THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE

In his Lowell Lectures last year, Dean Leroy M. S. Miner of the Dental School devoted his concluding emphasis to the opinion that the "future of dentistry must lie in prevention, not cure." And with all the untrammeled certainty of a man who is accustomed to see to it that his own prophecies come true, he went on to polish off his brief for the importance of dental research with a declaration that "dentists will not be content with anything less than complete equality with the other branches of the medical profession."

Dean Miner has not, by any means, been the sole prophet of Dental Medicine in the years since 1840, when the Medical profession rejected the proposal that the two fields be amalgamated. At Harvard, indeed, there have been many tangible instances of cooperation between the two departments since the founding of the Dental School in 1867. But as the first Dean of the Dental School ever to hold both the M.D. and D.M.D. degrees, and as one of the widest awake of his profession during the period which the experience of the war enlightened as to the possibilities of among other things, the x-ray, of novocaine, and of proper nutrition, Dr. Miner found himself in a position to take commanding lead in the advocacy of a merger. How effective that lead has been is amply demonstrated first in the establishment of the Forsyth Chair of Dental Science in 1926, and now, in the establishment of the University Committee on Research in Dental Medicine.

It is putting it mildly to state that the creation of this committee is a triumph for the energetic and capable Dental Dean. In one jump he has attained two of the ends which he most desired He has secured official recognition from the country's greatest University that oral health and research are of tremendous significance for general physical health and research; he has secured much needed support from experts in other fields for the research men of his own department. And, secondly, by the same token, he has given striking notice that the Dental School is to be regarded no longer as a place designed primarily for the production of able mechanics.

In creating the Committee on Research in Dental Medicine, President Conant has recognized an urgent need of the times and has directed Harvard into a valuable course of public service. The act is sensibly regarded as one of the most important of his regime to date.