{"id":3634,"date":"2019-02-14T16:03:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T20:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3634"},"modified":"2020-04-03T11:17:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T15:17:52","slug":"advice-and-studies-on-love-from-early-umb-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3634","title":{"rendered":"Advice and Studies on Love from Early UMB Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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St. Valentine\u2019s Day is upon us, advice on how to spend the\nday is everywhere.  The goal of this post\nis not to add to this abundance of advice but to look back on how early UMB\ngraduates studied love.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first, a humorous, pseudo-science article titled \u201cThe\nScience of Kissing\u201d found in the 1899 Bones,\nMolars, and Briefs<\/em> Yearbook.  Perhaps\nit\u2019s important to note that early college and university yearbooks<\/a>\nserved as more than a volume of photographs documenting the events of the year;\ninstead they were literary and satirical pieces, highlighting milestones as\nwell as inside jokes and embarrassing stories. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Science of Kissing\u201d is an excellent example of applying\nliterature and satire to the medical profession.  In this piece an anonymous\u2014presumably\nmedical\u2014student argues against an article claiming that kissing is a dangerous\npastime due to the passage of germs and bacteria.  Most likely the article alluded to did not\nexist.  In \u201cThe Science of Kissing\u201d the\nstudent claims to have pursued his own experiments and proven that when done\ncorrectly and with the appropriate partner kissing can be beneficial.  The student states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKisses,\nwhen selected with due care and taken on the installment plan, will not only\nrestore a misplaced appetite, but are especially beneficial in cases of hay\nfever, as they banish that tired feeling’, tone up the liver, invigorate the\nheart, and make the blood to sing thro\u2019 the system like a giant Jew\u2019s harp. I\nfound by patient experiment that the health microbe became active at fifteen,\nreaches maturity at twenty, begins to lose its vigor at forty, and is quite\nuseless as a tonic when, as someone has tersely expressed it, a woman’s kisses\nbegin to “taste of her teeth.” Thin, bluish lips produce very few\nhealth germs, and those scarce worth the harvesting; but a full, red mouth,\nwith Cupid curves at the corners, will yield enormously if the crop be properly\ncultivated. I did not discover whether the blonde or brunette variety is\nentitled to precedence in medical science, but incline to the opinion that a\njudicious admixture is most advisable from a therapeutical standpoint.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds like kissing, when done correctly and with the\nright individual, could solve all our minor health issues! The student\ncontinues to give advice on how to best collect the health germs when the\ncorrect person is found: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbest results can be obtained about the midnight hour, when the dew is on the\nrose, the jasmine Iaid drunken with its own perfume, and the mockbird trilling\nalast good-night to its drowsy mate. You entice your best girl into the garden to\nwatch Venus’ flaming orb hanging like the Kohinoor pendant from the crescent\nmoon, You pause beneath the great gnarled live oak, its myriad leaves rustling\nsoftly as the wings of seraphs. Don’t be in a hurry, and for God’s sake don’t\ngab\u2014in such a night silence is the acme of eloquence.” In such a night\nTrolius mounted the Trojan walls and sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents\nwhere Cressid lay.” She watches the fireflies respiring in phosphorescent flame,\namid the clover blooms while you watch her, and twine a spray of honeysuckle in\nher hair. She looks very beautiful with her face upturned in the moonlight; but\ndon’t say a word about it, for there’s a little of the poseur about all the\ndaughters of Eve. She withdraws her eyes from the stars, slowly, turns them\ndreamily upon yours, and you note that they are filled with astral fire. They\nroam idly over the shadowy garden, then close as beneath a weight of weariness.\nHer head rests more heavily against your shoulder, and her bosom trembles with\na half-audible sigh. There is now really no occasion for further delay. Do not\nswoop down upon the health germs like a hungry hen-hawk on a green gosling, but\nincline your head gently until your carefully deodorized breath is upon her\nlips\u2014there pause, for the essence of enjoyment is in anticipation. The man who\ngulps down a glass of old wine without first inhaling its oenanthic and\nfeasting his eyes upon its ruddy splendors, is simply a sot. Wait until you\nhave noted the dark lashes reclining upon the cheek of sun-flushed snow,\n“the charm of married brows,” the throat of alabaster, the dimple in\nher chin, the wine-tint of her half-parted lips, with their glint of pearl\u2014wait\nuntil her eyes half open, look inquiringly into yours, and close again, then\ncincture her gently but firmly with one arm, support her chin with the other\nhand, and give the health germs ample time to change their home. A kiss, to\nhave any scientific value, should last one minute and seven seconds by\nShrewsbury clock, and be repeated seven times, not in swift succession, but\nwith the usual interval between wine at a symposiac.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We here at the HS\/HSL Historical Collections feel healthier\nalready, just by reading this article<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps you aren\u2019t as lucky in love this Valentine\u2019s Day\nand kissing will not be part of your day. \nPerhaps, instead, you are looking for a cure for \u201cThe Effects of\nDisappointed Love.\u201d  Not to worry, Joseph\nMcCoy Sitler, 1928 graduate of the School of Medicine, has some advice for you in\nhis dissertation of that title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitler\u2019s interesting dissertation<\/a>\ndiffers from most at the time because it looks at a human emotion and mental\nstate rather than an illness or disease or the anatomy of the body. Yet he\nclaims it is an important ailment for doctors to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nsubject, I have chosen as an Inaugural Dissertation, is one which from its\nnovelty, may be deemed trifling, and uninteresting, but as it so materially\nconcerns the health, happenings and welfare of that portion of the human\nfamily, whose lot it is to alleviate the misfortunes, and avert the miseries of\nma imperiously demands our serious and considerate attention.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguably, Sitler is an early proponent of mental health. He\nargues that all humans can be victims of this debilitating ailment no matter\ntheir disposition.  He also believes that\nmany go without treatment because they 1) fail to seek treatment or 2) are\ntreated for symptoms of an entirely different ailment.  His dissertation describes an early attempt\nto understand human emotion and mental health and how to help someone with\ndeficiencies in this area.  Sitler\nidentifies the best treatment for disappointed love as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026we\nshould not as in the first which solely depends upon two much tone use the\nremunerative plan but rather endeavor to invigorate and strengthen the systems\nwith mild but effective tonics.  The best\nof these is cheerful conversation and agreeable company.  Very often when medicine in all its forms\ninitially fails to accomplish any desirable purpose towards the restoration of\nhealth a tour through some agreeable part of the country remote from the noise\ndisturbances and ingeminated atmosphere of populous cities where the patient\ncan enjoy the advantages of salubrious breezes accompanied by some intimate\nfriend to whom she can communicate her sorrows and receive condolence will\nalmost effect a total radical cure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitler puts lesser value in medical tonics and medicines but\ndoes acknowledge the value of mineral waters when combined with sea air:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMineral\nwaters\u2026are very useful in the disease. \nSea bathing has been practiced and its effects found to be very\nbeneficial.  Perhaps a great many of the\nadvantages supposed to be derived from the use of the sea bath ought to be\nattributed to the change of scenery and company which the patient experiences\nrather than the tonic influence it exerts over the human consumption.  Yet no doubt this is a powerful adjuvant to\nother measures.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that should anyone look for us, we\u2019ll be at the\nbeach, soaking up the healing powers of the sea.  Happy Valentine\u2019s Day to all! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Valentine\u2019s Day is upon us, advice on how to spend the day is everywhere.  The goal of this post is not to add to this abundance of advice but to look back on how early UMB graduates studied love.  … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,11,1],"tags":[215,216,199,214,213],"class_list":["post-3634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical-collections","category-medicine","category-uncategorized","tag-love","tag-umb-early-dissertations","tag-umb-history","tag-umb-yearbooks","tag-valentines-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3636,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3634\/revisions\/3636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}