HARD TO PULL

Of all the diversified Branches of the Graduate schools of the University, the undergraduate is perhaps less aware of the Harvard Dental School than any other. Both its situation and the problems with which it must cope are, naturally enough, far removed from the ordinary scope of undergraduate consideration. For that reason, the status in which the Dental School now is, is brought home with a much greater degree of clarity when the facts have been ascertained.

Since its inception in 1867, the Harvard Dental School has maintained an even keel in accordance with the reputation which the other branches have earned for the University. Its handicaps have been far greater. To a large extent, the school is dependent upon its alumni to share the burden of the teaching; receiving a nominal sum of fifty dollars a year, these men contribute their time with an obvious loss to their practice. There are very few full-time instructors. In all Science, research is the dominating factor, and it is in this particular that the Graduate School suffers most. Not only is there very little apparatus for any sort of highly specialized research in advanced fields, even the rudimentary work of the beginner is greatly hampered by the antiquated equipment at his disposal.

The Dental School's imminent need is monetary assistance. Although it is fortunate enough in its ability to draft capable instructors for a pittance, the absence of suitable resources places its present position at an impasse. When the Wyeth Bequest was announced a few months ago, several metropolitan newspapers assumed, seemingly without foundation, that some part of it was to be devoted to the Dental School. Whether or not that is the solution is debatable; at least, the discussion brought into prominence the evidence of the needs of this branch of the University. The modern university, to maintain its position must be preeminent in all of its branches. Otherwise, its few blemishes are all the more obvious because of the healthy condition of the rest of its makeup.