calculated to advance a student in his

studies. It appeared to be with him not only a duty, but a pleasure--at

the close of every day to review the studies thereof; to explain and enforce

each lesson which his natural endowment and previous hard study has so

well enabled him to do. We have always thought, had he devoted himself

exclusively to the practice of medicine and surgery, he would have en-

joyed an enviable reputation. His attention was however turned more

particularly to the specialty of dentistry and our profession might date

much of its present advancement to his unwearied zeal.

We are indebted to Dr. Jonathan Taft, editor of Dental

Register (Cincinnati, 1847-1923), in volume XX (1868), page

91, for the statement:

Dr. Edward Taylor was born near Bainbridge, which place might

very properly be called the starting point of the following pioneers of the

profession in the Mississippi Valley; Drs. John, James and Chapin A. Harris,

Dr. [John] Jones, formerly of Dayton, Ohio, and Dr. [Wesley] Wampler

of Illinois, and Dr. [Samuel T.] Church of Baltimore, and Joseph, James

and Irwin Taylor.

Subsequent research has also added to this list the names of

Dr. John Allen, Dr. Edward P. Church and William Jones, a phy-

sician late of Kenton, Ohio. Undoubtedly inspiration and instruc-

tion were received in this primitive school by others whose names

have been lost to dental history, but such as are preserved have

redounded to the unsung praise of Dr. John Harris--that unselfish

promoter of dental science.

James H. Harris, brother of John, with whom he had studied

 

1 The building in which Dr. Harris practiced, and gave instructions in medicine

and dentistry, was purchased by the Ohio State Dental Society, December 10, 1938.

(Ross County Records, Deed Book 230, p. 602.)

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO             247

 

medicine in Madison, Ohio, located in Columbus, Ohio, in the

practice of medicine in March, 1822, with his "office and residence

on the east side of High Street, first door south of the State

House." His stay was of short duration as, among a list of un-

claimed letters, published October 17, 1822, was one addressed to

"James H. or Chapin Harris."  June 5, 1827, he was located in

Lancaster and was elected treasurer of the Thirteenth District

Medical Society. In the Lancaster Gazette, December 20, 1828,

is his announcement that he has resumed practice of "Physic,

Surgery and Midwifery." This indicates an absence from Lan-

caster the greater portion of 1828--one of the years during which

John Harris was conducting his school in Bainbridge. He must

have given up the practice of medicine entirely, because his name

does not appear in the list of members of the Thirteenth District

Medical Society, published June 2, 1829. He announced himself

as a dentist to the residents in Columbus in November, 1830, after

which he practiced dentistry in Lancaster for a number of years,

later locating in Baltimore, Maryland, where he died on October

24, 1836.

Edward P. Church, a native of Middlesex, New York, was a

student under John Harris at Bainbridge, after which he practiced

in several southern cities; later he returned to near his former

home in New York state, where he died of cholera, July 22, 1832.

He invented forceps for extracting the upper third molar, which

in 1849 were in use by the majority of dentists in this country.

Samuel T. Church of Baltimore, is listed in the Baltimore city

directories from 1858 until 1864. During the years 1858-1861, he

was professor of operative dentistry in the Baltimore College of

Dental Surgery, for which information the writer is indebted to

Dr. J. Ben Robinson, the present dean of that school.

Dr. Wesley Wampler, was a Virginian, and after leaving

Bainbridge followed an itinerant practice in Ohio, Illinois and

Wisconsin, finally settling at Milton Station, now Humboldt, Illi-

nois. While practicing there, in 1856, Abraham Lincoln on his way

to Chicago had him remove a tooth, the first he had had extracted

by a dentist.

Dr. John Jones of Dayton, after a few years' practice at

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Miamisburg, Ohio, located in Dayton about 1840. He later

attended the Ohio College of Dental Surgery and was a member

of the first graduating class in 1846. "He was a man highly

esteemed both in professional and private life; his loss is no doubt

felt by more of the citizens than would be the loss of any other

citizen, public or private." He died there September 11, 1850.

Drs. John Jones and B. A. Satterthwait, another Dayton

dentist, at the meeting of the Mississippi Valley Dental Associa-

tion, September 1, 1846, introduced the following resolution which

was adopted:

Resolved: That any member of this Society, who shall extol his own

peculiar merits, over those of a fellow practitioner, or offer his services at

lower rates than is common among the members of the profession among

whom he operates, through public prints, or uses any secret nostrum (unless

pledged prior to the present time to maintain secrecy) shall be liable to ex-

pulsion from this Society.

Here we witness the beginning of our code of ethics.

John Allen, born November 4, 1810, was a native of New

York state and his father was for many years a practicing phy-

sician in Cincinnati. Allen was a pioneer in porcelain dental art

and the inventor of "Continuous Gum" work. He made many con-

tributions to dental prosthesis, the appreciation of which was mani-

fested by award of medals from many societies and institutes.

He was active in dental education and dental college work; took

an active interest in organized dentistry and in 1861 was elected

president of the American Dental Convention. He practiced in

Cincinnati until 1854, when he removed to New York City. He

died March 8, 1902.

It is an interesting coincidence that these events occurred just

one hundred years after the Frenchman, Fauchard, had published

his monumental work Le Chirurgieu-dentiste, thus establishing

another epoch in dentistry. The fact that John Harris had been

practicing since 1820, as evidenced by his announcement in the

Ohio State Journal for October 14, 1830, having his own equip-

ment for this purpose, the announcement of "an additional supply

of instruments" among which "are a full set for the practice of

dental surgery" furnishes unmistakable evidence that this set was

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO               249

for the use of his students and a subsequent portion of his

announcement was possibly intended to attract patients for a clinic

in which to instruct his pupils in dental technic.

Harris remained in Bainbridge until May, 1830, when he

removed to Chillicothe. He made occasional trips as an itinerant,

at least one to Columbus in October, 1830, and others to the South,

and in 1834 he was located at Georgetown, Kentucky. The Com-

monwealth of Frankfort, on April 1, 1835, published his announce-

ment as of the firm of Harris and Hobbs of Louisville, and as

practicing his profession "in Frankfort during the present session

of the legislature." During the winter of 1835 and 1836 he at-

tended a course in medicine and also delivered a course of dental

lectures before the students of the Medical Department of the

Transylvania University at Louisville and also contributed a series

of articles on dentistry in the Commonwealth of Frankfort. In

1836 he made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a charter for a

dental college in Kentucky. This was the first effort, not only

in this country but throughout the world to establish an institution

of this kind through legislative enactment. A letter from Dr. R. L.

Sprau of Louisville, Kentucky, under date of August 24, 1934,

states, "It may be of interest to know that an attempt was made

to have an act passed to regulate the practice of dentistry at that

time [1836]. The record does not say who was responsible, but

Harris was in Frankfort at that time."

Under date of August 28, Sprau wrote: "There is a reference

in another record of an attempt to have legislation passed to charter

a dental college."

In July, 1842, John Harris was again in Chillicothe, and in

1845 was practicing in Annapolis, Maryland. At the sixth annual

meeting of the American Society of Dental Surgeons in 1845, of

which he was made a member in absentia at its organization in

1840, he read a paper, published in the American Journal of

Dental Science (New York, 1839-1909), volume VI, page 100, in

which he sounded the death knell to the retention of pulpless teeth.

If the experience of the most scientific and skillful practitioners that

have ever lived could be ascertained, I think it would be found that in the

adoption of other treatment than this [extraction], they have often been

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250    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

disappointed in their expectations and that while they and their patients have

been lulled into imaginary security by the temporary relief from pain, the

malady itself has continued and become the cause of other and sometimes

more formidable diseases. . . . The records of medicine furnished numerous

examples . . . wherever a remedy has been tried that could be suggested

by the skill and ingenuity of man, without success--cures have been speedily

and permanently effected by the removal of diseased teeth even where they

have not been productive of pain or suspected as the cause of the mischief.

These facts were forcibly emphasized by Dr. William Hunter

of England seventy years later. A report and description of an

artificial nose and palate made by him for a lady patient in Scott

County, Kentucky, in 1841, is used by Chapin A. Harris in his

edition of Fox's Natural History of the Human Teeth (1846).

In 1845 Dr. John Harris donated to the Museum of the

Baltimore College of Dental Surgery some twelve thousand morbid

dental specimens. At the commencement of this college, February

17, 1846, Dean Chapin A. Harris gave the graduating address,

and his brother John Harris, his instructor in dentistry at Bain-

bridge, presented the diplomas. Great must have been the grati-

fication of John Harris on this occasion when he witnessed the

full fruition of the seed of his ideas and ideals as sown and

nurtured in his "School of Instruction" the first of its kind in the

annals of dentistry, and perhaps of medicine.

The length of John Harris' residence in Annapolis is uncer-

tain. He was a resident of Frederick, Maryland, in 1849, with his

wife, Mrs. Martha Wampler (nee Edmiston) whom he had mar-

ried at Bainbridge, November 12, 1827, and their children. Harris,

while on one of his itinerant trips, died at Hertford, North Caro-

lina, July 26, 1849, and was buried there by the Masonic fraternity.

As previously stated the students of John Harris at Bain-

bridge became dentists with one known exception--Dr. William

Jones of Kenton, Ohio; Jones was a native of southern Ohio

who began practice in West Liberty, Ohio, then removed to Round-

head, and about 1848-49 he came to Kenton. Jones was a man of

eccentric habits and a religious turn of mind. He abandoned his

profession to preach the gospel, but not finding that sufficiently

remunerative he returned to the practice of medicine in Kenton,

where he died, about 1874. He was a charter member of the

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO                   251

Hardin County Medical Society, organized at Kenton, July 8, 1850,

and served five times as president.2 He reported a case in which a

lower maxilla had been lost by necrosis, and new bone had been

produced (a case of reproduction of the inferior maxillary bone,

following necrosis), published in the American Journal of Dental

Science, second series, volume III (1853-54), page 592-6, and

abstracted in the Dental Register of the West (Cincinnati, 1847-

1923), volume VII (1853-54), page 64-5.

Dr. George Watt, Xenia, Ohio, former editor of the Ohio

Journal of Dental Science (Toledo, 0., 1881-) referred therein

to Jones, as follows:

In the Spring of 1850 I made the acquaintance of William Jones,

M.D., of Kenton, Hardin County, Ohio, who had been a student with Dr.

James Taylor, under a private preceptor and he told me much about their

student lives. The location was at or in the vicinity of Bainbridge, Ohio,

where Dr. Taylor was born. . . . They remained fast friends till death.

Dr. Jones told me, and I think Dr. Taylor did likewise, that John Harris,

a brother of the after famous and revered Chapin A. Harris was their

preceptor, and this quiet country locality might well be called the birth

place of American dentistry.

Chapin A. Harris was practicing medicine at Greenfield but 10 or

12 miles distant. Both the Harris brothers and Dr. Taylor concluded

to practice dentistry in connection with medicine. A free exchange of

opinion showed that Drs. Chapin Harris and James Taylor held identical

opinions as to the necessity of a thorough professional education for the

dentist, and neither rested until he had, with such assistance as he could

rally around him, established a college to afford the desired instruction,

of which both so strongly felt the need. . . .3

The Taylors were natives of the vicinity of Bainbridge.

Of the seven sons of Joseph and Jane (Irwin) Taylor, four were

dentists, all probably influenced by James Taylor, one of the sons,

who was one of the early students of John Harris.

Joseph Taylor (1806-1873) followed an itinerant practice

until 1831 when he located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, later in Mays-

ville, Kentucky, and in 1850 he became associated with his brother

Jame, in Cincinnati. He had a high appreciation of dental science

and was successful in the construction of obturators and artificial

 

2 Warner, Beers & Co., pub., History of Hardin County, Ohio (Chicago, 1883),

238.

3 VII (1887), 3.

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252   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

palates, and took great interest in organization of dental societies.

Owing to ill health he was obliged to retire from practice in 1859,

when he engaged in horticulture.

Edward Taylor (1811-1868) began practice in some of the

small towns along the Mississippi River. In 1833, he settled in

Springfield, Ohio, later at Maysville, Kentucky, and finally at

Natchez, Mississippi, where he remained for several years. About

1844, he opened an office in Louisville, Kentucky, but was soon

induced to join his brother James in Cincinnati. An attack of

cholera in 1847 so enfeebled his constitution that he was unable

to continue the arduous duties of an office practice.

Irwin Taylor (1813-1843) studied with his brother Joseph in

Maysville, Kentucky, and shortly afterward went to Natchez,

Mississippi, where his brother Edward was then practicing. He

died there April 4, 1843, and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery,

Cincinnati.

James Taylor (March 25, 1809-June 12, 1881) exercised

greater influence in the development of dentistry in the West than

any of his contemporaries. While a student with John Harris,

they visited Chapin A. Harris, then practicing medicine in Green-

field, fifteen miles north of Bainbridge, and induced him to devote

himself to dental science.

Dr. James Taylor began practice at Hillsboro, later received

his M.D. degree at Lexington, Kentucky, and opened his office in

Bainbridge in the practice of dentistry and medicine. For several

years he spent his winters in the South and his summers in the

North. In 1834 he gave up medical practice, devoting himself

wholly to dentistry. In 1842 he permanently located in Cincinnati,

where he was joined by his brother Edward, who had been prac-

ticing in Louisville, and they soon established a lucrative practice.

Edward's health failing, he was succeeded by his brother Joseph

from Maysville. These three brothers laid a secure foundation

for dentistry, and through their labors contributed to the profes-

sional character which it attained in the Mississippi Valley. They

were largely responsible for the organization of the Mississippi

Valley Association of Dental Surgeons established in Cincinnati

in August, 1844.

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO              253

In 1844, James Taylor advocated the necessity of a dental

school in Cincinnati, and in 1845 the Ohio College of Dental

Surgery was organized, the second of its kind in the world. In

1847, the Dental Register of the West was begun, and he became

the first editor. Taylor's contributions to dental literature were

voluminous, touching upon every phase of dental practice. He was

a charter member of the American Society of Dental Surgeons in

1839 and was elected president of the American Dental Convention

in Boston, August 6, 1856. He was a deserving and modest re-

cipient of all the honors in the power of the dental profession to

bestow.

Chapin A. Harris (May 6, 1806-September 29, 1860) was

born in Pompey, New York, and in early manhood came to Madi-

son, Ohio, and studied medicine in the office of his brother Dr.

John Harris. He was licensed by the Board of Medical Censors

and commenced the practice of medicine in Greenfield, Ohio. He

became interested in dentistry and received instruction from his

brother John in Bainbridge. He remained in Greenfield about a

year, then moved to Bloomfield, Ohio. He later traveled as an

itinerant through the South, finally locating in Fredericksburg,

Virginia, and in 1835 permanently in Baltimore, and at once be-

came a contributor to medical and periodical literature. He was

one of the most vigorous and productive of our dental writers and

has long been regarded the founder of dental literature in America.

In 1839, he published his first work, The Dental Art, a Practical

Treatise on Dental Surgery which work, under title of Principles

and Practice of Dental Surgery, passed through the thirteenth and

last edition in 1896.

In 1839 he was the instigator of, and became editor of, the

American Journal of Dental Science, the first dental periodical

publication in the world, and continued as editor until his death.

Harris experienced some opposition in his efforts to establish the

journal. Solyman Brown wrote:

Dr. Chapin A. Harris of Baltimore, an eminent practitioner of

dentistry and educated physician and surgeon visited the city of New York

to consult with some of his professional brethren on the subject, which

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later occupied much of his attention and engrossed a large share of his

professional attention. He invited Dr. Horace H. Hayden of Baltimore to

accompany him to the commercial capital of the nation and assist him in

the enterprise; but Dr. Hayden declined to comply, alleging that he had

labored too hard and too long in the acquisition of professional knowledge

to sow it broadcast through the land by means of a magazine. Whereupon

Dr. Harris visited New York alone and invited Dr. E. Parmly, Dr. E.

Baker and a few others, including the writer, to meet at some suitable place

to discuss the business of his errand to the north. . . . Late in the afternoon

Dr. Hayden arrived and joined in the discussion, still expressing himself

as opposed to the movement of publishing professional knowledge to the

world. Nevertheless, in spite of this individual objection, the meeting re-

solved on the publication of a Dental Journal forthwith.⁴

In 1849, Harris published a Dictionary of Dental Surgery,

Biography, Bibliography and Medical Terminology, a volume of

779 pages, the first dental dictionary in the English language, the

sixth edition of which appeared in 1898. He was the first to re-

spond to the call of Dr. H. H. Hayden to organize the American

Society of Dental Surgeons in 1840, and it was on his motion that

the convention to organize a society "resolved that a National

Society be formed."

There is a tradition that Harris with Hayden's advice and

assistance endeavored to establish a dental training school as an

adjunct to the Medical Department of the University of Maryland.

If this request was made, it may have been rejected, due to the

hostility of Dr. H. W., Baxley, one of the dental faculty, to the

regents of the university.

Burton L. Thorpe's biography of C. A. Harris, states that

not disheartened, Dr. Harris went to New York City and consulted the

leading men of the profession and with their aid endeavored to establish

a chair of dentistry in one of the New York medical colleges. Meeting with

discouragement, but stimulated with renewed energy, he returned to Balti-

more and during the winter of 1839-40, almost entirely unaided, he secured

the signatures of representative citizens to a petition to the legislature of

Maryland for the incorporation of a College of Dental Surgery at Balti-

more. After numerous difficulties and considerable opposition by jealous

medical rivals, which he finally overcame, the charter was granted and with

 

 

4 Dental Science and Art Journal (New York, 1875), February, 1875; cited also

in Dental Cosmos (Philadelphia, 1859-1936), LXII (1920), 944-5.

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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO                   255

 

the aid of H. H. Hayden, Thomas E. Bond, and H. Willis Baxley, he or-

ganized the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, of which he was the first

dean.

This was the first dental college in the world.

Harris received the honorary M. D. degree from Washington

Medical College at Baltimore, in which he was a professor in

1838. His D.D.S. was obtained from the American Society of

Dental Surgery, and an honorary D.D.S. degree was conferred

upon him by the Philadelphia Dental College in 1854. He was

elected president of the American Dental Convention in 1856.

His death occurred on September 29, 1860, due mainly to

overwork. At a meeting of the dentists in New York City, October

8, 1860, of which Eleazar Parmly was chairman and Solyman

Brown, secretary, under the "Harris Testimonial Fund," the pre-

amble and resolutions pay him the following tribute:

Every distinct profession in human society has its leading members,

men of energy, talent and eminence. This is true of the dental profession

as of any other, and not less true in America than in other quarters of the

globe.

The names of Greenwood, Woodendale, Gardette, Hayden, Flagg, Hud-

son, Koecker and Randall among others that have left their sublunary labors,

are evidence of this fact.

It has become our melancholy duty in pursuance of the object of this

meeting to add another name to this catalog, more highly distinguished

than any of his predecessors for numerous and valuable contributions to

the science and literature of his profession, as well as by his writings, as

by personal inculcations as head of the oldest, and for many years, the only

dental college in the world.⁵

Harris, through his founding of the first dental journal, gave

a death blow to the selfish, secretive attitude of many dentists as

to their methods of practice; in his activities which contributed

to the formation of the American Society of Dental Surgeons, he

furnished a substitution of a cooperative type of society for the

old one of naked individualism, and in the Baltimore College of

Dental Surgery, he brought to a full fruition the ideals for den-

tistry that had been fostered in the mind of his brother, Dr. John

 

 

5 Ibid., II (1860-61), 221.

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256    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Harris, his preceptor, when conducting his school of Medical In-

struction, in Bainbridge.⁶

We have previously referred to the first dental journal, the

American Journal of Dental Science (1839), founded by Chapin

A. Harris, who became its first editor.

The second periodical publication, worthy of the distinction of

the name "Journal," was the Dental Register of the West, founded

under the auspices of the Mississippi Valley Association of Dental

Surgeons in 1847, and first edited by James Taylor. It suspended

publication with the November issue, 1922, at the close of the

seventy-fifth volume, and was the oldest dental journal in the

world.

The organization of the Ohio State Dental Society on June

27, 1866, was the dawn of a new and brighter era for dentistry in

Ohio. Such an organization marked the end of various sporadic

attempts to unite the profession of the state as a whole, and happily

such ending was as the morning ends--when it merges into the

fuller light of the day.

Of these United States, it is with pardonable pride that we

point to our own great commonwealth. Ohio has contributed its

full share of patriots to our Nation in times of peace and war. In

peace her sons are found in the highest positions of trust and honor

in national affairs: while in war, they have led the perilous advance

and accomplished deeds of heroic valor.

In the realm of literature, science, law, medicine, and dentistry,

fame has crowned the efforts of many of the sons of this great

state. And here in Ohio was laid the very foundation of dental

education, since which time there has been no cessation of building

thereon. Ohio has given many names whose heritage to dentistry

will cause them to live, wherever and as long as the profession is

practiced, and their zealous endeavors and notable achievements

will ever continue to reflect leadership in this important branch of

health service.

 

 

6 There has been much controversy as to who was the first to conceive the idea

of a dental college, and for information pertaining to this subject, the reader is

referred to the following publications: Dental Register of the West, XV (1861),

79-80; James Taylor, Life and Character of Chapin A. Harris (Cincinnati); Dental

Cosmos, LXII (1920), 936-58; L. Parmly Brown, New Light on Dental History

(Peekskill, N. Y.).

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