166 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS pedia" which is edited for secondary schools. Those articles which she started so long ago now number 235 on cosmetics and cosmetology alone, and they have appeared in a wide variety of publications. So that brings us practically up to date. I really should say a few words about one phase of her work which has gone along almost continuously through the years. As a change from writing, she likes to use her hands. It is occasionally a surprise to clients to learn that she can actually perform all the beauty techniques herself. This dates from her practical experience in the beauty culture schools where she learned it all the hard way, and it bears out a remark I have often heard her make, "How can I teach any- thing correctly to anybody unless I can do it myself!" For tests she is often her own "guinea pig," But she has occasionally donned an operator's uniform and worked in a beauty salon or school. All this has served her in good stead. Because of it, she has established a reputation as an expert in the clinical testing of cosmetic products and treatments. Those of us who really know Florence Wall, even if only through her work, know that enlightening both herself and others is a constant and dominating force with her. It would be impossible for her to stand still, and all of us who know her are completely aware of the fact that she will continue her unique contributions. She could do nothing else. That completes all the highlights I intended to bring out about our Medalist's career in cosmetics and cosmetology. But with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to indulge in a short encore. Maybe you noticed, as I did, that there is nothing on the menu about the personal side of Florence Wall. Both Dr. Hamlin and I have contrib- uted to a double feature on her career and professional life--but very little about her as a person. This omission probably was intentional on Florence's part, but with or without her consent, I wish to give you now a brief summary which I think is both important and pertinent. Our composite picture, it seems to me, makes her sound rather like a triple threat, and I believe that that is the impression she is too apt to give to her business associates. I do not mind confessing that when I first met her I was a little scared of her, and I have heard people who know her only casually, in a business way, remark that "she seems like such a formidable person." I think that impression needs a little correcting. It is only a facade she wears while at work. Actually our Medalist is one of the warmest hearted people I know. And, although it may not be obvious enough, I personally believe that side of her has had considerable effect on some of the work she has chosen to do. I believe, for instance, that her great urge to teach is based mainly on her desire to serve others. This comes out in many facets of her life, and sometimes ties her per-

FLORENCE E. WALL: REBEL INTO PIONEER 167 sonal life to her work. Her former students, I have noticed, all seem to become her friends. She keeps in touch with them and they with her. She is forever glad to help them with their problems--gives them ideas for papers, lends them books and other materials. That sort of generosity, extending beyond the call of duty, comes only from the heart. She may not like my telling you some of these things, but I have learned of so many ways in which she is generous almost to a fault. I know, just by chance, something of the trouble she took in selecting just the right contents for packages she sent abroad to people she met while in Europe. And if she has friends in the hospital, she goes to a great deal of trouble to make their life more bearable and pleasant. She does not just take flowers or a package and chit chat she does things. She will give a woman patient a dry shampoo, or apply refreshing cologne she brought with her or fix her friend's nails. In other words, she gives of herself as she does in her work, too. Another phase of her generosity is her fairness toward people. She always gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. And she invariably has a kind word to say--or a word of credit to give--even to people who have not always been kind to her. I do not remember ever hearing Florence gossip or say an unkind word. Nor would she ever compromise principle for expediency--in either business or personal affairs. Now, if all that still sounds formidable, as though she might not have much spice in her life, you just have never had the privilege of talking with her when her guard is down. She has a keen wit and the most delightful sense of humor you can imagine even enjoys a joke on herself. Perhaps this is an inheritance from that Irish ancestry we have heard about. She likes to cook and sew and knit, and as she often puts it, she "has a lot of fun in her own way." She enjoys dancing, concerts, the theater and the movies--especially the foreign ones which give her practice in languages. She nearly got a degree in music in college but dropped that for one in education. She still plays the piano for her friends and her clubs. On one occasion , several years after leaving college, she and her talented sister--who, as Stephanie Wall was then singing professionally--returned to St. Elizabeth's and gave a joint recital. It was the first time any two alumnae--let alone two sisters--had ever done so. I have often wished that she would take time to write stories and make use in that way of her unusual understanding of people. Actually she has accumulated reams of material for stories on incidents in her interesting travels. She says, however, that these can wait until she is too old to talk and write convincingly about cosmetology. people often ask Florence what first interested her in cosmetics. Just recently I saw it--a clipping from The Attlanta •7ournal, dating from years ago when she first visited that city as a college girl• It still makes good