I've wondered what kind of a chap he'll be,
I've wished I could take his hand,
Just to whisper, "Wish you well, old man!"
In a way that he 'd understand.

I'd like to give him the cheering word
The word I've longed to hear;
I'd like to give him the warm handclasp
When never a friend seems near.

I've learned my knowledge by sheer hard work,

And I wish I could pass it on To the fellow who'll take my place

Some day, when I am gone.

Then here's to your health, old chap!
I drink as a bridegroom to his bride;
I leave an unfinished task for you,

But God knows that I have tried.

I've dreamed my dreams, as all men do,
But never a word came true;

My prayer today is that all my dreams
May be realized by you.

And we'll meet some day in the Great
Unknown,

Out in the realms of space: You'll know my clasp as I take your hand And gaze in your tired face.

Then all your failures will be success

In the light of the new-found dawn! So I'm drinking your health, old chap, Who'll take my place when I'm gone.

Dr. Robert Hopkins Moffitt. DIED, Wednesday, January 16, 1918, at his home in Harrisburg, Pa., of pneumonia, in his seventy-fifth year, ROBERT HOPKINS MOFFITT, D.D.S.

Dr. Moffitt was born in Springfield, Ohio, May 3, 1843, the son of John J. and Charlotte Epley Moffitt. His parents, while he was still a boy, moved to Cadiz, Ohio, where he obtained his early education.

Dr. Moffitt began the study of dentistry when a young man under the tutelage of his father. He established himself in practice in York, Pa., shortly before the civil war, and remained there until 1862, when he enlisted in the Ninth Ohio Cavalry and served in the medical corps of the Federal army during three years of the war.

After the civil war closed he went to Harrisburg, Pa., where he again took up the

practice of dentistry, attending the Philadelphia Dental College later and being graduated from that institution in 1874. Dr. Moffitt gave up the practice of dentistry some twenty years ago, and devoted his time to business, banking, real estate, etc.

Dr. Moffitt was a pioneer in porcelain and continuous gum-work, with his brother, Dr. J. W. Moffitt, the two sons having obtained their early training in this work in West Virginia, from their father, who was a dentist and Methodist minister.

Dr. Moffitt was one of the founders of the Harris Dental Society, a member of the Lebanon Valley Dental Society, and a member of the Pennsylvania State Dental Society, serving the latter in the capacity of secretary in its early days, and aided materially in procuring the legislation which resulted in the establishment of the state society.

Dr. Moffitt was active in church work as well as in business, in the later years of his life. He helped to found the West Market Mission, which afterward became the Westminster Presbyterian Church at Harrisburg. He was a director in the Commonwealth Trust Co. and president of the board of trustees of the Market Square Presbyterian Church. He was largely interested in civic affairs, and took an active part in real estate developments in various sections of the city.

He was married April 26, 1870, to Miss Rebecca Whitman in Harrisburg, Pa. He is survived by seven children, one of whom, Dr. G. R. Moffitt, is a practitioner of medicine in Harrisburg, and another, Dr. J. J. Moffitt, a practitioner of dentistry in Harrisburg.

The funeral services were held January 19, 1918, and interment took place in the Harrisburg Cemetery.

"In Memoriam" Resolutions.

Dr. Fred M. Smith.

THE following "in memoriam" resolutions were adopted by the Academy of Stomatology of Philadelphia, March 6, 1918:

Whereas, death has removed from us our friend and fellow-member, Dr. Fred Maurice Smith; and

Whereas, the dental profession by his death has lost one who was consciencious and up

right in all that pertained to its usefulness and influence, and society, through his clear judgment and unselfish interest, a useful member; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Academy of Stomatology, deploring his death, extends its sympathies to his bereaved wife and mother. It will ever bear in memory its association with him. And be it

RESOLVED, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the bereaved ones, that a record of them be made in the minutes of the Academy, and a copy sent to the DENTAL COSMOS for publication.

J. V. MERSHON,
R. G. BEALE,
S. B. LUCKIE,
Committee.

AT the annual meeting of the Dental Society of Chester and Delaware Counties, held January 23, 1918, the society adopted the following resolutions:

Whereas, the Supreme Ruler of the universe has, in His infinite wisdom, removed from the scene of his earthly labors our esteemed friend and colleague Fred Maurice Smith; and

Whereas, The Dental Society of Chester and Delaware Counties, of which he was a useful and honored member, recognizing his faithfulness as a member, desires to record its appreciation of him as a man, and its sense of sorrow and loss at his death; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That this society extends to the widow and mother of our deceased member its sincere sympathy in their bereavement; that this resolution be spread upon the minutes of the Dental Society of Chester and Delaware Counties, and that a copy be forwarded to the DENTAL COSMOS for publication.

G. B. LUCKIE,
ROBERT M. SCOTT,
D. W. GODON,

Committee.

A BILL

TO REORGANIZE THE DENTAL CORPS OF THE NAVY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That the Act approved August twentyninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled “An Act making appropriations for the Naval Service for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes" (Statutes at Large, volume 39, chapter 417, pages 573 and 574) be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out all of said Act following the caption "Naval Dental Corps," on page 573, but preceding

the caption "Dental Reserve Corps," on page 574, and by substituting therefor the following:

That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint and commission, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, dental officers in the Navy at the rate of one for each thousand of the total authorized number of officers and enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps, in the grades of assistant dental surgeon, passed assistant dental surgeon, and dental surgeon, who shall constitute the Naval Dental Corps, and shall be a part of the Medical Department of the Navy. Original appointments to the Naval Dental Corps shall be made in the grade of assistant dental surgeon with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade), and all dental officers now in the Dental Corps, ap

pointed under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved August twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen (Statutes at Large, volume 39, page 573), or who may hereafter be appointed, shall take rank and precedence with officers of the Naval Medical Corps of the same rank according to the dates of their respective commissions, and dental officers shall be eligible for advancement in grade and rank in the same manner and under the same conditions as officers of the Naval Medical Corps with or next after whom they take precedence, and shall receive the same pay and allowances as officers of corresponding rank and length of service in the Naval Medical Corps up to and including the rank of lieutenant commander: Provided, That dental surgeons shall be eligible for advancement in pay and allowances, but not in rank, to and including the pay and allowances of captain, subject to such examinations as the Secretary of the Navy may prescribe, except that the number of dental surgeons with the pay and allowances of captain shall not exceed four and one-half per centum and the number of dental surgeons with the pay and allowances of commander shall not exceed eight per centum of the total authorized number of dental officers: Provided further, That dental surgeons shall be eligible for advancement to the pay and allowances of commander and captain when their total active service as dental officers in the Navy is such that if rendered as officers of the Naval Medical Corps it would place them in the list of medical officers with the rank, pay, and allowances of commander or captain, as the case may be: And provided further, That dental officers who shall have gained or lost numbers on the Navy list shall be considered to have gained or lost service accordingly; and the time served by dental officers on active duty as acting assistant dental surgeons and assistant dental surgeons under provisions of law existing prior to the passage of this Act shall be reckoned in computing the increased service pay and service for promotion of dental officers herein authorized or heretofore appointed.

All appointees authorized by this Act shall be citizens of the United States between twenty-one and thirty-two years of age, and shall be graduates of standard medical or

dental colleges and trained in the several branches of dentistry, and shall, before appointment, have successfully passed mental, moral, physical, and professional examinations before medical and professional examining boards appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, and have been recommended for appointment by such boards: Provided, That hereafter no person shall be appointed as assistant surgeon in the Navy who is not a graduate of a standard medical college.

Officers of the Naval Dental Corps shall become eligible for retirement in the same manner and under the same conditions as now prescribed by law for officers of the Naval Medical Corps, except that section 1445 of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not be applicable to dental officers, and they shall not be entitled to rank above lieutenant commander on the retired list, or to retired pay above that of captain.

All dental officers now serving under probationary appointments shall become immediately eligible for permanent appointment under the provisions of this Act, subject to the examinations prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy for original appointment as dental surgeon, and may be appointed assistant dental surgeon with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) to rank from the date of their probationary appointments: Provided, That the senior dental officer now at the United States Naval Academy shall not be displaced by the provisions of this Act, and he shall hereafter have the grade of passed assistant dental surgeon and the rank, pay, and allowances of lieutenant, and he shall not be eligible for retirement before he has reached the age of seventy years, except for physical disability incurred in the line of duty: Provided further, That no dental officer in the Navy who on original appointment as dental officer was over forty years of age, shall be eligible for retirement before he has reached the age of seventy years, except for physical disability incurred in line of duty.

All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to reduce the rank, pay, or allowances now authorized by law for any officer of the Navy.

Medical Department Training.

DENTAL OFFICERS.

THE first class of dental officers to be sent to the medical officers' training camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., will commence the course of instruction on March 15th. The course will last for two months. During the first month about 180 hours will be devoted to general military subjects, and during the second month about 71 hours to these subjects and 100 hours to special dental subjects. The military staff already at the training camp will conduct the military instruction. Lieut.Col. John H. Snapp, dental corps, has been relieved from duty at Camp Upton, N. Y., and assigned to duty as senior dental instructor at Fort Oglethorpe. He will be assisted by several members of the dental corps and by a staff of members of the dental reserve corps who have had experience, before entering the military service, as special instructors at dental colleges. It is planned to send to the camp each month a class of about eighty-five dentists, of whom all that can be spared from their present duties will be recent appointees to the dental corps, with a sufficient number from the dental reserve corps to make up the prescribed number. Preparations are being made for erection of special buildings for use in conducting the instruction in dental subjects. Plans for a general enlargement of the scope of training various classes of the personnel of the medical department at Fort Oglethorpe are awaiting approval. Besides the dentists, commissioned and enlisted members of the sanitary corps and veterinary corps also are to be put through special courses of instruction pertaining to their special work, some members of the sanitary corps already having been sent there. At present there are about 1500 officers and 9000 enlisted men of the medical department at the camp.

A similar camp has been conducted at Fort Riley, Kans., where there are about 1000 officers and 6500 enlisted men. While it is not intended to

[VOL. X.-25]

discontinue the Fort Riley establishment immediately, the plans that are being made contemplate a gradual enlargement of the facilities and scope of work at Fort Oglethorpe, to the end that the educational system of the Medical department, so far as it may be conducted at a training camp, eventually will be concentrated at that place, with a corresponding diminution at other places.

PLANS continue in course of development for increasing the size and scope of the establishment at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., for the training of different classes of personnel of the Medical department, with a view to the ultimate concentration at that place of so much of the medical and allied educational system as may be conducted at a training camp. Brigadier-gen. Henry P. Birmingham, medical corps, national army, has been assigned to command the camp. He has been relieved from duty at Washington in the office of the Surgeon-general of the army and ordered to proceed to Fort Riley, Kans., for the purpose of inspecting the medical officers' training camp at that post and then to proceed to Fort Oglethorpe for station. Besides training of medical officers, training also will be given to members of the dental corps, dental reserve corps, sanitary corps, and veterinary corps. The first class of dentists, made up of fifty members of the regular corps and thirty-five members of the reserve corps, commenced the two months' course of instruction on March 15th. Lieut.-col. John H. Snapp, dental corps, is the senior dental instructor, and he is assisted by Majors Ben H. Sherrard and E. Henry Valentine, of the dental corps, and Major John D. Eby, of the dental reserve corps. Among the new schools to be established at Fort Oglethorpe is one for the physical diagnosis of lung diseases, with Captains William N. Anderson, Henry C. Drew, and James W. Price, medical reserve corps, as instructors.-Army and Navy Register.

Medical Corps Commissions.

SOMETHING of a muddle has resulted from conflicting decisions regarding the authorized enlisted strength of the regular army as a basis for determining the number of officers allowed the Medical corps and Dental corps, Sect. 10 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, providing that-"The total number of such officers shall approximately be equal to, but not exceed, except as hereinafter provided, seven for every one thousand of the total enlisted strength of the regular army authorized from time to time by law;" and also authorizing the appointment of dental surgeons "at the rate of one for each one thousand enlisted men of the line of the army."

By one decision a strength of approximately 300,000 was used as a basis for determining the allowance of officers of the medical corps; the numbers in the several grades were adjusted on this basis, and some officers were nominated, confirmed, and commissioned in higher grades on this basis. It was claimed in behalf of the medical officers that the temporary strength prescribed from time to time for the signal corps in accordance with the Aviation Act of July 24, 1917, should be included in computing the strength of the regular army for determining the allowance of officers of the medical corps, and that a strength of approximately 450.000 should be used at this time as a basis.

The matter was reconsidered by the Judge Advocate-general of the army and by the general staff, and now it has been decided that the temporary strength of the signal corps and some other factors proposed by the Surgeongeneral's office should not be included, and that the number of officers of the medical corps should be determined on a basis of about 213,000 enlisted men.

With a compu

tation of the allowance on the latter basis, it is found that the number of medical officers commissioned in higher grades exceeds the allowance.

It becomes at once a question as to what may be done in the cases of these excess officers. Their commissions having been issued after confirmation by the Senate, they cannot now be recalled, and naturally the officers affected are reluctant to surrender them. So far as it has been determined, it probably will be necessary to carry them in these grades as supernumeraries, to be absorbed later as vacancies occur. While the decision does not affect the dental officers to such an extent as the medical officers, for

the reason that it is prescribed that their numbers shall be based on the number of enlisted men in the "line" of the army, it does affect indirectly a determination of their allowance, but so far no excess commissions in higher grades have been issued.-Army and Navy Register.

Medical Students Commissioned.

UNDER a recent arrangement between the Navy and War departments, the privilege has been extended to enrolled medical and dental students to accept commissions in the medical corps of either branch of the service. The privilege applies to either the army or the navy; that is, an enrolled medical student of the naval reserve force may accept a commission in the medical reserve corps of the army, and vice versa. To be relieved, however, of his obligation as an enrolled enlisted man, he must accept active duty, for no enrolled students will be disenrolled in order to accept a commission in the inactive reserve in the other branch of the service. The operations of the selective draft law had the effect of greatly increasing the number of enrolments of medical and dental students, particularly in the naval reserve force. These men will be permitted to pursue their course of instruction until they graduate, when they will probably be called to active duty and instruction in hospitals and at training stations. It is not expected that undergraduates will be assigned to active duty during their vacation period.-Army and Navy Register.

Navy's Call for Binoculars, Spy Glasses and Telescopes.

"THE EYES OF THE NAVY."

MR. Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy, announces that the navy is still in urgent need of binoculars, spy glasses, and telescopes. The use of the submarine has so changed naval warfare that more "eyes" are needed on every ship, in order that a constant and efficient lookout may be maintained. Sextants and chronometers are also urgently required.

Heretofore, the United States has been obliged to rely almost entirely on foreign countries for its supply of such articles. These channels of supply are now closed, and as no stock is on hand in this country to meet the present emergency, it has become necessary to appeal to the patriotism of private owners to furnish "eyes for the navy."