Letter of the Day: May 11

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02215

May 11, 1897

Dr. Arthur A. Snyder
Corner 31st and N St. N.W.
Georgetown, D.C.

Dear Doctor:

I regret to inform you that it is impossible to make a diagnosis of the tumor of the testicle which was received April 30th at this Museum, for the reason that the structure is so completely necrotic as to fail to give any idea whatever of the original structure of the growth. The necrotic mass is surrounded by a much thickened tunica vaginalis, between which and the mass of the tumor there appears to be no connection whatever. It is one of the possibilities that this is a specimen of an old encapsulated abscess.

Sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

Letter of the Day: May 6 (1 of 2)

[Note: a "gumma" is non-cancerous growth with a necrotic center, resulting from syphilis in the tertiary stage.]

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 03113

May 6, 1898

Surgeon in Charge of Freedmen's Hospital
Washington, DC

Dear Sir:

I beg to inform you that the tumor of mediastinum in the case of J. Chase, colored, contributed by you Dr D.S. Lamb [name noted in pencil] to this Museum on March 28, has been examined under the microscope and proves to be a gumma.

Very respectfully,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

[Handwritten notation]
Specimen No. 11453 Path. Sect
credit Dr. Lamb

Letter of the Day: May 3

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02222

May 3, 1897

Dr. Joe T.D. Howard,
U.S. Indian Service, Green Bay Agency,
Keshena, Wisconsin.

Dear Doctor:

Your letter of April 26th, together with the specimen of discharge from the intestinal canal of a patient, have been referred to me by Surgeon General Sternberg for answer.

A careful microscopic examination of the contents of the bottle has been made for tubercle bacilli but none have been found. It will not be possible to isolate the typhoid bacillus, even if it were present, from this specimen of intestinal discharge. If, however, you will place a small drop of the patient's blood drawn from the lobe of the ear upon a small piece of glass and allow the same to dry, I can, by testing the dry blood decide whether the case is one of typhoid fever or not. If you will, therefore, send me such a specimen I will be glad to have the test made. I may add that the specimen sent by you contains a considerable quantity of a heavy oil, which appears to be the oil of sassafras.

I do not know whether you have added this to the bottle or whether your patient have been taking the oil medicinally.

Sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon U.S. Army
Curator

Letter of the Day: December 5

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1843

War Department,
Surgeon General’s Office,
U.S. Army Medical Museum And Library,
Corner 7th and B Streets S.W.,
Washington, D.C., December 5, 1896.

To the Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
Washington, D.C.

General:

I have the honor to request authority to purchase for deposit in the Army Medical Museum:

1 Bianchi’s Phonendoscope modified by Baruch, Est. cost. $5.00 to be paid for from the Museum appropriation.

Very respectfully,

D.L. Huntington
Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
In charge of Museum and Library Division