Tarnished Legacy: The Arthur Dean Story
Arthur Dean was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, in 1878. He attended Harvard, and two years after graduating, he took his degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale, eventually joining the faculty.
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| Dr. Arthur Dean |
The school held its twentieth annual commencement on June 2, 1931, honoring Dr. Dean by renaming its biological building Arthur Lyman Dean Hall and installing a plaque for its former president.
Recently, Dr. Dean's work came under fire from Black Lives Matter, who says that he took credit for African-American chemist Alice Augusta Ball's discovery surrounding chaulmoogra oil in treating Hansen's disease, better known as leprosy.
Ball graduated from the University of Hawai'i ® during Dean's tenure. Not only was she the first woman to receive a master's degree from the school, but she was also the first African-American to do so. She also became the university's first Black female chemistry instructor. Her research surrounded the chemical makeup of plants.
People in Asia have used chaulmoogra tree oil as a topical medication for treating various skin conditions for centuries. A medical doctor named Harry Hollmann was treating mild cases of leprosy with it; a British doctor introduced the oil's healing properties to the Western world in 1854, but it often caused nausea and painful side effects due to their inability to use it effectively.
Dr. Hollmann tapped Ball to identify the chemicals in the oil. Aided by Dr. Dean, she found a way to make it water-soluble.
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| Alice Ball |
Ball's work was in its infancy but bearing fruit when the twenty-four-year-old died on December 31, 1916, from complications following a lab experiment, inhaling chlorine gas during a demonstration of gas mask use before her class. Following Ball's death, Dr. Dean continued her groundbreaking research.
Extracting oil from the chaulmoogra fruit seeds and injecting it into the bloodstream became one of the primary treatments of the time. It was briefly called the "Ball Method" before becoming known as the "Dean Method," which was used some thirty years before the introduction of sulfone drugs.
In 1922, Dr. Hollmann published a paper giving Ball the credit she deserves, but her role in it eventually became lost as time went on.
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| Alice Ball's Yearbook Photo 1911-2 |
Edited Out/Author's Research Notes:
Dr. Arthur Lyman Dean: October 1, 1878 - March 1, 1952.
Alice Augusta Ball: July 24, 1892 - December 31, 1916.
Ball's death certificate lists her as being white; contributing factors to her death - removal of tonsils and excessive inhalation of chlorine gas.
Ball was born in Seattle. Her dad was black, and her mother was white. She attended a few different colleges and earned multiple degrees.
Dr. Dean may have introduced it as the Dean Method. His findings were released in 1917.
Dr. Dean's father was a Baptist minister.
Ball's graduation quote in her high school yearbook was, "I work and work, and still it seems I have nothing done."
On February 29, 2000, some 150 people gathered at the University of Hawai'i to honor Ball, with the
governor of Hawaii issuing a proclamation making it Alice Ball Day.
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| Dr. Dean |
The incident in the classroom was in September 1916.
The college doubted that the poisonous gas caused Ball's death; they believed she had some undiagnosed illness.
Ball and Dean had many accomplishments, too many to cover in this short story. Several things have been done to recognize Ball's legacy and correct history.
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