Letter of the Day: June 11

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 06762

Surgeon General's Office
U.S. Army Medical Museum and Library
Corner of 7th and B Streets
Washington, June 11, 1903.

Capt. W. F. Clark, 2d Cavy.
Quartermaster,
Fort Myer, Va.

Sir:

Replying to your letter of the 8th inst. in regard to the location of the intake pipe for the water supply at your post I would suggest that you consult Lieut. Col. Alexander M. Miller of the Engineer Corps, whose office is at 2728 Penna. Ave., Washington, D.C. Col Miller has been engaged for some years in the practical study of the water supply of the city of Washington, he is no doubt familiar with the points at which sewage and factory refuse are poured into the Potomac, and could give an expert opinion as to the points from which water could be taken with the least danger of sewage contamination during unusual conditions of flood in the river.

This seems to me to be a matter of vital importance and one that should be decided only by an expert who is familiar with the local conditions.

I have only a hearsay knowledge of your water supply but I shall be very glad to render any assistance in my power, at any time you may see fit to call upon me.

Very respectfully,
James Carroll
1st Lieut. Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.
Asst. Curator.

Letter of the Day: August 18

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 8573

 

War Department,

Office of the Surgeon General,

Army Medical Museum and Library,

Washington

 

August 18, 1905.

 

Major Ogden Rafferty,

Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Fort Monroe, Va.

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor to report the following as result of the bacteriological examination of four samples of water forwarded by you August 1, 1905, and received at this laboratory on the following day:

 

Sample A. Creek water, brought in claret wine cask, from New Market Creek, Hampton, Va.

 

Numerical count 459 bacteria per c.c.

1 c.c. of this water was added to each of 10 glucose bouillon fermentation tubes with the result that all of them contained gas on the third day of incubation. The amount varied from 20% to 60%.

 

Sample B. New Market Creek water, after treatment by electrolysis.

 

Numerical count 6491 bacteria per c.c.

Of ten fermentation tubes receiving each  1 c.c. o this water, five contained gas on the third day of incubation, the amount varying from 109% to 85%.

 

Sample C. Creek water, mixed with a typhoid culture and subjected to electrolysis for five minutes.

 

Numerical count 23141 bacteria per c.c.

All of the glucose bouillon fermentation tubes charged with 1 c.c. of this water, contained gas on the second day, varying in amount from 55% to 95%. No typhoid bacilli were recovered from this water after inoculating large flasks of sterile bouillon and then using the method of Conradi and Drigalski four days later.

 

Sample D. The same as sample C. strained through a layer of absorbent cotton.

 

Numerical count 18616 bacteria per c.c.

The ten fermentation tubes, charged in the usual way with 1 c.c. of this water, all contained gas on the second day of incubation. On the fourth day the amount of gas present ranged from 30% to 75%. All attempts to recover typhoid bacilli from this water resulted in failure.

 

REMARKS: The failure to recover typhoid bacilli is probably due to the well-established fact that this organism usually disappears from water containing ordinary bacteria within three or four days.

 

“A” is quite turbid, is tinted red and gives off the aroma of wine.

 

“B” shows a faint tint, contains a moderate amount of coagulum.

 

“C” is the most turbid of the set.

 

“D” contains a moderate amount of coagulum, but is perhaps the clearest of the four. It is possible that the tannin, or other substance in “A” has inhibited multiplication of the bacteria present in that sample.

 

“B” contained about one-third as many bacteria as “D”, and nearly four times as many as “C”. From the bacteriological standpoint “B” is the least objectionable of the four waters; whether this is due to the mode of treatment or some other cause cannot be well determined without an intimate knowledge of the details of the manipulations. Neither of the samples can be regarded as a good potable water.

 

Very respectfully,

James Carroll

1st Lieut., Asst. Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Curator, Army Medical Museum

 

Letter of the Day: August 7

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1642

August 7, 1896

R. H. Cooper, Esq,
City Clerk,
Palatka, Florida

Dear Sir:

Your letter of August 5th inquiring in regard to an examination of the water used for drinking purposes, etc., at Palatka, is received.

We will endeavor to make the desired examination, and inform you of the result.

Please forward to the Army Medical Museum about a gallon of the water referred to. It had better be sent in a glass demijohn which has previously been thoroughly cleaned, rinsed with boiled water and then with alcohol, the latter being allowed to evaporate. The water should flow directly into the demijohn from the source of supply in order to avoid contamination from any substance whatever. The cork stopper should be charred in the flame. The sample should be sent at once by express in order that it may reach here as soon as possible.

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

Letter of the Day: August 5 (2 of 2) - malaria?

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1642

 

Office of R.H. Cooper,

City Clerk.

 

Palatka, Florida, Aug 5, 1896

 

The Curator Army Medical Museum

Washington DC

 

Dear Sir

 

The City Council of the City of Palatka desires to as-certain whether you subject a sample of water to an analytical or microscopic examination which will determine whether the water is the cause of a considerable amount of malarial sickness which is prevailing in our City at the present time.

 

If this can be done please inform me of the cost and the amount of water it will be necessary to transmit. The water in question is that which is used for drinking and general purposes throughout the City.

 

Yours respectfully

RH Cooper

Photo of the day, April 24

Inspecting clothing for vermin. 04/24/1918. France. Inspecting clothing for vermin, Company E, 28th Infantry. Cooties. Reading shirts. 129-Y8-T.

Letter of the day, March 6 (1 of 2)

You can see some examples of these medical illustrations on our Flickr site, as well as the Lyster bag, developed by the Colonel Lyster mentioned in the letter, in 1915. The Lyster bag was a means of purifying water with the treatment of calcium hypochlorite and was used for decades for field and camp water treatment.

Yale University
The School of Medicine
Affiliated with the New Haven Hospital
on the
Anthony N. Brady Memorial Foundation

Laboratory of
Pathology and Bacteriology

New Haven, Connecticut
March 6, 1919

Colonel Charles F. Craig,
Army Medical Museum
Washington, D.C.

My Dear Colonel Craig:

I am sending you, under separate cover, four illustrations of the lung in influenza, which were done by artists from the Army Medical Museum. The autopsy numbers of these cases is on the illustration, and there is attached an anatomical diagnosis of the case. I have, besides these four illustrations, eight colored drawings of more or less similar lesions of the respiratory tract in influenza. They are as follows:

Aut. No. 1. Trachea showing an accute hemorrhagic inflammation.
" " 2 &3. Pleural surface and cross section of lobular pneumonia in influenza.
" " 4 &5. Pleural surface and cross section of the lobar type of inflammation.
" " 6. Fibrinopurulent pleurisy
" " 7 &8. Cross sections of subacute and chronic necrotizing and organizing pneumonia.

There are besides these illustrations of influenzal pneumonia, one hundred and thirty-eight gross and microscopic drawings and photo micrographs of the lungs of animals that have died or were killed after exposure to one of the following poisonous gases; chlorine, phosgene, chloropicrin, mustard, cyanogen, chloride, bromide, arsene, organic arsenic compounds, and superpalite.

The monograph which includes these illustrations is in the hands of the Yale Press. A complete list of the illustrations has been furnished to Colonel Lyster of the Chemical Warfare Service, and I have no other list of them to submit at the present time. Of course, it can be made if you feel that is is absolutely necessary.

Very truly yours,
[Major M. Winternitz]

Delousing WW1 photos and Flickr stats

Sterilizer. 01/21/1919. LeManns [Le Mans?], Sarthe, France. View of sterilizer. Interior. At salvage branch, American Embarkation Center. Delouser.

Our Flickr stats are at 1,307 items / 793,036 views this evening, slowly closing in on 800K, in spite of a series of WW1 delousing photographs that Kathleen put up recently.



German delousing and bathing plant. Interior view. Steam delouser compartments. Andenaide?, Belgium. 11/14/1918.