Editorial. Memoir of Prof. Chapin A. Harris. [Volume: 2, Issue: 5, December, 1860, pp. 274-288]

274

THE DENTAL OOSMO&

EDITORIAL.
MEMOIR OF PROF. CHAPIN A. HARRIS,
LATE OF THE BALTIMORE COLLEGE OF DENTAL SURGERY.
ON the 29th day of September, 1860, in the City of Baltimore, a star
of the first magnitude in dental science faded from its firmament. But it
went not into oblivion. The glory of its former radiance remains behind,
a patrimony to the family, a gratuity to the profession, and a bequest to
the country of the late Professor Harris; which space can hardly circumscribe, nor time obliterate. As far as the literature of dental surgery
finds its way among the nations and languages of the earth, the name of
Chapin A. Harris is already known; and his published works, equally
valuable and voluminous, will transmit that name to remote posterity.
For his usefulness and his fame, therefore, he has taken care to provide.
Unlike the hoard of the monetary miser, the bequests of Dr. Harris cannot fail, in any supposable contingency, to reach the parties for whom
they were designed. His family, his profession, and his country are his
constituted legatees. To them, therefore, in a special sense, is this memorial addressed. It is not intended to be an adequate biography of the
departed, as neither time nor preparation enables the writer to produce
such a work for the December number of the DENTAL COSMOS.
Indeed, a life of Prof. Harris, such as the dental profession has a right
to expect, and which, peradventure, it is bound in justice to produce, for
the benefit of his family and the world, will demand in its execution both
the time and the talent in which the writer does not superabound, at the
age of three-score years and ten. Nor does the author of this sketch
refuse to be told, that his brief remnant of days may better be spent in
imitating the virtues, than in writing the biography of his friend.
It is very true that the writer and the subject of his remarks in this
notice were very firmly united by a very tender friendship, upon which the
survivor does not despise the weakness of dropping the tear of memory.
It was with ready earnestness that most of 'the leading dentists of the
City of New York responded to an invitation, signed by fifty members of
the profession, to meet on the twelfth day of October last, to take action
in relation to the recent decease of Prof. Harris, well known to all of
them, either personally or through his works.
An account of that meeting, embracing the report of the committee on
resolutions, and also the letter of condolence, were given in the November number of this journal.
As the report of the other committee has been completed, it is proper
to introduce it in this connection, inasmuch as it illustrates the subject of
this article.