Coat of arms

A few members have asked what the relevance was of the coat of arms on the front cover of our last issue of ARMA. Nearly 20 years ago (viz. 1986) I had a request from Professor Mervyn Shear (at that time Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand and I think Past-President of the Association) to aid in the devising of a coat of arms for the above-mentioned association. After serious consultation we agreed on the design which featured on the cover of ARMA Volume 8 No 2.

Blazon: Per fess Azure and Argent, gouttée de sang; a chief indented (of sixteen) Or and in base two roundels sanguine.

Symbolism: Reading the design from the top down - the top is gold representing the light or the exterior. The sixteen indentations represent teeth as well as epithelial sur­face pathology. The blue (Azure) represents oral epithelium when stained with haematoxylin. The gouttée de sang (literally drops of blood) represents the anlage, basal cell proliferations, etc. The blood-coloured roundels in base represent tumours or cysts deep to the oral epithelium.

My comment at that time: Should any of the divisions of the International Association ever need to have their own version of the coat of arms, this can be done quite easily by adding a single charge in the top left hand corner, e.g. a protea for South Africa, an eagle for the United States, a maple leaf for Canada, and so forth.

Robert A Laing of Colington