HARRIS 3
prescribed by law, he was examined by the Board of Medical Censors of Ohio and was licensed to practise. He commenced to practise himself at Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio, and continued there some years, when his attention was called to the possibil- ities of dentistry by his brother John, who had taken it up in 1S27. In 1833, after study and practise of dentistry, Chapin settled in Baltimore, and dur- ing the next two years contributed to the pages of medical and periodical literature.
He published his first book in 1839; it was entitled "The Dental Art: A Practical Treatise on Dental Surgery," and went through thirteen editions. Many thousand copies of this book, probably the most popular on dental work ever published, were sold. Next came his " Dictionary of Dental Science," a dictionary of dental science, biography, bibliography, and medical terminol- ogy, 1849 (five editions), the later editions also edited by Gorgas. In 1846 he revised with numerous addi- tions Joseph Fox's "Diseases of the Human Teeth, Their Natural History and Functions, with Mode of Applying Artificial Teeth, Etc." He also trans- lated for the "American Journal of Dental Science" the works of a number of French authors.
He was a laborious and untiring worker, writing far into the morning after days of ceaseless labor and fatigue and keeping this up to the end of his life. For the preservation and ex- tension of the experience of dentists he interested some of his New York brethren, and with their aid founded "The American Journal of Dental Science." In the need for educational advantages for dentists they joined him in a petition to the authorities of Maryland University to found a den- tal department. This effort failing, together with a similar one in one of the New York medical colleges, they determined upon independent action and during 1S39-40 secured signa-
r HARRIS
tures of citizens to the Legislature of Maryland for the incorporation of a College of Dental Surgery in Baltimore. The charter was granted February 1, 1840. Dr. Harris received several hon- orary degrees — M. A. from the Univer- sity of Maryland, M. D. Washington Medical College, Baltimore, 1838, D. D. S. Philadelphia Dental College, 1854. The Harris Dental Association of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, founded in 1867, was named in his honor. He was a diligent reader and student and col- lected a large and valuable private library.
He was remarkably handsome; was six feet two and a half inches in height and finely proportioned, with hazel eyes and a most benevolent expression.
His death occurred on September 29, I860, after an illness of eight months from an obscure disease of the liver.
He married, January 11, 1826, Lu- cinda Heath, daughter of the Rev. Barton Dawnes Hawley, of White Chimneys, London County, Virginia, and had nine children.
E. F. C.
"History of the Baltimore College of Deutal Surgery," by William Simon, Ph. D., M. D., and "A Biographical Review of the Careers of H*iyden and Harris, " with portraits, by Burton Lee Thorpe, M. D., D. D. S., in Transactions of Fourth International Dental Congress held at St. Louis, Montana, in 1904, vol. iii.
Harris, Robert Patterson (1822-1899).
Robert Patterson Harris was born in Chester Valley, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1822, the son of Dr. Robert William Harris who married the daughter of Robert Patterson, provost of the University of Pennsyl- vania and had six children whom In' trained wisely but very strictly es- pecially with regard to Sunday ob- servance. I have not been able to discover to which school Robert the younger went as a boy nor whence his A.B. degree, but in 1843 he graduated from the medical side of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and for a year after
