Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 959
October 12 1895
Doctor Charles H. Alden,
Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
Surgeon General’s Office,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Doctor:
I beg to report that the specimen of supposed bullet which was referred to you by Medical Referee Thomas Featherstonehaugh of the Pension Bureau, has been subjected to a careful chemical examination by Dr. Wm. M. Mew of the Army Medical Museum, who makes the following report:
“The substance contains no lead nor other metal save a trace of iron; it is composed chiefly of calcium and phosphoric acid, probably calcium phosphate, so it may be bone or cartilage, or as you suggest, it may be a calcified cell-growth.”
I beg further to state that I have carefully examined, microscopically, another portion of the supposed bullet, and am inclined to think, from the appearance of the structure, that it s a portion of a calcified lymphatic gland.
Very sincerely yours,
Walter Reed,
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.
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